Chief Operating Officer

Job Description

Job Description

EQL Tech is partnering with Sentinel Bio to find an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to join its leadership team as the organization scales toward deploying more than $100M toward its mission by 2030.

Sentinel Bio is dedicated to making pandemics history within our lifetimes — finding, funding, and scaling the most promising efforts to eliminate catastrophic pandemics over the coming decade. Since launching in 2024, Sentinel has played a central role as the biosecurity field has achieved significant milestones toward substantially mitigating pandemic risk. The organization has raised nearly $40 million in philanthropic capital and funded more than 70 grants, special projects, and incubated organizations focused on safeguarding AI-enabled biology and DNA synthesis.

The field stands at an inflection point: the threat of AI-enabled biotech misuse is accelerating dramatically, while new philanthropic resources create unprecedented opportunities to bolster societal resilience. With its track record and relationships across biosecurity, AI, and philanthropy, Sentinel is exceptionally well placed to seize this moment.

Sentinel is hiring an exceptional COO to build an organization that can deploy more than $100M by 2030. You'll own the internal architecture Sentinel needs at 2x, 5x, and 10x today's scale.

As a core member of the leadership team, you'll work closely with Sentinel's CEO, program leadership, and Operations Lead on organizational health. You'll represent Sentinel externally, and the team will trust you to make meaningful decisions independently.

Strategic leadership & organizational management

• Serve as a strategic organizational leader, owning the operational picture of Sentinel and proactively surfacing risks, bottlenecks, and opportunities.
• Develop and execute Sentinel's operational strategy, including annual and multi-year roadmaps across finance, HR, compliance, and program operations.

Partnership with program teams, grantees, and incubatees

• Help stand up new biosecurity organizations from zero to one.
• Work closely with program leadership to translate strategic priorities into resource plans.
• Independently represent Sentinel externally with legal counsel, partners, and other stakeholders.

People, culture & hiring

• In partnership with the CEO and program team, lead recruitment across the organization and its portfolio to attract and retain high-caliber talent.
• Build and manage Sentinel's operations function, including direct management of the Operations Lead.
• Own onboarding, offboarding, compensation frameworks, and employee development across multiple jurisdictions and entities.

Finance & compliance

• Own Sentinel's financial health — budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and cash flow management — in partnership with the Operations Lead and external controller (who owns bookkeeping).
• Ensure compliance with all applicable nonprofit regulations, including filings, audits, and governance requirements, working closely with external legal counsel and accountants on challenging, high-risk areas.

Sentinel is a small, high-trust team that moves quickly, takes its work seriously, and holds itself to a high standard. Impact on the mission is the bottom line — the North Star. When the path forward is unclear or difficult, the team turns to these guiding values:

• Unwavering integrity : Seeking and speaking the truth even when it is costly.
• Relentless prioritization : Diligently deploying precious resources — time, funds, and the trust of partners.
• Calibrated humility : Recognizing limitations without overstating them, and generously sharing both credit and opportunities for impact.
• Sustainable ambition : Pursuing the mission to its limits but no further, seeking the assistance needed and embracing that the team will sometimes fail.

Sentinel Bio is led by Claire Qureshi, who has over 15 years of leadership experience in biotech, global health, public policy, and consulting, and Joshua Monrad, who has deployed tens of millions of dollars in philanthropic grants and helped build several new biosecurity institutions. Sentinel has strong partnerships with a geographically diverse group of philanthropists who share its long-term mission, and is on track to raise and deploy $100M by 2030.

Sentinel Bio is building a team that reflects the global community it serves, embracing differences in background, perspective, and experience. The organization actively seeks out and welcomes talent from all walks of life, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other aspect that makes you uniquely you.

Requirements

The right person will be deeply mission-aligned, operationally excellent, and able to exercise mature judgment in ambiguous, high-stakes situations:

• Excellent judgment : You are confident holding complexity, navigating ambiguity, and making sound decisions in high-stakes situations.
• Exceptionally savvy with people and communications : You know how to hire, develop, and manage outstanding people, and can represent Sentinel externally in writing, on video, and in person.
• A flexible mind and low ego : You're ready to operate at the pace of a startup with the robustness of a trusted philanthropy. You can think strategically about what the organization needs in 2–3 years while also being willing to draft a contract or troubleshoot today.
• Mission-driven : You are passionate about Sentinel's focus on biosecurity and pandemic prevention, and share their seriousness about the mission.

This role spans several domains, and no one candidate will be strong in all of them. That said, we're particularly excited about candidates who bring some combination of:

• 8–12+ years of experience in operations and organizational leadership, with a demonstrated ability to own complex projects end-to-end.
• Experience in a small organization where you were responsible for building operational infrastructure from scratch — not just maintaining existing systems.
• Comfort with budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and nonprofit compliance and governance, with a strong preference for US 501(c)(3) experience.
• Experience in philanthropic grantmaking, biosecurity, or adjacent high-stakes nonprofit sectors (helpful but not required).

Benefits

• Compensation : $220,000–$260,000+, plus unconditional retirement or pension contributions.
• Competitive benefits : Healthcare and retirement contributions; personal and professional development budget; workspace membership; travel.
• Time off : Unlimited PTO and paid holidays.
• Location flexibility : D.C. or San Francisco preferred, but open to remote (including international) and hybrid work.
• The team : You'll work with a small, ambitious team that punches well above its weight, alongside some of the most influential organizations and individuals in AI and biosecurity.

Sentinel Bio has retained EQL Tech to lead this search. To apply, submit your CV and a few responses through this posting. We review applications on a rolling basis and aim to move quickly for strong candidates, who will be asked to complete a compensated work test. Initial conversations are confidential.