Portfolio Manager, Government Partnerships (DARPA & ARPA-H)

About the role

Your Impact at Lila Lila Sciences is the world's first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science. We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by applying AI to every aspect of the scientific method — to solve humankind's greatest challenges in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Government partners — from federal agencies and the National Labs to international science-funding bodies — will play a defining role in advancing this mission.

Responsibilities

• Own Lila's relationships across your assigned portfolio of agencies, program offices, and/or international counterparts — starting with DARPA and ARPA-H — building a clear, credible, technically grounded presence reflected in every external interaction.
• Build and maintain a structured pipeline of RFIs, RFPs, BAAs, FOAs, NOFOs, and other equivalent mechanisms, making sharp pursue/no-pursue calls based on strategic fit, readiness, and impact.
• Lead opportunities from identification through award and execution handoff, partnering with Product Managers, Principal Investigators, and the proposal execution team to convert meetings into pilots, CRADAs, user-facility access, and major procurements.
• Translate Lila's scientific thesis and autonomous-science workflows into compelling federal/international narratives, partnering with communications, policy, and technical teams to maintain one voice across the portfolio — tuned to DARPA's appetite for revolutionary capability bets and ARPA-H's mission-driven biomedical breakthroughs.
• Develop the kind of sustained agency relationships — particularly with DARPA and ARPA-H program managers and office directors — that lead to recurring funding pathways and large procurements tailored to Lila's unique capabilities, not one-off awards.
• Contribute to and refine Lila's public-sector capture engine — qualification rubrics, narrative kits, capability libraries, and operating rhythms — that scale across the Government Partnerships team.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in federal or international government capture, business development, or partnerships, with a demonstrated track record of winning major awards or programs (FOAs, BAAs, NOFOs, CRADAs, etc.).
• Working fluency in at least one major public-science ecosystem, with strong preference for DARPA and/or ARPA-H (other ARPA-*, DOE, NIH, NSF, NIST experience is highly valued).
• Ability to translate the complexity of this ecosystem to the rest of the Lila team.
• Demonstrated ability to manage end-to-end capture — from opportunity identification through qualification, shaping, proposal, award, and execution handoff.
• Experience translating complex science and AI into clear, credible narratives for non-technical, senior, and policy-facing government audiences.
• Strong cross-functional leadership: comfort partnering with scientists, product managers, communications, policy, and legal to drive aligned outcomes under tight timelines.
• Excellent written communication; comfort operating with ambiguity in a founding-team environment.
• Willingness to travel regularly to build the relationships required for Lila to succeed.

Bonus Points

• PhD or scientific background in chemistry, materials science, life sciences, physics, or a related domain.
• Prior employment at a National Lab, DOE program office, ARPA-, NIH/NSF, or an international science-funding body — including service as a DARPA or ARPA-H program manager, SETA, or technical advisor.
• Direct experience negotiating CRADAs or standing up user-facility access pathways.
• Experience standing up a federal capture function from scratch.
• Familiarity with the Genesis Mission, NAIRR, or analogous national AI-for-science initiatives.
• Active U.S. security clearance.

Qualifications

• Compensation: Competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity.
• Benefits: U.S. benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company-wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office-based employees; and a company-subsidized lunch program.
• International Benefits: Comprehensive benefits program tailored to the region.

Skills

• Strong understanding of federal and international government procurement processes.
• Expertise in translating complex scientific concepts into clear, compelling narratives for non-technical audiences.
• Strong negotiation and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize tasks effectively.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a high degree of autonomy.

Benefits

Not specified.

Schedule

Not specified.

Pay

USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market. Expected Base Salary Range: $168,000 USD - $272,000 USD