Operations Associate

Vitra Labs, Inc. | South San Francisco, CA | In-Person | $80,000-$100,000 + equity/benefits

Vitra Labs is a venture-backed biotech company developing methods to mature human oocytes ex vivo. Our proprietary technology has the potential to eliminate hormone stimulation prior to oocyte retrieval and produce high-quality, mature oocytes that are ready for IVF, offering unprecedented possibilities to couples struggling with infertility and increasing access to fertility care. At Vitra, we aim to usher in a new era of fertility because we believe motherhood shouldn’t be a moonshot.

We are seeking a high-agency team player who will report directly to the VP of Operations, partner with the broader leadership team, and own the systems that keep a scaling biotech company running. This role will build, maintain, and optimize operations critical to company execution (e.g., procurement, lab systems, contracting) while earning increasing exposure to strategic work (e.g., financial modeling, competitive intelligence, market analysis).

You will be a right hand, not an assistant. You will execute mission-critical work, receive active mentorship, and see firsthand how a biotech company is built from the inside out. This role is designed to develop a serious operator and biotech Swiss Army knife whose role scales with the company. Applicants seeking to pad their résumé or do rote, turn-crank work need not apply.

What you will be doing:

In this role, you will keep core systems running cleanly while proactively building better ones. Specifically, you will:

• Own procurement, vendor documentation, invoice routing, and end-to-end payment system readiness and execution
• Build compliance and EH&S systems that are right-sized for audit readiness without introducing churn or slowing us down (e.g., training logs, inspection readiness, documentation workflows); manage inspections and associated readiness
• Map operational workflows, proactively identify friction points, and implement right-sized improvements and automation where appropriate
• Build simple dashboards and reporting tools that give leadership real visibility into spend, headcount, and compliance
• Own increasing responsibility for financial modeling, runway scenarios, competitive research, and strategic initiatives alongside day-to-day operations
• Rethink how “things are done” and thrive in finding the better, faster, stronger way forward; identify friction and have real agency to fix and optimize
• Contribute to a positive, high-performance company culture

Your Qualifications

• 1-4 years of experience or exposure to startup operations, consulting, business operations, or laboratory research environment
• Proven ability to quickly and efficiently assess, onboard, and implement tools or systems; automation, computation, and financial modeling skills preferred

The ideal candidate:

• Is a low-ego self-starter, relentlessly resourceful, proactive, scrappy, enthusiastic, and seeks active mentorship
• Leans into challenge, thrives in ambiguity, and enjoys creating order; enjoys 0-to-1 building and optimization
• Demonstrates high integrity and accountability, brings excellence to tasks big and small
• Isn’t scared of getting their hands dirty, and is energized by earning increased scope through excellent execution

Interested candidates should submit the following for consideration:

Resume (via LinkedIn) and a short note (email [email protected]), no more than 300 words, addressing at least two of the following:

• Most useful system or process you’ve built
• A time when you took something fully off your manager’s plate
• Highest-impact learning from the past year, or most recent book you read, why you read it, and what you learned
• If you have a technical/academic background and are looking to leave the bench/lab without other work experience, please describe why you want to pivot and what excites you about biotech, operations, and strategy
• Why this role (and why now)