Facilities Director

About the role

ABOUT PILGRIM: Pilgrim is building America’s biology prime - engineering, manufacturing, and deploying advanced biotechnology for defense and national security. Our primary platform, ARGUS, is a fully autonomous system for detecting biological threats in near real time, from naturally occurring pathogens to engineered agents. We engineer hardware for biology, turning breakthrough science into fielded capabilities. Based in Redwood City, our team brings together mechanical and electrical engineering, chemistry, and biology under one roof to deliver critical technologies to the people who need them. Pilgrim has raised over $30 million to date and is backed by Peter Thiel, Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam, Dylan Field, and Bryan Johnson, alongside Buckley Ventures, Conviction, Cantos, and others. ABOUT THE ROLE: As the Facilities Director at Pilgrim, you will own the operation and physical build-out of Pilgrim’s facilities. You'll keep day-to-day operations running with minimal friction, stand up new production capacity, and own the safety, compliance, and physical-security systems our work demands. You will work closely with engineers, scientists, and manufacturing teams to ensure Pilgrim’s facilities support high-tempo development, testing, and production. RESPONSIBILITIES: - Build and expand Pilgrim’s facilities, including renovations, manufacturing build-outs, equipment moves, production layouts, workflows, and utilities. - Keep every technical space organized, stocked, and ready for work, including the wet lab, machine shop, prototyping areas, electronics benches, and production spaces. - Anticipate and provide the tools, components, reagents, equipment, and consumables the team needs. - Purchase equipment and materials at competitive prices, negotiate favorable terms, and maintain strict control over facility spend. - Hold vendors and contractors accountable for scope, schedule, cost, and quality. - Set and enforce standards for facility safety and compliance, including PPE, chemical storage, hazardous waste, inspections, OSHA requirements, and building codes. - Secure the site through access control, visitor management, restricted areas, and emergency response procedures. QUALIFICATIONS: - Experience operating laboratories, machine shops, manufacturing facilities, or comparable technical environments. - Completed facility build-outs, renovations, or major equipment installations, with responsibility for contractors, budgets, and schedules. - Ability to evaluate vendor proposals, negotiate scope and pricing, and manage purchasing and inventory through procurement or ERP systems. - Working knowledge of laboratory or manufacturing safety, hazardous materials, OSHA requirements, and building codes. - Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information and facilities. - Clear, effective communicator across engineers, scientists, manufacturing teams, vendors, and contractors. PREFERRED: - Experience with physical security or access-control systems. Eligibility for a U.S. government security clearance is a plus. Pilgrim is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Certain positions require access to export-controlled information and are limited to U.S. Persons as defined by applicable export control regulations.