About Feanix Bio

Feanix is rebuilding animal breeding from the genome up.

We’re a YC-backed startup using whole-genome sequencing and custom ML models to help dairy farmers make better breeding and herd management decisions. Our technology is genuinely novel: we can sequence a full genome from a single hair at a fraction of traditional industry costs, our models achieve ~90% prediction accuracy on traits where existing approaches sit closer to ~30%, and we’re pioneering farm-specific genomic predictions that turn genetics into practical, actionable decisions.

That technology is translating into real adoption. In a short time, we’ve grown to serve roughly 1% of the U.S. dairy industry, with many customers in the pipeline. We started with dairy because our founders grew up on dairy farms and understand firsthand the problems we’re solving. But genetics is foundational to every agricultural industry, and dairy is only the beginning.

We’re building Feanix with a small, high-caliber team where people have meaningful ownership and work end to end. There are no unnecessary layers and very little room for busywork — just difficult problems at the intersection of biology, data, and software that haven’t been solved before.

If you’re exceptional at what you do and want your work to have a measurable impact on an entire industry, we’d love to build it with you.

About the role

Feanix is hiring a Director of Lab Operations to lead our genomics lab in Scotts Valley, California, and scale it into a high-throughput production operation that keeps pace with our commercial growth.

This is a senior leadership role. You’ll own the lab’s strategy and results end to end: throughput, quality, turnaround time, cost per sample, capacity planning, budget, staffing and the management team. You’ll set the 12–24 month plan that keeps lab capacity ahead of demand as we expand into new products and species. You’ll also stay close enough to the work to diagnose problems and step in when it matters.

We’re looking for a scientifically credible leader with a production mindset. You understand the science, but you measure success by whether samples move through the lab accurately, efficiently, on time and at the right cost. You build systems and teams that perform without you in the room, and you’re a trusted partner to the executive team on what the lab can deliver and what it needs to get there.

This role is in person in Scotts Valley, CA, Monday to Friday.

What you’ll own

Lab strategy and capacity planning

Own the lab’s operating strategy and multi-year capacity plan, tied to commercial forecasts, new product lines and expansion into new species.
Own the lab budget, including operating costs, capital expenditures, reagent spend and cost per sample. Drive unit costs down as volume grows.
Plan when and how to add capacity: equipment, automation, headcount, shifts, space, and future sites if needed.
Give leadership and the board clear visibility into lab capacity, throughput, quality, constraints, risks and upcoming investment needs.
Partner with Product, Engineering, Science and Farm Ops so lab capabilities match what we sell and what we plan to launch.

Production and operational excellence

Make sure production, quality and turnaround-time targets are met consistently as volume grows.
Set up production planning, scheduling and operating rhythms that run reliably without day-to-day intervention from you.
Define and own operational KPIs, including throughput, turnaround time, failure and rework rates, equipment uptime and utilization, cost per sample, and quality metrics.
Find and remove the bottlenecks that limit scale, and drive improvements in throughput, reliability and efficiency.
Manage key vendor and supplier relationships, including Illumina and other sequencing, reagent and equipment partners. Negotiate pricing, service agreements and supply continuity.

Quality systems

Build a quality culture where accuracy, consistency and reproducibility are non-negotiable.
Own the quality management system: SOPs, QC checkpoints, documentation, deviation management and corrective and preventive action (CAPA).