Alex Sneider is a Principal at Flagship Pioneering, where she plays a multifaceted role in driving transformative scientific advancements. She creates and builds new companies while shaping the future of scientific exploration. As a founding team member of Flagship-founded Lila Sciences, Alex leads corporate development, forging partnerships and unlocking the company’s commercial potential. Lila is redefining scientific discovery by creating the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and fully autonomous labs for life, chemical, and materials sciences.

Paradigm Shifter
Alex Sneider
Principal
Paradigm Shifter
Alex Sneider
Principal
I pioneer to change the world, to achieve alongside incredible people, and to challenge myself intellectually.

Lila is an endless playground for scientific discovery. It represents a paradigm shift in how we approach problem-solving to tackle humanity's greatest challenges.
Alex’s journey to Flagship was one of reinvention and determination. She studied archaeology at Harvard, where her exploration of past civilizations sparked an appreciation for science’s ability to shape the future. This realization led her to pivot to technology recruiting. However, placing others in problem-solving roles wasn’t enough — she wanted to solve those problems herself.
Determined to pursue a more hands-on scientific career, Alex earned a second bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. A professor’s trust gave her early access to hands-on research, guiding her path and inspiring her passion for scientific discovery. This was followed by a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in chemical and biomolecular engineering. During graduate school, an injury temporarily sidelined her from lab work. Undeterred, she taught herself to code and turned to AI and machine learning to finish her research.

A former athlete and Division I fencer, Alex is intentional about making time for hiking and other hobbies that keep her active but also provide space for reflection. "Sometimes, when you step away from a challenging question, the answers come more easily," she observes.
When asked about her pioneering role model, Alex points to the iconic movie character Indiana Jones — an archaeologist, academic and adventurer, whose courage, curiosity, and resourcefulness echo her own passion to transform and evolve scientific discovery in ways that solve humankind's most pressing challenges.

I want to change the world in a meaningful way. I hope the therapies and materials we discover at Lila bring positive benefits that pave the way for a brighter future.