Director / Sr. Director, R&D Operations & Technical Program Management

Subsense is building a category-defining Brain-Computer Interface — and we’re looking for a senior R&D execution operator who will own the operating rhythm that keeps R&D aligned, focused, and moving. Your responsibilities will include:

• Building, maintaining, and driving adoption of a clear R&D execution plan across priority workstreams
• Create a clear weekly picture of what is happening, what is blocked, what has changed, what decisions are needed, and whether critical milestones are on track
• Partner closely with the Head of R&D to protect leadership time and ensure focus remains on strategic, scientific, and technical priorities
• Translate complex R&D work into clear execution visibility for leadership, without oversimplifying the technical reality
• Track owners, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and next actions across critical technical programs
• Surface blockers, trade-offs, and dependency risks early so they can be resolved before they slow execution
• Help team leads operate from one shared execution plan without adding unnecessary process or meetings
• Design lightweight operating rhythms that respect lab time, experiment windows, and deep technical work
• Use async updates, consolidated reporting, decision logs, and focused meetings to reduce coordination burden
• Coordinate across science, engineering, hardware, software, regulatory, operations, and leadership as needed
• Help leadership quickly understand whether company-critical and fundraising-critical milestones are on track

We’re not looking for someone who simply “does project management.”

We’re looking for someone who can create alignment, drive execution, and earn trust inside a highly technical R&D organization.

Must-haves

• Proven experience managing complex technical programs, R&D initiatives, or multidisciplinary technical projects
• Strong technical fluency combined with the ability to quickly and intuitively understand multiple scientific and engineering domains; while no one person will know everything we are working on, you can rapidly grasp the most important concepts and connect them across disciplines
• Experience operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments where priorities shift and the playbook is still being built
• Ability to influence senior technical people without relying on formal authority
• Strong execution discipline, including ownership of milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and follow-through
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills — clear, concise, direct, and trusted by both technical teams and leadership
• Strong judgment about when to convene a meeting, when to handle alignment asynchronously, and when to escalate an issue
• Ability to create practical operating systems that improve efficiency while protecting lab time, experiment windows, and deep technical focus
• Low-ego, high-accountability working style
• Fluent spoken and written English

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in neuroscience, biotech, medtech, nanotechnology, hardware, robotics, materials science, complex systems, or another deep-tech environment
• Experience in a regulated product environment
• Experience working on company-critical, board-level, investor-facing, or fundraising-critical milestones
• Experience working directly with founders, executives, scientists, and engineering leaders
• Prior experience in a seed-stage or high-growth startup
• Scientific or engineering background

What Success Looks Like in the first 6–12 months:

• The Head of R&D and leadership team have a clear weekly picture of all critical R&D workstreams
• Blockers and dependencies are surfaced early, not discovered too late
• Team leads use one shared execution plan without feeling buried in process
• Company-critical milestones have clear owners, risks, decisions, and next actions
• The Head of R&D spends less time chasing updates and more time on scientific and strategic leadership
• Leadership can quickly understand whether we are on track for fundraising-critical milestones
• R&D meetings become fewer, sharper, and more decision-oriented
• Technical teams feel more focused, not more interrupted
• The company moves faster because execution is more visible, coordinated, and disciplined

What Makes You Exceptional

You may be an especially strong fit if people describe you as someone who:

• Sees the whole system, not just individual tasks
• Quickly understands how technical workstreams depend on each other
• Creates clarity in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Understands that great R&D execution does not mean more meetings — it means the right information, surfaced at the right time, with minimal disruption to technical work
• Builds structure that increases speed rather than bureaucracy
• Is warm and collaborative, but relentless on follow-through
• Can work with strong technical leaders in a way that earns trust
• Knows how to protect deep work while still keeping execution visible
• Thrives in high-stakes, high-ambiguity environments
• Wants to help build one of the most ambitious neurotechnology companies in the world

What This Role Is Not

This is not a role for someone who wants to simply maintain a project tracker, take meeting notes, or run status meetings.

This role is also not the technical decision-maker. You will not own scientific direction, product strategy, people management, or final prioritization decisions.

Your job is to make execution visible, aligned, and accountable — so the right leaders can make the right decisions at the right time.