R D Engineer Jobs in Palo Alto, CA

About Subsense

Subsense is a deep-tech company developing the world’s first non-surgical, bidirectional brain-computer interface powered by plasmonic and magnetoelectric nanoparticles. Our mission is to unlock direct communication between the human brain and AI - starting with medical applications such as stroke recovery and moving toward cognitive enhancement for healthy users. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Subsense brings together leading scientists and engineers to redefine the future of human–machine interaction.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Director / Sr. Director, R&D Operations & Technical Program Management to help build and run the execution operating system for our R&D organization as the right hand to the Head of R&D. This position will accelerate complex R&D execution, create clarity without bureaucracy, and help the team move faster with stronger visibility and less coordination drag. This role reports to the Head of R&D and works closely with the CEO and leadership team on company-critical R&D milestones. This person will act as a trusted execution partner to R&D leadership — helping translate ambitious technical goals into a living operating system: clear priorities, visible dependencies, early blocker identification, focused decision-making, and disciplined follow-through. The right person will combine technical fluency, strong execution discipline, emotional intelligence, and the judgment to create structure that protects technical focus time rather than interrupting it.

What You'll Own

Subsense is building a category-defining Brain-Computer Interface — and we’re looking for a senior R&D execution operator who will own the operating rhythm that keeps R&D aligned, focused, and moving. Your responsibilities will include:

• Building, maintaining, and driving adoption of a clear R&D execution plan across priority workstreams
• Create a clear weekly picture of what is happening, what is blocked, what has changed, what decisions are needed, and whether critical milestones are on track
• Partner closely with the Head of R&D to protect leadership time and ensure focus remains on strategic, scientific, and technical priorities
• Translate complex R&D work into clear execution visibility for leadership, without oversimplifying the technical reality
• Track owners, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and next actions across critical technical programs
• Surface blockers, trade-offs, and dependency risks early so they can be resolved before they slow execution
• Help team leads operate from one shared execution plan without adding unnecessary process or meetings
• Design lightweight operating rhythms that respect lab time, experiment windows, and deep technical work
• Use async updates, consolidated reporting, decision logs, and focused meetings to reduce coordination burden
• Coordinate across science, engineering, hardware, software, regulatory, operations, and leadership as needed
• Help leadership quickly understand whether company-critical and fundraising-critical milestones are on track

What You Bring

We’re not looking for someone who simply “does project management.” We’re looking for someone who can create alignment, drive execution, and earn trust inside a highly technical R&D organization.

Must-haves

- Proven experience managing complex technical programs, R&D initiatives, or multidisciplinary technical projects
- Strong technical fluency combined with the ability to quickly and intuitively understand multiple scientific and engineering domains; while no one person will know everything we are working on, you can rapidly grasp the most important concepts and connect them across disciplines
- Experience operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments where priorities shift and the playbook is still being built
- Ability to influence senior technical people without relying on formal authority
- Strong execution discipline, including ownership of milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and follow-through
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills — clear, concise, direct, and trusted by both technical teams and leadership
- Strong judgment about when to convene a meeting, when to handle alignment asynchronously, and when to escalate an issue
- Ability to create practical operating systems that improve efficiency while protecting lab time, experiment windows, and deep technical focus
- Low-ego, high-accountability working style
- Fluent spoken and written English

Nice-to-haves

- Experience in neuroscience, biotech, medtech, nanotechnology, hardware, robotics, materials science, complex systems, or another deep-tech environment
- Experience in a regulated product environment
- Experience working on company-critical, board-level, investor-facing, or fundraising-critical milestones
- Experience working directly with founders, executives, scientists, and engineering leaders
- Prior experience in a seed-stage or high-growth startup
- Scientific or engineering background

What Success Looks Like in the first 6-12 months:

- The Head of R&D and leadership team have a clear weekly picture of all critical R&D workstreams
- Blockers and dependencies are surfaced early, not discovered too late
- Team leads use one shared execution plan without feeling buried in process
- Company-critical milestones have clear owners, risks, decisions, and next actions
- The Head of R&D spends less time chasing updates and more time on scientific and strategic leadership
- Leadership can quickly understand whether we are on track for fundraising-critical milestones
- R&D meetings become fewer, sharper, and more decision-oriented
- Technical teams feel more focused, not more interrupted
- The company moves faster because execution is more visible, coordinated, and disciplined

What Makes You Exceptional

You may be an especially strong fit if people describe you as someone who:
- Sees the whole system, not just individual tasks
- Quickly understands how technical workstreams depend on each other
- Creates clarity in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Understands that great R&D execution does not mean more meetings — it means the right information, surfaced at the right time, with minimal disruption to technical work
- Builds structure that increases speed rather than bureaucracy
- Is warm and collaborative, but relentless on follow-through
- Can work with strong technical leaders in a way that earns trust
- Knows how to protect deep work while still keeping execution visible
- Thrives in high-stakes, high-ambiguity environments
- Wants to help build one of the most ambitious neurotechnology companies in the world

What This Role Is Not

This is not a role for someone who wants to simply maintain a project tracker, take meeting notes, or run status meetings. This role is also not the technical decision-maker. You will not own scientific direction, product strategy, people management, or final prioritization decisions. Your job is to make execution visible, aligned, and accountable — so the right leaders can make the right decisions at the right time.

Why Subsense

At Subsense, you will work on a non-surgical BCI platform at the intersection of neuroscience, nanotechnology, AI, and hardware. You will join at a pivotal moment: as we move from breakthrough science into execution at scale. The systems you build will directly shape how one of the most ambitious neurotechnology companies being built today turns complex R&D into real-world progress. This is a rare opportunity to define the operating system behind a frontier technology company — and help build the execution foundation for the next era of human-machine interaction.

Subsense is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.