Associate Director / Director, Strategic Finance

Your Impact at LILA

Lila Sciences is looking for an Associate Director / Director, Strategic Finance to join our Strategic Finance team. This role sits at the center of the highest-stakes financial workstreams in the company: structuring the complex, multi-year commercial agreements that underpin Lila's partner revenue, supporting the fundraising activity that fuels our scale-up, and partnering with leadership on revenue forecasting and capital allocation across the business.

You'll operate as the connective tissue between Commercial, Legal, Science, and Finance on live deals, and between the CFO's office and outside investors and counsel on capital raises. The role carries real ownership of the operational workstreams around each deal, including negotiation logistics, diligence coordination, contract lifecycle tracking, and cross-team sequencing, alongside the underlying financial analysis. This is a high-visibility seat with regular exposure to executive, board, and investor-level work, on a small, senior, fast-moving team, based on-site in our Cambridge office.

This role is well-suited to someone with a transactional finance background (banking, corporate development, venture/growth investing, or strategic finance) who is energized by deal complexity, comfortable operating across legal, commercial, and operational workstreams simultaneously, and can bring structure to ambiguity under tight timelines.

What You'll Be Building

Structure and model economics for complex, multi-year strategic partnerships and commercial agreements with customers, including platform/access fees, usage-based and milestone-gated pricing, royalty and buyout mechanics, and tiered rate cards

Own the operational cadence of deal execution: track open issues, sequence workstreams, and keep Legal, Commercial, and Science aligned on timelines from term sheet through signature

Partner with Legal (internal and outside counsel) on contract negotiation and redlines, including IP infringement representations and indemnity bundles, license grant structure, and liability caps

Build and maintain deal comparables and competitive pricing benchmarks to inform negotiation strategy across customer segments

Support revenue recognition analysis for multi-element arrangements, including option rights, cost-sharing structures, and milestone-based contracts

Act as a thought partner and operational point person to Commercial and Science leads throughout deal structuring, from initial pricing frameworks through signed agreement and handoff to delivery teams

Support end-to-end fundraising processes, including cap table modeling, SAFE conversion mechanics, pro forma ownership analysis, and round structuring

Coordinate the operational mechanics of a live raise: data room management, diligence request tracking, and sequencing across investors, outside counsel, and internal stakeholders

Build and maintain investor-facing materials, including data room contents, diligence questionnaire (DDQ) responses, and board/investor decks

Model dilution scenarios and support negotiation of round terms, including valuation, anchor investor terms, and pro-rata rights

Build and maintain revenue forecasts by customer segment and product line, partnering with the Commercial team to translate deal-level assumptions and pipeline activity into a company-wide view

Partner with senior leadership on capital allocation decisions across teams and program areas, weighing scientific priorities, market opportunity, and expected returns

Develop frameworks and analysis that help leadership compare investment options across programs on a consistent basis

Serve as a connective point across Finance, Legal, Commercial, and Science, translating between deal economics, contract terms, and operational execution

Partner with Accounting on revenue recognition treatment and audit support for complex, negotiated contracts

Build scalable tools, templates, and frameworks (pricing models, deal trackers, financial models) that raise the bar on analytical rigor and deal velocity across the team

Operate with high ownership in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment; move fast with an 80/20 mindset while knowing when precision matters

What You'll Need to Succeed

6-10+ years in investment banking, corporate development, venture capital/growth equity, strategic finance, or a related transactional finance field; startup or scale-up experience strongly preferred

Demonstrated experience structuring and negotiating complex, multi-year commercial agreements

Fluency in venture financing mechanics (SAFEs, priced rounds, cap tables, liquidation preferences) and comfort supporting live fundraising processes

Working knowledge of revenue recognition concepts (ASC 606) and the ability to translate contract terms into financial and accounting outcomes

Experience building revenue forecasts across multiple segments or product lines, and comfort developing capital allocation recommendations under uncertainty

Strong financial modeling skills, with the ability to build from scratch in ambiguous, fast-changing situations

Proven ability to drive cross-functional workstreams and keep Legal, Commercial, and Science aligned on timelines and deliverables

Clear, direct communicator who can operate cross-functionally with Legal, Commercial, and executive stakeholders, and distill complexity for senior leadership and investors

Bachelor's degree in finance, economics, or a related field (MBA or CFA a plus but not required)

Bonus Points For

Prior experience in biotech, pharma, deep tech, or AI-native company environments

Background in M&A diligence or corporate development transaction support

Direct experience negotiating contract redlines and familiarity with IP, indemnification, and licensing terms

Experience in an institutional investing seat (VC, growth equity, or banking coverage of growth-stage companies)

Experience preparing materials for board or investor audiences

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including 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. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range

$148,000 — $224,000 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship,