Principal Product Manager
Automata is transforming the way labs work with open, integrated automation. Our mission is to unlock the potential of labs and the potential of the people who work in them.
Level: 5
Location: Hybrid - work in our London office a minimum of 3x/wk
🚀 Principal Product Manager – Automation, Optimisation & Global Scale
The Mission
Our platform sits at the cutting edge of life sciences automation. It already saves lives, and now we’re scaling it globally. That requires a Principal Product Manager who can operate across deep technology, product strategy, and execution at pace.
This is not classic Product. It’s hands-on leadership at the point where physical automation meets digital platforms — where optimisation algorithms, robotics, and software converge to create products that are globally scalable and genuinely life-changing.
The Role
As a Principal Product Manager, you’ll:
Drive product strategy and execution for a platform at the frontier of science and automation.
Lead discovery and delivery for areas involving physical + digital integration (automation workflows, optimisation algorithms, global scale deployments).
Partner closely with engineering, design, and data — grounding decisions in both technical reality and commercial opportunity.
Work with leadership and sales teams, articulating product direction to customers, partners, and internal stakeholders.
Inspire and guide cross-functional teams to move at speed, bringing structure without bureaucracy.
Balance short-term tactical execution with long-term platform strategy, ensuring the product scales globally without sacrificing pace.
Define and track success through data-driven product metrics, experimentation, and feedback loops.
What You Bring
A technical background (engineering, computer science, data) with a transition into Product.
Track record in scaleups or high-growth companies, ideally with global expansion.
Experience in complex product domains with a physical component or optimisation layer (e.g. logistics, routing, warehouse automation, robotics + digital platforms).
Proven ability to lead products where algorithms, data, and automation are core.
Strong toolkit: Aha! (roadmaps), Jira (delivery), Figma (design collaboration).
Excellent communicator: comfortable switching between deep technical detail, commercial narratives, and executive vision.
High discipline, strong structure, but allergic to bureaucracy — you know how to keep things moving fast.
Ability to inspire and align teams, bringing clarity and direction even in ambiguity.
Nice to Have
Experience in life sciences, healthtech, or regulated environments.
Exposure to AI/GenAI product strategy, especially in optimisation or automation, and ways of working.
Knowledge of scaling globally distributed platforms.
Why Join Us
Shape the product direction of a platform that is scaling globally and already saving lives.
Work at the intersection of robotics, automation, and digital platforms — a rare product challenge.
Join a senior, high-calibre team where Product is central, not an afterthought.
Hybrid working: 3 days in our London office, balanced with flexibility.
Competitive package, plus the chance to do career-defining, meaningful work.
🌍 If you’re a Principal Product Manager with deep technical roots, who thrives at the intersection of strategy, execution, and global scale — this is your role.
Private healthcare that incentives a healthy lifestyle
👀 Eye Care
Get your eyes tested once a year on us!
Sacrifice some of your monthly salary in exchange for a company car, provided by your Employer
🚲 Salary Sacrifice - Bike & Tech
Sacrifice some of your monthly salary in exchange for bike and tech products, provided by your Employer
🧘🏼♀️ Wellbeing & Support
Support for both your physical and mental health
☀️ Wellbeing & Development Allowance
Invest in your own well-being, personal growth, and hobbies
💙 Spill & Employee Assistance Programme
Access the therapy for you and your family through Spill
Time off for dependents, 'Me days', and volunteering days off
Plan for retirement with NEST
🫂 Group Life & Critical Illness cover
Life insurance - for a piece of mind
🎂 Birthday
Time off for your Birthday
We are an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Discrimination of any kind based on race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status is strictly prohibited.
- Department
- Product & Design
- Locations
- London
- Remote status
- Hybrid
London
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