Automata was founded on the principle that humanity is at its best when thinking. That means freeing humanity from the tyranny of repetitive, mundane jobs. Today Automata is developing software and robotics platforms to disrupt the Life Science Sector, enable scientists, so ultimately bringing drugs to market years earlier and democratising diagnostic testing for the many, not the few.

We’re looking for a Director of Engineering to join the Software team where you’ll be leading on delivering a brand new set of solutions for the Life Sciences space along with our next-generation actuation platform. This spans the full stack of robot development from mechanical design, controls, firmware, electronics and Industrial Design.

Engineering at Automata

We’ve developed a set of hardware and software principles to guide us through our work and help us know what great looks like.

Our Software Principles:

• Automate, automate, automate - we’re an automation company and hate doing things manually. We automate anything that can be automated, increasing process reliability, deployment velocity, development velocity and quality.

• We help each other - We all own the product and better work happens when we work together. We share risks and improve the product to deliver value to our customers.

• Keep it Simple - We avoid unnecessarily complicated code. We use off-the-shelf tools, technologies and libraries instead of writing it all ourselves. We prefer frequent, smaller releases over fewer, larger ones.

• Just decide already - Done is better than perfect. We make decisions based on imperfect information and believe that making the wrong decision is better than making no decision at all.

• Measure what you make - We live and breathe data. We instrument our code to track how it performs. We automate our testing so we know it works. We measure how our product behaves in the hands of our customers and use that data to inform what we do next.

• Nothing Is Sacred - We regularly reflect on our product and our ways of working. Using our learnings we change our approach to delivery and our product.

How do you fit in?

• You’re curious and passionate about automation. No robotics experience is needed.

• You have start-up experience in bringing software products to market as well as running parallel development and innovation tracks.

• You know how to lead and motivate groups of highly capable people 

• We’re agile (with a small a). We’re not big on formality or frameworks and use the tools that suit us best. You’re comfortable with change and believe that moving fast and building well-tested software quickly and iteratively in a team that is constantly improving and learning helps us deliver the most value for our users.

Why should you apply?

• You’re tired of working for companies doing software the same old way. We’re exploring radical new approaches to delivering new solutions in a fraction of the time

• You want to have fun working with automation in a fast-paced environment alongside other caring and passionate people.

• You want to have an impact in ways you’ve never had before … we’re a small, young company with lots of opportunities to grow your career.

More reasons to apply

• Learning & Development 🎓 £1,000 per year to spend as you wish

• Holiday 🏖️ 33 days per year (PLUS we close the office between Christmas and New Year)

• Private Healthcare ❤️ Vitality Health is available to all of our permanent employees

• Flexible working 🤹 Blended approach to office and WFH

• Employee referrals 💰 £1,000 per referral hired from your network

• Share Options Scheme 📈 Every team member gets a pot of stock option after probation

• Keeping you fed 🥙 Our kitchen is always stocked and we order lunch in on Fridays

• Dog friendly offices 🐶 Lola, Evie and Alfie are the current resident pooches