Program Launch Manager

About Convergent Research Convergent Research is a nonprofit science studio best known for pioneering the Focused Research Organization (FRO). We design, launch, and support mission-driven, time-bound organizations built to solve important scientific and engineering bottlenecks. FROs are designed to tackle the kinds of problems that benefit from unusual levels of focus, coordination, and scale. Convergent provides the operational backbone that allows FRO teams to move quickly—from legal formation, funding, hiring, finance, and governance to partnerships, communications, and operational systems. We’ve now taken 14 FROs from idea to operating entity, including four launches in 2026. And we’re not slowing down. About The Role Turning an ambitious scientific idea into a functioning organization requires a lot more than good science. There are entities to form, teams to hire, systems to stand up, funders and partners to coordinate, decisions to make, and approximately one million details that need to happen in the right order. At the same time, the founders doing this work are often building an organization for the first time. That’s where you come in. As our Program Launch Manager, you’ll sit at the center of the FRO lifecycle. You’ll help promising scientific projects become functioning organizations while also running large-scale founder programs that develop the next generation of FROs. You’ll be part project manager, part operator, and part trusted partner. One minute you might be building a launch plan across legal, finance, people, and IT. The next, you’re helping a scientist understand an unfamiliar operational decision, chasing down a dependency that could delay launch, or making sure a founder residency participant has what they need to make progress. This isn’t a traditional project-management or account-management role. Our systems and playbooks are still evolving, and every FRO is different. You’ll need to bring structure without creating bureaucracy, keep things moving without losing sight of the people involved, and turn what we learn from every launch into a better system for the next one. You Are (Skills) A project manager who can make ambiguity actionable. Give you a complicated goal with multiple teams, unclear dependencies, and a moving timeline, and you can turn it into a practical plan. You know who owns what, what needs to happen next, where the risks are, and which decisions are holding everything else up. Operationally rigorous. You notice the details that matter. You keep accurate records, follow through reliably, and know that a small operational gap today can become a much larger problem three weeks from now. People-centered and emotionally intelligent. Launching an organization can be exciting, confusing, stressful, and occasionally all three before lunch. You build trust quickly, meet people where they are, and know when to coach, facilitate, advise, push, or simply listen. A confident, clear, proactive communicator. You can run an effective meeting, write a concise status update, ask the uncomfortable-but-important question, and translate complicated processes into something another human can actually understand. You’re equally comfortable working with scientists, founders, executives, vendors, funders, and functional specialists. Comfortable with ambiguity. You’ve worked somewhere entrepreneurial—perhaps a startup, nonprofit, consultancy, research organization, or similar environment—where not every process came with an instruction manual. You bring structure while recognizing that the right answer may be different for every FRO. A fan of functional systems. After doing something manually for the fifth time, you start wondering whether there’s a better way. You like turning bespoke work into useful processes, templates, documentation, and operating rhythms—and you’re interested in using automation and AI thoughtfully when they can make those systems better. A great juggler. Multiple launches, founder programs, stakeholders, decisions, and deadlines don’t scare you. You can manage several workstreams at once, adjust when priorities change, and keep things moving without adding unnecessary process. You Will (Duties) Lead FRO launches. You’ll own the day-to-day coordination of one or more FRO launches, bringing together Convergent’s legal, finance, people, compliance, procurement, IT, fundraising, communications, and leadership teams. You’ll build and manage launch plans from proposal approval and funding commitment through entity formation, operational activation, team onboarding, and early FRO execution. You’ll run launch meetings, track decisions and dependencies, surface risks early, resolve blockers, and help coordinate launches across both U.S. and international contexts. Run founder programs. You’ll own the operational delivery of FRO Founder Residencies, open calls, Launchpad programs, and other partner-led initiatives—from planning and participant onboarding through programming, selection, and closeout. You’ll coordinate program design, participant experience, and internal operational work while providing thoughtful, high-touch support to founders and teams. Be a trusted partner to FRO founders. You’ll serve as a consistent and responsive point of contact for founders and FRO leaders during launch and early operations. You’ll help them understand Convergent’s operating model, systems, decision rights, governance expectations, and available support. You’ll advocate for their needs while also helping them navigate the realities of building a new organization. Listen and learn. Every FRO teaches us something. You’ll create structured feedback loops with FRO teams to understand what is working, where friction exists, and what they need from Convergent. Then you’ll make sure those lessons actually go somewhere—sharing insights with internal teams and helping turn recurring pain points into improvements. Help FROs become operationally independent. Convergent provides significant support during launch, but the goal is not for that support to last forever. You’ll track operational readiness, coordinate handoffs, and help teams move from temporary Convergent support toward durable internal ownership. Make the launch system better. You’ll maintain and improve Convergent’s FRO Launch Playbook, templates, checklists, documentation, and operating rhythms. You’ll turn lessons from individual launches into repeatable processes, clearer systems, and useful metrics for future FROs. Where appropriate, you’ll use automation and AI to keep information, documentation, and tracking accurate and up to date. Pitch in where needed. We’re still building the system while using it. Occasionally that means an unusual project, a new partner initiative, or something nobody has done before. You’ll be comfortable jumping in, figuring out what needs to happen, and helping make it happen. In 6 Months, You Will Have Built trusted relationships across the FRO ecosystem. Founders, internal functional leads, and key external partners will know you as someone who understands their needs, communicates clearly, and follows through. Taken ownership of one or more FRO launches. You’ll be running the launch plan and operating cadence, creating clarity across owners, milestones, decisions, dependencies, risks, and next steps. Improved the way we launch FROs. You’ll have identified and meaningfully improved at least one part of the FRO launch process, playbook, or documentation system. Created better visibility into our launch portfolio. Convergent teams and leadership will have a clearer picture of where launches stand, what needs attention, and what is coming next. Helped prepare Convergent for the next generation of FROs. You’ll have contributed to upcoming residency, program, and launch work—and made the system stronger for the teams that come after you. What You Bring 5+ years of experience in project management, operations, program management, account management, implementation, consulting, or a related field. Demonstrated experience coordinating complex, cross-functional projects involving multiple stakeholders. Experience working directly with founders, executives, clients, partners, or other senior stakeholders. Strong written, verbal, organizational, and follow-through skills. Experience building or improving processes, playbooks, templates, or operating systems. Comfort working independently in a distributed, rapidly changing environment. Nice To Have Based on the U.S. East Coast, or comfortable working East Coast hours and supporting projects in the United Kingdom. Willingness to travel occasionally to support programs and events. Experience launching or scaling a startup, nonprofit, research organization, lab, program, or other new initiative. Experience working across countries, time zones, or international operating environments. Experience supporting scientific, technical, or mission-driven teams. Experience managing external vendors, consultants, institutional partners, or funders. Familiarity with AI-enabled tools for documentation, reporting, workflow automation, or project management. We Offer (Amazing Benefits) A rare chance to build institutional architecture for frontier science and work with some of the smartest and most talented experts from different fields Competitive Salary: The salary range for this role is $111,000 - 159,000 Convergent uses a consistent compensation philosophy across all roles. We benchmark salaries to San Francisco market data and aim for the grade midpoint, which for this role is approximately $159,000. We then apply a geographic adjustment if an employee is located outside of SF, NYC, or Boston, For example, in Denver, CO the midpoint for this role would be around $135k, and in Eugene, OR it would be $119k. We also maintain a minimum of 70% of the SF midpoint, which is reflected in the range floor. This structure helps us keep pay transparent, consistent, and equitable across locations while reflecting local market conditions. Up to a 6% 401k match because future-you deserves comfort Top-tier medical, dental, and vision insurance majority of options are fully covered for you and your dependents. Stay healthy, my friend Company-paid life insurance, AD&D, long- and short-term disability insurance, as well as voluntary supplemental insurance options 19 holidays (including a full week off at the end of the year yes, we enforce it) 3 weeks PTO with tenure increases, with separate allotments for sick and parental leave Generous fertility benefits and childcare reimbursement because tiny humans are a big deal Education and professional development benefits Wellness allowance for fitness and wellness activities (treat yourself to climbing shoes or Calm.com no judgment) Quarterly offsite team retreats and additional opportunities to meet your teammates in person $111,000 - $159,000 a year Convergent Research aims to help fill a structural gap in today’s R&D system. We enable fundamental research that requires unusual levels of scale and coordination yet is not rapidly monetizable by industry. We’re bringing together top talent from academia, industry, and startups to build a new model for innovative R&D. At Convergent Research, we are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. We believe in hiring individuals based on their unique talents, not on race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law or our company policies. We are more than a proud Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Our goal is to foster a healthy, safe, and respectful environment where all employees are valued and treated with dignity. Harassment of any kind is not tolerated here. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us. #J-18808-Ljbffr Convergent Research