Drug discovery still relies on wet labs: slow, expensive, and constrained by physical trial-and-error. Helical is changing that.
We build the application layer that makes Bio Foundation Models usable in real-world drug discovery, enabling pharma and biotech teams to run millions of virtual experiments in days, not years. Today, leading global pharma companies already use Helical, and we’re at the start of a highly ambitious growth journey.
We’re a founder-led, talent-dense team building a category-defining company from Europe. We care deeply about the quality of our work, move fast, and expect ownership. If you’re excited by complexity, real responsibility, and shaping how a company actually operates as it scales, you’ll feel at home here.
About the role
We’re hiring a Chief of Staff to play a pivotal role in how Helical scales.
This is a high-leverage operating role at the heart of the company, designed for someone who wants real responsibility and meaningful influence over how a category-defining business actually runs. It’s a role for an operator who thrives in complexity, enjoys being close to the action, and wants to shape the way a company executes as it grows.
You’ll work directly with the CEO and leadership team to:
- turn direction and intent into clear priorities and decisive action
- keep the company aligned as teams, customers, and initiatives multiply
- ensure momentum is sustained even as complexity increases
This role exists to amplify the CEO’s impact, freeing him to focus on the work only he can do, while you ensure the business continues to move forward with speed, clarity, and momentum.
If done well, this will be one of the most impactful roles at Helical.
What you’ll do
In practice, you will:
- Partner closely with the CEO, absorbing context quickly and translating priorities into clear plans and next steps.
- Drive the operating rhythm of the company, including planning cycles, weekly priorities, leadership meetings, and follow-through.
- Own and progress cross-functional initiatives, ensuring they don’t stall or drift as complexity increases.
- Connect work across commercial, product, engineering, and scientific teams so efforts stay aligned.
- Build and refine lightweight systems and processes that scale with the company (e.g. onboarding, quarterly planning, execution reviews).
- Create clarity around ownership, sequencing, and trade-offs in ambiguous situations.
- Identify bottlenecks early and unblock them before they escalate.
- Step into gaps where needed, while always designing for how things should work as the company grows.
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for a high-judgement operator who wants to sit close to the centre of a scaling company and take real ownership over how it runs.
You’re someone who has already experienced the reality of growth, where priorities compete, information is imperfect, and progress depends on clarity, follow-through, and good judgement more than formal process.
You bring:
- Experience operating in fast-moving, high-ambiguity environments
- Time spent working closely with a founder or senior leader, where context matters and decisions move quickly
- A track record of taking unclear or loosely defined problems and turning them into concrete outcomes
- Comfort operating cross-functionally, aligning people with different incentives and perspectives
More than a specific title or background, we’re looking for someone who:
- has a strong bias to action and follow-through
- Sound judgement and low ego
- Comfort operating with ambiguity and incomplete information
- Clear, direct communication across technical and commercial teams
- A systems mindset — instinctively thinking about how things should work as the company scales
Domain experience
Experience in biotech, life sciences, deep tech, or AI is a strong plus — but not required. Curiosity, respect for technical depth, and the ability to ask good questions matter more than prior domain knowledge.
What success looks like (6–12 Months)
- The company runs on a clear, predictable execution rhythm.
- Priorities move forward without constant CEO involvement.
- Cross-functional initiatives execute cleanly and consistently.
- Core processes scale deliberately as headcount grows.
- The CEO spends the majority of time on GTM, product direction, investors, and hiring.
- The business feels clearer, faster, and more resilient as complexity increases.
