IT Manager

Starting compensation: $140,000 to $165,000 Work location: On-site in Cambridge, MA (up to 2 remote days per week for exceptional candidates) About SecureBio SecureBio is a nonprofit working to protect the world from catastrophic pandemics. As advances in biotechnology lower the barriers to engineering dangerous pathogens, our mission is to make sure humanity’s detection and response systems are ready in time. We work on some of the most consequential problems in biosecurity: novel pathogen surveillance, AI-enabled biosecurity tooling, and the infrastructure that supports both. Our two program teams, AI and Detection , are backed by a shared Operations team, and we’re based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. About the Team Operations exists so that the two program teams can do their best work without the systems around them becoming a distraction. That covers everything from finance and people ops through to the platforms, devices, and security posture the whole organisation runs on. IT and security have been part of that remit informally as we’ve grown, handled thoughtfully by people for whom it’s a secondary responsibility. This role brings that work under one dedicated owner for the first time. About the Role We’re hiring an IT Manager to own the systems and security foundations the whole organisation runs on, and to bring real, sustained focus to work that has, until now, been distributed across a lot of people’s plates. You’ll report to Alvaro Morales, Director of Operations, and work closely with the security and infrastructure leads across both program teams. You’ll be joining at a formative moment. Because this role hasn’t existed as a dedicated position before, you’ll have freedom to shape how it operates. Some of your work will be strategic: shaping our security baseline, guiding decisions that cut across teams, and improving our processes for maintaining our ISO 27001 certification. Some of it will be foundational: making sure devices are secure, platforms are configured well, and incidents get handled calmly. Both matter, and the right person for this role sees why. Why This Role, Why Now A dedicated IT and security function is something SecureBio has grown into needing. It reflects the organisation’s growth and the increasing complexity of the systems we depend on. The person who takes this role will build the foundations of a function that’s likely to grow with SecureBio over time. How you’ll spend your time You’ll configure and secure the SaaS platforms the whole organisation runs on, including Google Workspace, Slack, Linear, Benchling, 1Password, and our LLM tooling, so that colleagues across both programs can rely on them without thinking about them. You’ll manage our fleet of MacBooks through MDM, endpoint security, and patching, making trade-offs between strong protection and staff productivity, especially for technical colleagues who care about their own setups. You’ll own the IT that keeps our offices running: WiFi, networking, access control, printers, AV. You’ll build backup and disaster recovery that we can actually rely on, with real retention and real restore tests. You’ll set the security baseline for the systems you own, and work alongside program staff on the decisions that cross team boundaries, particularly the trade-offs between stronger protection and organisational speed. You’ll maintain our ISO 27001 certification and coordinate the pieces of it that touch program infrastructure, so what we have adds up to a coherent whole rather than a collection of parts. You’ll partner with technical leaders across our AI and Detection programs to implement IT operations and security best practices, ensuring our systems support ambitious technical work without compromising security. You’ll own incident response for the systems you’re responsible for, and coordinate the wider response when an incident spans systems, with authority to take fast protective action on shared systems when the situation calls for it. You’ll manage our relationship with the security consultant who supports us on specialized areas that need deeper expertise. What great looks like twelve months in Incident response is calm and well-structured. Roles are clear before something happens, and confident execution follows when it does. Leadership has visibility into IT operations across the organisation. Our ISO 27001 posture is in strong shape and coherent across teams. Colleagues across both programs know where to bring IT and security questions, and trust the answer they get. The quieter, foundational work that’s been waiting for a dedicated owner is genuinely being addressed, alongside the visible things. What Kinds of Things We’re Most Interested In You Having Experience administering and securing SaaS environments, especially Google Workspace, including identity, access, and SSO. Experience managing and securing a fleet of macOS devices: MDM, endpoint security, patching. Working knowledge of office networking and physical access systems, or the ability to ramp up on them quickly. Comfort with light scripting and automation to reduce repetitive work, including with modern LLM tooling. A practical security mindset: familiarity with common threats, sensible defaults, and the ability to reason about risk against operational cost rather than applying best practice by default. Genuine comfort with ambiguity and a real willingness to work across the whole scope. You’ll be comfortable engaging with technically minded colleagues to understand their requirements, influence decisions where needed, and find solutions that balance project needs with IT operational and security requirements. Nice to Have Experience in a small or fast-growing organisation where you covered a wide range of responsibilities. Hands-on experience operating a formal security framework such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2, including supporting external audits. Experience working with an external security consultant or managed security provider. Experience running incident response and leading post incident reviews. Logistics and benefits This is a full-time in-person role located in our Cambridge, MA office. Our employee benefits reflect our belief in investing to build the strongest possible team, in which everyone receives the trust and support they need to excel. Our benefits package includes: Flexible work hours; unlimited paid time off (PTO) for all employees; and minimum 12 weeks fully-paid parental leave. 401(k) Employer 401(k) match up to 4% of total salary. Relocation & commuter support Free commuter benefits up to $250/month, plus a generous relocation allowance for employees who move to the Boston area. Referral bonus We offer a referral bonus of up to $5,000 to individuals who refer successful candidates for this position: To receive these bonuses, we must reasonably believe that you were responsible for referring the candidate to us (e.g.due to you introducing them to us when we didn’t previously know them, or them mentioning you on their application as the reason they heard about the position). If you refer a candidate that we invite to an in-person work trial, you will receive $1,000; If the candidate accepts a job offer from us, you will receive a further $4,000, for a total of $5,000. #J-18808-Ljbffr