Job Description

Executive Assistant

Palo Alto, CA

Arc Institute is an independent nonprofit research organization at the interface of artificial intelligence and biology, working to accelerate scientific progress and understand the root causes of complex diseases. Founded in 2021 and based in Palo Alto, Arc partners with Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco.

Unlike academia, our scientists have long-term funding and industry-like resources. Unlike industry, they're free to pursue high-risk, long-term research without commercial pressures. Arc's Technology Centers and Core Investigator labs work side by side, integrating experimental and computational biology under one roof to tackle problems neither could solve alone.

Our two Institute Initiatives reflect this model in action:

• Virtual Cell Initiative: Building a full-stack virtual cell model to identify disease mechanisms and nominate drug targets, accelerating the path from biological insight to clinical trials.
• Alzheimer's Disease Initiative: Mapping the genes, pathways, and environmental factors behind Alzheimer's disease to develop drug candidates that address root causes.

More than 300 Arconauts work together at our Palo Alto headquarters, backed by substantial long-term philanthropic funding.

We are looking for an Executive Assistant to support both our Chief Science Officer and Chief Technology Officer, two of our most senior leaders at Arc Institute, who together oversee the efforts of about 100 scientists, engineers, and researchers and collaborate with many more across the Institute and beyond. This person will manage active calendars, help run team offsites and events across both organizations, and act as a trusted partner who understands the pace and priorities of each leader. This is a high visibility role for someone who enjoys managing multiple priorities across two distinct teams and wants to build a real partnership with the executives they support.

You have a natural read on people and situations. You can sense when stress is building or a moment needs extra care, and you use tools like the calendar thoughtfully to protect people's time and headspace, not just fill it.

You have sharp intuition for what matters. You don't need everything spelled out; you build a real understanding of the team's priorities over time and know when to make a call independently and also when to check in.

You're fast to respond and quick to act. If something lands in your inbox during the day, it doesn't sit. You treat responsiveness as a core part of the job, not an afterthought.

You're detail-oriented. You notice the small things and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

In this position you will:

• Manage complex, overlapping calendars for two executives, using judgment to protect their time, resolve conflicts, and anticipate scheduling issues before they become problems
• Coordinate all logistics for work related travel for both executives, including flights, hotels, and itineraries (personal calendars and personal travel are not part of this role)
• Own the planning and execution of Tech Center offsites and recurring team events, partnering with the Science Program Manager and other stakeholders on agenda and content while owning venue selection, catering, and day of logistics
• Partner with the Science Program Manager on Tech Center recurring team social events, all hands meetings, including coordinating pre-reads and related communications
• Identify and take on cleanly scoped projects that reduce the load on the broader team, such as reorganizing shared documentation
• Communicate directly, and on behalf of both executives, with internal teams, external partners, and scientific staff
• Balance competing needs and rhythms across two teams of different sizes and seniority, adjusting as priorities shift week to week

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience
• Administrative experience supporting a C-suite or senior executive at a company or large organization (this is not a personal assistant role supporting an individual)
• Experience managing calendars and schedules for an executive with a high volume of meetings
• Able to be onsite a minimum of 3 days per week at our Palo Alto office, with additional time onsite expected during offsites, events, and other high activity weeks
• Adept at handling confidential and sensitive information with care, thoughtfulness and discretion.
• Open to learning and adopting new organizational tools as needed, including Asana and AI tools such as Claude
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and occasional urgency, and able to stay steady when plans change quickly
• Proficient with standard office and organizational software (e.g. Google Suite)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience supporting two or more leaders at the same time
• Experience in a fast paced startup environment or a large, complex organization
• Curiosity about science or research (a science background is not required)
• Experience planning and running offsites, team events, or conferences from start to finish

The base salary range for this position is $105,250 to $148,000. These amounts reflect the range of base salary that the Institute reasonably would expect to pay a new hire or internal candidate for this position. The actual base compensation paid to any individual for this position may vary depending on factors such as experience, market conditions, education/training, skill level, and whether the compensation is internally equitable, and does not include bonuses, commissions, differential pay, other forms of compensation, or benefits. This position is also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus, with the amount dependent on individual and institute performance factors.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs