Chief Technology Officer

Department: Executive Team

Reports To: CEO

Posted: February 23, 2023

Closes: When position is filled

To apply: submit a resume and cover letter through My Green Lab’s application portal at: https://www.mygreenlab.org/employment-opportunities.html

Do you want to lead the development of an industry-changing software platform at one of the world’s most important startups promoting environmental sustainability across the biotech, pharmaceutical, and other major global industry sectors? Do you want to apply your skill to supporting the global scaling of programs that deliver industry-leading sustainability outcomes, recognized by the United Nations as a critical solution to the climate crisis?

Join My Green Lab to work with brilliant colleagues in a stimulating and supportive working environment. Work flexibly from your home office. Receive a competitive and performance-driven compensation and benefits package. My Green Lab seeks applications from experienced technology professionals who want to contribute to an organization making a difference on some of the world’s most critical issues in a dynamic and rapidly growing industry.

About My Green Lab

Scientific laboratories drive research and development for industries around the world, and they represent an enormous, untapped potential for sustainability. They discard over 12 billion pounds of plastic annually, and they consume 5-10 times more energy and water than office spaces. Worldwide, laboratories comprise an industry that is 3 times the size of the building products space and just over half the size of the automotive industry. 

My Green Lab is a highly entrepreneurial, disciplined start-up organization that delivers industry leading improvements in the environmental impact of laboratories by building a culture of sustainability through science, directly engaging scientists and the teams of people who support them. Our members and supporters range from small laboratories to some of the science community’s largest corporations and academic institutions. We develop standards, oversee their implementation, and inspire the many behavioral changes that are needed throughout the scientific community. In addition to motivating behavioral change in and around the lab through easily and rapidly implementable tools with clear measurement and verification, we are also leading data-driven research into environmental health impacts and resource consumption. Since our founding in 2013, MGL has become one of the most influential organizations in the laboratory sustainability space.

About This Role

My Green Lab’s Chief Technology Officer will play a critical role in driving the technology vision for My Green Lab at a critical juncture for the organization. The primary focus of the CTO will be to oversee the successful delivery of an enterprise-quality software platform to track and assess the sustainability impacts of laboratories and their supply chains. As an important secondary priority, the CTO will oversee internal technology, supported by an external IT contractor.

My Green Lab currently uses third-party software tools to administer its two flagship program, Green Lab Certification and ACT. The CTO will create a strategy and roadmap for a next-generation software toolset to support a rapid scale up of the organization’s programs. The configuration of the toolset is to be determined, based upon PaaS, Developer Stack, or perhaps a hybrid. Leveraging prior efforts, My Green Lab will ask the CTO to quickly develop the roadmap for this toolset.

This role is an exciting new position in a high-growth organization that will be critical to My Green Lab’s mission and impact. While no direct sustainability knowledge or experience is required, a passion for My Green Lab’s mission is an asset.

Key Responsibilities

The key responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:

Platform Architecture and Design

• Select the best platform for the toolset. This may be PaaS or developer stack or hybrid
• Articulate the product roadmap to ensure organizational goals are met in a speedy, safe and compliant manner

Team development and leadership

• Recruit and manage the required team appropriate to the technology selected

Compliance & Risk Management

• Develop a compliance strategy to include data governance and data privacy related to but not limited to client data and PII
• Ensure right-sized observance of GDPR and other compliance regulations
• Establish policies, standards, practices, and safeguards for systems, data, and information

Systems Management

• Be accountable for the operability and health of IT systems in general at MGL, including troubleshooting, upgrades, backup and system optimization for business sustainability and growth
• Take responsibility for incident response, business continuity and disaster recovery plans

Vendor Management

• Manage IT vendors aligned with contract and organization legal requirements
• Be accountable for service level agreements (SLAs) with vendors as appropriate

Budgeting

• Help determine capital investment parameters, priorities, and risks for MGL IT initiatives to maximize the return on investment
• Oversee and manage the IT budget, inventory, and ongoing expenditures

Marketing and Business Support

• Provide assistance to the sales and marketing teams to assist with developing business as appropriate

Executive Team Advisor

• Provide technical direction and serve as the principal advisor to the CEO, COO and Leadership Team on IT services and plans to ensure organizational and operational needs are addressed

Supervisory Responsibilities

Potential to oversee internal development team.

Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years of experience including time as both Individual Contributor and CTO
• Bachelor’s Degree in technology or related field. Master’s Degree preferred or equivalent experience
• History of extensive leadership experience in formulating, planning, leading, directing, and controlling complex and highly technical functions.
• Experience with (or good working knowledge of) PaaS
• Familiarity with REST APIs, and familiarity with Agile Methodologies as applied to software engineering – specifically Scrum
• Experience with software development recruitment and team building
• Familiarity with local, federal and international compliance requirements including GDPR
• Deep experience with database/reporting technologies including Analytics/BI tools such as Tableau, Power BI or Redshift.
• Proven experience building and leading a team that is accountable for maintaining a cloud-based IT environment with maximum system availability and performance.
• Best practices knowledge of project management tools and strategies. Demonstrated experience managing and leading complex IT projects. PMP certification is a plus.
• Effective communication skills: proficient writing, presentation, and conversation skills.
• Preferred: Sustainability expertise or interest (green labs, green buildings, corporate sustainability, supply chain sustainability, life cycle analysis, carbon reporting or similar)
• Preferred: experience in an industry related to laboratory research

My Green Lab is a fast-paced and dynamic work environment, so the ideal candidate will be a flexible self-starter who embraces change and continuous improvement. The successful candidate will demonstrate interest in professional development and advancement within the role as they take on increased responsibility in line with the growth goals of the organization.

6 Month Tasks

• Review and analyze the current technology background and future technology goals at MGL
• Research and select the platform for the next-generation toolset in conjunction with senior leadership and advisors
• Lead the design and road mapping / wireframing process for the next-generation toolset
• Lead phased development of the toolset either through consultant resources, in-house team or both
• Migrate existing data and roll out Phase 1 of the next-generation toolset in a safe, intelligent, and phased manner.

Please Note: For applications to be reviewed, all applicants must upload resume AND cover letter as separate PDF documents when submitting.

My Green Lab is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.