--- title: 'Office & Operations Manager at Ohalo' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/office-operations-manager-ohalo-watsonville-xdtpapmpa860' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-26' --- # Office & Operations Manager at Ohalo - **Company:** Ohalo - **Location:** Watsonville, CA - **Posted:** 2026-10-23 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-26 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ohalogenetics/jobs/4747107005 ## Job description Position Title: Office & Operations Manager Location: Watsonville, CA (onsite role, 5 days per week) The Opportunity: Ohalo™ is seeking a scrappy, agile, and fiercely dedicated Office & Operations Manager to join our growing team. This is a critical, hands-on role in our Operations organization, responsible for ensuring our facilities run seamlessly during a period of rapid growth. Based 5 days a week out of one of our three Watsonville greenhouse facilities, and reporting to our Greenhouse Operations Lead, you will manage daily operations, lead visitor and employee experience, support a key executive, and help build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps Ohalo operating at scale. You will be joining a purpose-driven team at a pivotal moment as we scale our operations. This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of office management and support operations in a high-impact company with a long-term vision for sustainability and innovation in food systems. Key Responsibilities: Office Management & Operations - Work onsite 5 days a week at our Watsonville greenhouse to keep operations running smoothly: order supplies, coordinate meals, and ensure a clean, well-maintained workspace.  You are responsible for ensuring a high-functioning and positive working environment for our team members working in the offices and in the greenhouses at our Watsonville locations. - Support the Greenhouse facilities team on more complex operational activities as well, as projects arise. - Partner with the People team to organize in-office employee events (happy hours, All Hands meetings, company celebrations). - Support safety and compliance programs, ensuring documentation, inspections, and trainings are up to date. - Manage vendor relationships and service agreements (janitorial, HVAC, landscaping, waste, pest management, etc.). - Act as the go-to critical thinker for building and office needs in Watsonville, figuring out solutions on your own and liaising with property management and external vendors. - Serve as onsite point of contact for recruiting interviews, new hires, and guest visits to the site, ensuring seamless logistics and a professional and friendly onsite experience.  Sit at the receptionist desk and serve as point of contact for all shipping and receiving. - Manage seating plans, desk setups, and an organized system for incoming/outgoing mail and packages.  Coordinate with the IT team for technology needs for new hires and team members. - Provide supplementary office management activities for our Aptos location, including managing pest control, snack ordering, maintenance requests, and partnering with building management to resolve issues. About You: Required: - 3-5+ years experience in facilities management, office management, or operations(biotech/ag-tech/lab/greenhouse exposure a plus). - You have a relentless work ethic, a relentlessly positive attitude, and are eager to jump in, help the team, and take on more.  You are a scrappy, agile doer. - You are a critical thinker and independent problem solver.  You are an eager learner who can be handed a complex problem, figure it out on your own, and deliver a practical solution with minimal direction. - You are driven, focused, eager to work hard, and have the tenacity to work until the job is done right. - You are energized by and genuinely enjoy tackling new projects and challenges in areas that are completely new to you. - You are detail-oriented and highly organized, with exceptional time management skills, seamlessly balancing greenhouse operations with executive scheduling. - Note: this is not a traditional 9-5 job. As part of a fast-moving startup, this role calls for a “do what it takes, as long as it takes” mindset. Nice-to-Haves: - Experience providing ad hoc executive support, to collaborate with, and fill in for, our executive support team when they’re out of office. - Spanish language skills a plus Pay Range: The anticipated pay range for this role is $75,000 - $105,000 per year for our Watsonville location. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, budget availability, internal equity, geographic location, and external market pay for comparable jobs. About Ohalo: Ohalo™ aims to accelerate evolution to unlock nature's potential. Founded in 2019, Ohalo develops novel breeding systems and improved plant varieties that help farmers grow more food with fewer natural resources, increasing the yield, resiliency, and genetic diversity of crops to sustainably feed our population. Ohalo's breakthrough technology, Boosted Breeding™, will usher in a new era of improved productivity to radically transform global agriculture. For more information, visit [www.ohalo.com](https://www.ohalo.com). Ohalo is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. Ohalo is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the interview process. Notes: If you previously applied for a job at Ohalo Genetics, we encourage you to restate your interest in the position by submitting your application. No visa sponsorship is available for this position at this time. This organization participates in E-Verify. Posters linked [here.](https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf) No recruiters, please. ## About Ohalo ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Ohalo develops novel plant breeding systems, primarily its Boosted Breeding™ technology, to dramatically increase crop yields, resilience, and genetic diversity while reducing resource use for global agriculture. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B) - **Headquarters**: South San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2019 - **Founders**: David Friedberg (CEO), Jud Ward (Chief Technology Officer) ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Agricultural Biotechnology, Plant Breeding, AgTech - **Target customers**: B2B — global seed companies, commercial growers, and agricultural supply chain partners (e.g., strawberry, potato, almond, corn, and berry producers). - **Mission or purpose statement**: "Accelerating evolution to unlock nature's potential" — aiming to sustainably feed a growing population by shrinking the environmental footprint of agriculture through faster, more efficient plant breeding. ## Products & Services - **Boosted Breeding™**: A proprietary breeding platform that suppresses meiotic recombination, allowing offspring to inherit the complete genome from both parents (2x + 2x = 4x™). This creates "Boosted" plants that contain all beneficial traits from each parent, accelerating genetic gain and delivering predictable heterosis without multi-year selection cycles. - **Agile Breeding™**: A service that applies the Boosted Breeding platform across multiple crops to rapidly develop improved varieties. - **True Seed™**: A plant-breeding service delivering uniform, disease-free seedlings directly to growers — ready to sow, right out of the packet. Applied to crops like strawberries and potatoes. - **FruitionOne™**: The world's first self-fertile Nonpareil almond variety, eliminating the need for traditional bee pollination and cross-variety planting. - **Value-Added Traits**: Custom-developed traits (e.g., improved sustainability, better taste, longer shelf life, disease resistance) integrated into existing varieties for supply chain improvements. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total funding of approximately $100M (USD 99,999,969) across multiple rounds: - Seed (2019): Not disclosed - Early-stage venture (2021): $3.7M - Venture round (2024-01-25): $40.0M (2 investors) - Venture round (2024-05-01): $60.0M - Series B (2025-01-01): 1 investor - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Incubated by The Production Board (venture firm founded by David Friedberg). Partners include University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc., Florida Strawberry Growers Association, and the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium. - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew 40% YoY to 85 employees (with 17 active job postings as of mid-2025). - Recognized on the "50 by 2050" list by Congruent Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank for climate tech innovation. - Launched FruitionOne™ (self-fertile almond) and the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium in 2025. - Expanding into Brazil and United Arab Emirates. - CEO David Friedberg has appeared on the All-In Podcast with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, signaling high-level policy engagement. ## Competitive Advantages - **Proprietary technology moat**: Boosted Breeding™ is a breakthrough approach that fundamentally changes plant reproduction — enabling entire genome inheritance from both parents. This is a patentable, hard-to-replicate scientific platform applicable to nearly every crop. - **Speed to market**: Traditional breeding can take decades; Ohalo's method can deliver improved varieties in a fraction of the time, with predictable outcomes. - **Broad crop applicability**: The platform works across potatoes, corn, berries, almonds, and more — not limited to a single crop. - **Strong investor & partner network**: Backed by The Production Board and partnered with major agricultural research institutions and grower consortia. - **Sustainability angle**: Higher yields with fewer inputs (water, land, pesticides) aligns with global climate and food security trends. ## Strategic Focus - **Commercial expansion**: Scaling the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium and potato programs, with plans to enter corn, berries, and other row crops. - **Partnership development**: Collaborating with seed companies, grower groups, and research institutions to license Boosted Breeding™ and distribute True Seed™. - **R&D pipeline**: Developing new self-fertile and disease-resistant varieties (e.g., FruitionOne™ almonds) and integrating value-added traits. - **Global footprint**: Building operations in Brazil and UAE to address international agricultural markets. - **Talent acquisition**: Actively hiring across engineering, plant breeding, commercial sales, and operations — with 17 open roles as of mid-2025. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven work**: Directly contribute to solving global food security and sustainability challenges through cutting-edge science. - **Innovative culture**: Described as "Farmers First," with a bias toward action, iteration, and finding truth — a fast-paced, science-first environment. - **Talent & team**: Employees come from top institutions (UC Davis, Iowa State, North Carolina State) and companies (Driscoll's, Zymergen, Inari). The team includes 29 researchers (26% of workforce) and 20 technical staff (18%). - **Growth trajectory**: 40% YoY headcount growth and $100M in funding signal a well-resourced, scaling company with career advancement opportunities. - **Diverse roles**: Openings range from Senior Full Stack Engineer and Quantitative Geneticist to Technical Sales Representatives and Greenhouse Technicians — appealing to both technical and commercial talent. - **Location & flexibility**: Headquarters in South San Francisco, CA, with remote roles available for some positions (e.g., Technical Sales Representatives across multiple US regions). Presence in Brazil and UAE offers global exposure. - **Perks**: Not explicitly listed, but as a well-funded private company, competitive compensation and equity are likely. The company emphasizes "improving the lives of farmers" and a collaborative, truth-seeking culture. ## Sources 1. [ohalo.com](https://www.ohalo.com/) 2. [ohalo.com/about](https://www.ohalo.com/about) 3. [Greenhouse Careers](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ohalogenetics) 4. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohalo_Genetics) 5. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ohalo-genetics) ## Other roles at Ohalo - [IT Support Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/it-support-associate-ohalo-watsonville-w245zmaecpwp) — Watsonville, CA - [IPM Supervisor](https://feeny.ai/job/ipm-supervisor-ohalo-watsonville-m3a83ne53cdz) — Watsonville, CA - [Head of Procurement](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-procurement-ohalo-south-san-francisco-d2rvrqctq08q) — South San Francisco, CA - [LATAM Commercial Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/latam-commercial-lead-ohalo-sao-paulo-ra1mr6kk8jsq) — São Paulo, Brazil - [Product Manager - AI-Native Business Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-ai-native-business-systems-ohalo-south-san-francisco-zyfvp2sjy3dv) — South San Francisco, CA - [Field Technician – True Potato Seed Production](https://feeny.ai/job/field-technician-true-potato-seed-production-ohalo-watsonville-m0pbwqchnncx) — Watsonville, CA - [Global Crop Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/global-crop-product-manager-ohalo-south-san-francisco-6byvykwzefnx) — South San Francisco, CA - [Executive Assistant to the President & Chief Operating Officer](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-to-the-president-chief-operating-officer-ohalo-south-san-qbkhy1hs25g4) — South San Francisco, CA - [Business Development Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-lead-ohalo-south-san-francisco-n1bc9tccc4ye) — South San Francisco, CA - [Biotech Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/biotech-program-manager-ohalo-south-san-francisco-kkmf971cb6wc) — South San Francisco, CA