Posted on March 19, 2025.

The International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS) is seeking an Operations Manager to ensure IBBIS delivers its operations at a high standard, including establishing our Geneva office, assisting with events, and providing general program support.

• Starting compensation: 85,000 – 95,000 CHF
• Work location: Primarily in person (Geneva office) with some WFH options
• Application link: submit an application here by April 13

Who are we?

IBBIS is an international organization with the mission of safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology so it can advance and flourish safely and responsibly. We work with global partners to strengthen biosecurity norms and develop innovative tools to uphold them.

The Common Mechanism, our first major project, is a tool for identifying potentially risky sequences within orders for synthetic DNA. This allows synthesis providers to ask additional follow-up questions if a customer orders sequences of concern (e.g. toxins, viral genomes, virulence factors) while preserving uninterrupted access for customers ordering most sequences.

In 2025, IBBIS’s second year, our focus is on expanding the share of nucleic acid synthesis orders for which sequences and customers are screened; supporting international, inclusive, and rigorous standards for managing access to biotechnology; and working with international, regional, and national partners to reduce the risk of catastrophic events that could result from deliberate abuse or accidental misuse of bioscience and biotechnology.

The role

The Operations Manager will ensure that IBBIS delivers its operations at a high standard. The Operations Manager will take primary responsibility for establishing our Geneva office and act as the conduit for interactions with goods and services from outside of IBBIS. Other tasks include assisting with events, setting up IT systems, and providing general program support.

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting program teams with administrative tasks (like booking travel, hotel and restaurants, purchasing and expensing, onboarding) and flexible support (like helping with organizing files, light research and data analysis)
• Creating a productive and welcoming Geneva office space, including managing the day-to-day running of the office, ensuring necessary supplies, arranging and supervising maintenance, identifying suitable vendors, etc.
• Developing effective internal IT and documentation systems: compiling and maintaining records to be provided to our accountants, creating knowledge management to ensure IBBIS’s processes are well-documented, selecting and setting up software to support different IBBIS functions (e.g. customer relations management)
• Assisting with events and meetings: Facilitating operations for meetings and events hosted by IBBIS, creating and maintaining scheduling for key staff and committees, setting up and running online meeting platforms, as well as calendar management
• Making IBBIS more efficient and effective: investigating and implementation of scalable solutions to common problems

Qualifications

• French and English fluency
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and time-management skills
• Work with a solutions-focused “operations mindset”, proactively noticing what’s broken and moving to fix it, finding solutions to problems even when the best solution looks different from the original ask
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously
• Experience with relevant electronic communication tools and standard office software
• Willingness to support workshops and meetings outside of office hours
• 3 years experience running projects or an office in a non-profit environment, ideally connected to biotechnology, science policy, or international peace and security.

Details

• Reports to: Deputy Director (open position)
• Relocation support: may be possible to support joining our Geneva, Switzerland office
• International collaborations: collaborate with global experts and contribute to international projects shaping the future of biotechnology and biosecurity
• Travel opportunities: Opportunity to support IBBIS events on-the-ground in many countries (roughly 10% of the time)

Application Process

IBBIS is working with the Michael Page group to recruit candidates for this role. Candidates may submit an expression of interest through their job posting.

Referral Bonus