Senior / Technical Program Manager, Government Partnerships

Lila Sciences•Cambridge, MA

1d•$108,000 - $186,667

About The Position

Lila Sciences is hiring a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) to run government partnerships and contracts end-to-end once intent is established. This role is the operational backbone of our public-sector work — owning execution, coordination, and follow-through across complex, multi-stakeholder government programs. This is not a research role and not a pure grants role. It is a cross-functional, execution-first program manager who understands how government partnerships actually run: LOIs, MOUs, CRADAs, pilots, interagency coordination, compliance rhythms, and handoff to post-award operations. This role will be principally client-facing during contract execution, and when between client contracts will adopt a business development and proposal support role. The TPM allows the Head of Government Partnerships to focus on pipeline, strategy, and senior external engagement, while ensuring nothing drops on the floor once a partnership is in motion.

Requirements

5–10 years experience in program management, government partnerships, or adjacent roles
Demonstrated ability to run programs end-to-end
Comfort operating across technical, legal, financial, and bureaucratic domains
Excellent written and verbal communication — you turn chaos into clarity
Strong judgment, follow-through, and bias toward action

Nice To Haves

Experience with CRADAs, national labs, DOE, DoD, USDA, or international public-sector partners
Technical literacy (STEM degree or equivalent experience)
Familiarity with pre- and post-award government processes
Experience building PM infrastructure from scratch

Responsibilities

Own government partnership programs from letter of intent through launch and steady-state execution
Translate high-level partnership intent into workplans, milestones, owners, timelines, and artifacts
Act as the single operational quarterback across legal, finance, science, product, AI, comms, and external partners
Manage the mechanics of CRADAs, pilots, user-facility access, MOUs, and partnership agreements
Track dependencies across contracting, compliance, technical scope, and stakeholder approvals
Ensure agreements move forward on schedule and align with internal operating constraints
Run internal operating cadence for active government programs (standups, reviews, risk tracking)
Identify bottlenecks early and drive resolution without escalation where possible
Maintain clear documentation and decision logs so programs don’t rely on institutional memory
Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for program-level coordination with agencies, labs, and partner organizations
Prepare materials, agendas, and follow-ups for partner working sessions
Ensure commitments made externally are feasible, resourced, and tracked internally
Support clean handoff to Grants / Post-Award / Ops as programs formalize
Help define what “good” post-award ownership looks like as the function scales
Contribute to templates, playbooks, and repeatable program infrastructure