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About the Role

Substrate is building a network of fully autonomous wet labs for AI biology. We are hiring a Head of Protein Science to build and lead the protein vertical from scratch, covering expression, purification, biophysical characterisation, cell-based functional assays, and developability assays. This role is crucial for shaping the assay menu, defining workcell requirements, and building the team for autonomous execution.

Responsibilities

Own protein science end-to-end.
Scope the priority assay menu against early customer demand.
Develop and validate assays manually.
Set quality thresholds for assay transitions.
Hire Principal Scientists, Scientists, and Lab Technicians.
Shape workcells for AI-in-the-loop automation.
Define quality thresholds for each transition stage.
Re-engineer manual judgement calls for automation.
Own validation proving equivalence at each step.
Co-design protocols with foundation model partners.
Work with software and intelligence teams on data flow.
Act as executive partner to co-founders on protein science.
Own the assay roadmap.
Own the proprietary protein dataset program.
Participate in customer conversations requiring protein science depth.
Set up workspace at King’s Cross site and start manual assay development.
Lock the day-1 assay menu.
Define roles, run hiring processes, and close offers for the first Principal Scientist and Lab Technician.
Set reproducibility and quality thresholds for instrumented and autonomous execution.
Begin co-design conversations with commercial customers.
Move validated assays onto workcells.
Validate equivalence against manual baselines.
Grow the team by bringing on the second Principal Scientist and first bench scientists.
Ship the first revenue on the protein vertical.
Manage performance against scientific outputs.
Run assay portfolios that supported real customers.
Set standards for interviewing, hiring, and mentoring.

Requirements

Seven or more years of experience in protein science.
At least three years in a senior or team-leading role at a pharma R&D, biotech, or CRO organization.
End-to-end hands-on experience in at least one modality (antibodies or analogous), covering expression, purification, and biophysical characterisation.
Working familiarity across cell-based functional assays and developability assays.
Track record of leading a small scientific team end to end: hiring, setting quality standards, and managing performance against scientific outputs.
Customer-facing experience, either as a CRO scientific lead working with external customers, or as a pharma scientist embedded with internal customer teams.
Comfortable in the detail at the bench.
Comfortable setting direction for a team.
Pragmatic about being hands-on at the bench in the first six to nine months.
Excited about building a team.
Enjoy interviewing, hiring, mentoring, and setting standards.
Comfortable with a heavy lab cadence during manual development phase.
Direct experience moving protein assays from manual workflows onto lab automation platforms (NICE TO HAVE).
Familiarity with structured experimental data capture, LIMS, ELN, or analogous data infrastructure (NICE TO HAVE).
Experience working with computational or AI/ML colleagues on closed-loop assay programmes (NICE TO HAVE).
Background at an AI-native biotech or foundation model company (NICE TO HAVE).

Skills

Protein Science
Assay Development
Assay Validation
Expression
Purification
Biophysical Characterisation
Cell-based Functional Assays
Developability Assays
Team Leadership
Hiring
Quality Management
Performance Management
Customer Relations
Lab Automation
Data Capture
LIMS
ELN
AI/ML Collaboration

Location

King's Cross, London

Work Type

Hybrid
In-person bias dictated by the lab

Experience Level

Senior
Team-leading

Salary/Compensations

Competitive against the London market for senior protein scientists at venture-backed companies

Benefits

Meaningful equity with vesting on a standard four-year schedule and a one-year cliff
30 days annual leave
A learning budget for conferences, courses, books, and time

About the Company

Substrate is building a network of fully autonomous wet labs, cloud-based data production facilities for AI biology, integrated with foundation models to become the critical infrastructure layer for AI-driven biological discovery.
Substrate is spinning out of Automata, the UK lab automation company.
We are funded by venture funding and government grants.
We are an autonomous lab platform with closed-loop integration available as one operating mode for foundation model partners.
We are aiming to have ramped up to 32 people by the end of Q1 2027.

Equal Opportunity

Substrate is an equal opportunity employer.
We make hiring decisions on merit, scope-fit, and the strength of the working relationship we expect to build with each hire.
Applications welcome from candidates of any background.