Director, People Operations & Total Rewards

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Formation Bio

New York, NY; Boston, MA

Hybrid

Posted April 1, 2026

Job Description

About Formation Bio

Formation Bio is a tech and AI driven pharma company differentiated by radically more efficient drug development.

Advancements in AI and drug discovery are creating more candidate drugs than the industry can progress because of the high cost and time of clinical trials. Recognizing that this development bottleneck may ultimately limit the number of new medicines that can reach patients, Formation Bio, founded in 2016 as TrialSpark Inc., has built technology platforms, processes, and capabilities to accelerate all aspects of drug development and clinical trials. Formation Bio partners, acquires, or in-licenses drugs from pharma companies, research organizations, and biotechs to develop programs past clinical proof of concept and beyond, ultimately helping to bring new medicines to patients. The company is backed by investors across pharma and tech, including a16z, Sequoia, Sanofi, Thrive Capital, Sam Altman, John Doerr, Spark Capital, SV Angel Growth, and others.

You can read more at the following links:

At Formation Bio, our values are the driving force behind our mission to revolutionize the pharma industry. Every team and individual at the company shares these same values, and every team and individual plays a key part in our mission to bring new treatments to patients faster and more efficiently.

About the Position

Formation Bio is looking for a Director of People Operations & Total Rewards to own the strategy and execution of our people infrastructure.

Reporting to the SVP, Head of People, you'll drive outcomes that advance company priorities by building compensation expertise in-house, designing scalable people programs, and ensuring operational excellence across our systems and processes. This is a high-impact role for someone who can make independent, complex decisions with a company-wide perspective by evaluating tradeoffs in compensation strategy, benefits design, and program implementation while anticipating long-term implications for our unique business model.

We're looking for someone who brings genuine enthusiasm for AI innovation and automation. Someone who believes people operations can be deeply human while leveraging AI to drive efficiency and scale. You'll be instrumental in building an AI-native people function that reflects Formation's broader mission and culture.

Responsibilities

This role will cover three key areas critical to the success of the People function and business:

People Operations Excellence

Drive AI-native operations across the people function - identifying opportunities to leverage technology while maintaining the human elements of our work
Ensure compliance and evolve our people processes to ensure they are fit for purpose as the business scales
Lead cross-functional processes and partner with internal stakeholders including Legal, Finance, Tech Ops, and Quality Assurance
Serve as escalation point for complex operational issues, benefits decisions, and compensation situations
Manage external vendor relationships and consultant partnerships

Total Rewards Strategy & Execution

Own compensation strategy and execution for Formation's unique business model, including framework design, market positioning, and equity programs
Lead benefits strategy, vendor selection, and plan design; ensuring our total rewards package is competitive and supports our culture and business needs
Own cyclical compensation reviews end-to-end
Partner on complex offer negotiations and provide market intelligence and competitive positioning recommendations

goaidesign