Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone. Osmo is headquartered in New York, NY, with a new facility in New Jersey, and offices in Somerville, MA.

The Opportunity

Osmo is digitizing the chemical world to improve our lives and the health of our planet. We built the first AI platform capable of predicting olfactory perception from molecular structure, and we are now scaling into a new type of fragrance house. Our bottleneck is no longer just the "Digital Brain" — it is the physical throughput of our laboratory and the breadth of applications we can deliver into.

Reporting to the Director, R&D Operations, you are the operational engine of our Scientific Operations team. You translate strategy into execution and own the day-to-day performance of the lab. Your mission is to manage the equipment, processes, and people that move physical samples through the lab and into application bases — fine fragrance, laundry, candles, and the next category we take on. You manage the olfactive team that generates model training data, lead execution across customer programs and applications, own the SOP framework, and drive a continuous improvement culture across the lab.

Ownership Outcomes: The First 12 Months

• Success in this role is defined by execution, throughput, applications delivery, and the operational health of the lab:

• Deliver Across Applications: Own the day-to-day operational delivery of fragrance into application bases (EtOH, laundry, candles, and new categories on the roadmap). You set the quality bar and own the operational standard the team executes against.

• Execute Customer Programs: Own day-to-day execution of operational commitments to key customer programs — ensuring sample volume, quality, and timing are delivered.

• Optimize the Existing Engine: Find and capture efficiencies in current sample prep, applications workflows, and lab operations. Drive measurable improvements in cycle time, equipment utilization, and consumable spend. Build a continuous improvement culture in the team.

• Own the SOP Framework: Maintain, and enforce the standard operating procedures that govern lab logistics, sample handling, applications protocols, testing protocols, and data capture. Make sure the team executes them consistently.

• Manage and Develop the Team: Lead day-to-day people management for the olfactive team, Lab Managers, Applications specialists, and Technicians. Set goals, run performance management, and develop the next layer of operational leadership.

• Partner with Procurement: Own consumables forecasting and supply chain coordination in partnership with procurement, ensuring the lab and applications work are never blocked on materials.

• Generate the Insight: Use Python, SQL, or equivalent tools to pull throughput, utilization, and asset performance data — and turn it into operational decisions.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Execution

• Process Optimization: Identify bottlenecks in existing sample prep, dilution, applications, and stability testing workflows, and drive solutions through the team.

• Project Leadership: Lead R&D Ops projects from scoping through delivery — automation rollouts, lab reconfigurations, new applications bringup, customer program execution.

• SOP & Protocol Ownership: Build, maintain, and enforce SOPs and testing protocols across lab and applications operations. Train the team on new procedures and audit for compliance.

• Continuous Improvement: Build the cadence and culture of operational improvement — small experiments, measured outcomes, captured learnings.

Applications Delivery

• Applications Operations: Own the operational delivery of fragrance into application bases (EtOH, laundry, candles, etc.) through the team. You know the work well enough to set the quality bar and audit execution, and you can step onto the bench when the team needs it.

• Quality & Consistency: Maintain the operational quality bar for applications work — ensuring samples going to evaluation, manufacturing, and customers meet the standard.

• Customer Program Execution: Deliver operational commitments to customer programs— coordinating internal teams to hit volume, quality, and timing.

• New Category Operationalization: When the Director sets the strategy for a new application format, you own the operational rollout — protocols, equipment, training, SOPs.

Training Data

• Data Capture Discipline: Make sure every sample generated is captured cleanly into Osmo's data systems — clean inputs are non-negotiable for model training.

People Management

• Direct Management: Manage a team including the Applications specialists, and Technicians. Owns hiring, performance management, and development across these sub-functions.

• Workforce Planning: Set work plans, manage workload allocation across teams, and develop the staffing model required to meet operational goals.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Procurement Partnership: Own consumables forecasting and supply chain coordination with the procurement team. Keep the lab stocked and the budget on track.

• Technical Collaboration: Work closely with ML, Software, and Hardware teams to execute on automation deployments and ensure the lab's output integrates cleanly into Osmo's digital systems.

• Manufacturing Handoff: Partner with the manufacturing team on the operational details of moving discoveries — and finished applications — from lab to factory.

Asset & Data Optimization

• Asset Utilization: Monitor equipment uptime, throughput, and utilization. Drive decisions on maintenance, reallocation, and upgrades.

• Data-Driven Decisions: Pull and analyze operational data using Python, SQL, or equivalent tools. Surface insights that improve throughput and reduce cost per sample.

Who You Are

• The Operational Leader: 5+ years of experience in lab operations, fragrance/flavor applications, advanced manufacturing, biotech, or a comparable high-throughput physical environment, including 2+ years directly managing teams. You've owned execution end-to-end on real systems and managed the people who run them.

• The Applications Operator: You have direct experience delivering fragrance (or comparable formulations) into application bases — EtOH, laundry, candles, personal care, or similar — and have led teams that deliver this work at scale.

• The Systems Optimizer: You see a workflow and instinctively look for the bottleneck. You're equally comfortable on the lab floor and in a spreadsheet, and you know how to drive improvement through a team rather than doing it yourself.

• The People Manager: You have direct management experience across multiple sub-functions and a track record of developing technicians, applications specialists, and operational staff into stronger operators. You set clear expectations and run a tight team.

• First-Principles Thinker: You don't do things "the way they've always been done in fragrance." You optimize the system in front of you, and you push back when a process doesn't make sense.

• Technically Fluent: You are comfortable with Python and SQL — not at expert level, but enough to pull throughput data, run basic analysis, and export to Excel when needed. You pick up new software independently and figure out new platforms without hand-holding.

• The Project Closer: You have a track record of taking complex operational projects from scoping to launch, on time and on budget.

• Hands on - not afraid to get your hands dirty when needed - leading by example.

Salary: $100k-125k

If this role inspires you we’d encourage you to apply. We are committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining an incredible team optimized for a diversity of thought, background, and approaches.

For all Full-Time Employees, compensation is just one component of Osmo’s total rewards approach, which is designed to support the well-being, growth, and long-term success of our team members. Depending on the role, this may include base salary or contract-based pay, along with access to health, dental, and vision coverage; a 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match; flexible paid time off and company holidays; and equity or incentive compensation for eligible roles. Actual compensation will vary based on factors such as experience, skills, location, internal equity, and other relevant business considerations. Osmo regularly reviews pay ranges and compensation structures to ensure they remain competitive, equitable, and aligned with current market data.

All employment decisions and responsibilities are determined based on current ability and your ability to grow, without regard to race, color, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status, physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Osmo does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Osmo or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by the Osmo Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Osmo and Osmo will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire