Programme Manager

Summary

The Zurich Biosecurity Hub (ZHBH) is hiring a Programme Manager to run its programmes for people who want to work on global catastrophic biological risk. You will own the delivery of a public lecture series at ETH Zurich, several fellowship cohorts a year, a paper reading group, retreats and meetups, and you will keep in touch with the people who take part so that the Hub knows where they are heading and how it can help. In 2027 you will co-organise a conference on catastrophic biological risk at ETH and hackathons.

We are looking for someone who is well organised, likes running things end to end, is comfortable with many relationships and moving parts at once, and cares about the people in the programmes. This is a generalist role, so you will handle many different things and should be happy moving between them. You do not need to be a biosecurity expert, but you should bring some familiarity with global catastrophic risk as a field. BlueDot Impact's Biosecurity Fundamentals course is one example of the kind of grounding we mean.

You will work directly with the Hub's Director, Erik Jentzen, and be the first full-time hire of the Hub.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. The deadline to apply is Sunday, 8 November 2026.

Apply here.

Know someone who would be a good fit? Submit a recommendation here. CHF 500 referral bonus if that person is hired.

About the Zurich Biosecurity Hub

Advances in biotechnology and AI have changed the risk profile of pandemics. A future outbreak may not begin in nature, and the work of preventing that is short of people rather than of ideas. Switzerland is unusually well placed to contribute: ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and EPFL are among Europe's strongest research environments in biomedicine and machine learning, Basel is Europe's largest life sciences cluster, and Geneva is where much of biological weapons governance takes place.

The Zurich Biosecurity Hub was set up in September 2026 to make it easier for people to enter this field and to build a career around reducing these risks. It grew out of a biosecurity paper reading group that has met in Zurich for about a year, and it now runs:

• Biosecurity Futures, a public lecture series at ETH Zurich (five sessions in the autumn semester 2026)
• A fellowship on catastrophic biological risk, adapted from the BlueDot Impact biosecurity curriculum, running in several cohorts per year
• The paper reading group, in person in Zurich and online
• One-to-one career advising
• Coworking at PEAKS, an open offer for people working on biosecurity to work alongside Zurich's effective altruism and AI safety community

About the role

Location

In person in Switzerland, within one hour of Zurich by train, regularly in person in Zurich (with flexible remote days)

Title

Programme Manager, Zurich Biosecurity Hub

Reports to

Erik Jentzen, Director of the Zurich Biosecurity Hub

Work hours

Full-time, 40 hours per week

Start

As soon as possible

Contract

Initial funding is secured for 14 months; we intend to continue the role beyond that.

Deadline

Sunday, 8 November 2026

Key responsibilities

Programme delivery, end to end. Plan, promote, run and evaluate each programme in the calendar: the Biosecurity Futures sessions at ETH (speakers, rooms, registration, follow-up), the fellowship cohorts (call for applications, admissions, facilitator coordination, weekly sessions online and socials in Zurich), the paper reading group in cooperation with its volunteer leads, and the retreats and local meetups.

Flagship events 2027. Take operational responsibility for a conference on global catastrophic biological risk at ETH Zurich and for up to two hackathons (topics not fixed yet, but could be on clean air and personal protective equipment): venue, partners, participants, budget, logistics, on the day and afterwards.

Outreach and communications. Take overall responsibility for the Hub's outreach and make sure it is handled well. A contractor supports on communications, but the responsibility for getting it right stays with you. Grow the participant pipeline, with a focus on students, researchers and founders in life sciences, medicine, machine learning, engineering and policy.

Participant relationships and follow-up. Be the first point of contact for people who get in touch. Know who has come to what, notice who is showing momentum, and hand people on to career advising with the Director at the right moment. Keep in touch with fellowship alumni.

Measurement and reporting. Track registrations, attendance, cohort completions, advising requests and where people go afterwards. Collect structured feedback after each programme. Turn this into evidence the team can act on and into the reporting our funder needs.

Operations. Handle room bookings, budget tracking with the EACH back office, tools (Luma, Google Workspace, Airtable), contracts with paid facilitators, and the small everyday tasks that make a programme run on time.

Qualifications

Required

• Eligible to work in Switzerland (Swiss or EU/EFTA citizenship, or a valid Swiss work permit)
• Based within one hour of Zurich by train, or willing to relocate
• Fluent English
• Strong project and programme management skills: you have run something with many parts and deadlines, end to end, and it worked
• Reliable, structured and well organised; comfortable handling many relationships and moving parts in parallel
• Good social skills and a real interest in the people in the programmes
• Clear, plain writing
• Familiarity with global catastrophic risk as a field (for example at the level of BlueDot Impact's Biosecurity Fundamentals course), and a commitment to reducing it
• Comfortable with the tools of the job (Luma, Google Workspace, Airtable, Claude or similar), quick to learn new ones, and experienced in using AI tools to work faster and better

Desired

• Experience organising events, courses or cohort programmes
• Familiarity with the effective altruism and high-impact career ecosystem
• Experience with data collection, feedback and evaluation
• A network at ETH, UZH or in the Swiss student and research community
• Proficiency in German

You do not need to meet 100% of the qualifications to be considered. If the role appeals to you and you meet most of the criteria, we encourage you to apply.

Equal opportunity and inclusion

We want our team to reflect the range of people our work reaches. We welcome applications regardless of gender, age, nationality, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or family situation, and we assess every application against the same criteria.

If you need adjustments to the process (timing, format, accessibility) or flexibility in the role (part-time, remote days, caring responsibilities), write to hiring@zurichbiosecurity.ch. Requests are handled confidentially and play no part in the hiring decision.

Compensation and benefits

• Gross salary of CHF 75,000 to 80,000 per year
• 25 days of paid leave
• Flexible working arrangements
• A CHF 1,500 annual professional development budget
• A CHF 1,800 annual commuting allowance
• A dedicated desk at PEAKS in Zurich, alongside Effective Altruism Switzerland and Zurich's AI safety community

In some cases where salary considerations would prevent a candidate from accepting an offer, there may also be some flexibility in compensation.

Hiring process

We review applications on a rolling basis and encourage early submissions. Deadline: Sunday, 8 November 2026, 23:59 Zurich time. We may adjust individual steps if we find it makes sense.

1. Initial application (here)
2. Intro call
3. Paid test task
4. First interview
5. Final interview
6. Reference check
7. Funder call: a conversation with our main funder

Target decision: end of November 2026.

Apply here

Questions: hiring@zurichbiosecurity.ch. Know someone who would be a good fit? Recommend them, CHF 500 referral bonus if that person is hired.