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About the Role

This is Substrate's first dedicated commercial hire, responsible for building and owning the company's commercial function end-to-end. The role involves establishing relationships, managing the pipeline, defining deal structures, leading the go-to-market strategy, and positioning Substrate to distinct customer archetypes in the AI and biotech ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Own Substrate's commercial function end to end.
• Convert the existing pipeline into signed agreements.
• Establish account relationships for the first year of commercial operation.
• Build a scalable go-to-market motion.
• Manage a pipeline across six customer segments.
• Run deal processes from first contact through to executed agreement.
• Represent Substrate at industry conferences and key decision-making meetings.
• Build tracking and reporting systems for commercial decision-making.
• Engage in category creation by helping customers understand the need for a new operating model for experimental work.
• Work with customers to scope specific integrations, such as capacity agreements, research partnerships, or closed-loop arrangements.
• Operate effectively across dual geographies (London and San Francisco), understanding both ecosystems and working across time zones.
• Map the existing pipeline and understand status, blockers, and next steps.
• Build direct relationships with key potential commercial customers.
• Define go-to-market segmentation for Substrate's verticals.
• Develop draft term sheets and commercial frameworks.
• Identify and plan presence at key industry events.
• Close the first wave of commercial agreements.
• Establish a structured account management approach for initial customers.
• Build out the San Francisco pipeline and identify high-priority targets.
• Develop and refine Substrate's external positioning for each customer segment.
• Refine internal BD infrastructure, including CRM, pipeline reporting, and deal review cadence.
• Achieve a commercial pipeline sufficient to underwrite node 1 capacity targets.
• Close San Francisco-originated agreements.
• Identify and assess customer segments and use cases for future nodes.
• Produce a BD playbook for future hires.

Requirements

• Ten or more years of experience in business development, partnerships, or commercial leadership at a technology or life sciences company.
• Demonstrated track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals in a B2B context.
• Strong existing relationships with commercial and scientific decision-makers at AI companies, biotechs, or pharmaceutical organizations.
• Existing network spanning both the London and San Francisco AI-biology ecosystems.
• Technical fluency sufficient to discuss experimental biology workflows, data infrastructure, or AI-driven drug discovery at a substantive level.
• Experience operating in a pre-commercial or early-commercial context where deal structures and customer categories are still being defined.
• Willingness to be based in London or San Francisco, with frequent travel to the other location and to New York and Boston.
• Senior commercial experience in AI, biology, and their intersection, at a venture-backed company or technology-intensive organization selling something novel.
• Comfortable moving a deal from introduction to technical conversation to signed agreement in an undefined context.
• Energized by the open-ended nature of the role and willingness to write the playbook.

Skills

• Business Development
• Partnerships
• Commercial Leadership
• Deal Structuring
• Go-to-Market Strategy
• Pipeline Management
• Category Creation
• Technical Fluency
• Account Management
• CRM Management
• Pipeline Reporting
• B2B Sales
• Relationship Building
• Negotiation
• Market Analysis
• Strategic Planning

Location

• London
• San Francisco
• New York
• Boston

Work Type

• Hybrid
• In-person (strong bias)
• Remote (available)

Experience Level

• Senior
• Ten or more years of experience

Education Level

• BSc or higher in biology, chemistry, or a related field (Nice to Have)

Salary/Compensations

• Competitive against London and San Francisco market rates for a senior commercial hire at a venture-backed company.
• Meaningful equity on a standard four-year vesting schedule with a one-year cliff.

Benefits

• 30 days annual leave
• Learning and development budget
• Quarterly offsites
• Visa sponsorship for exceptional candidates
• Benefits package being built as the team arrives

About the Company

• Substrate is building and operating a network of fully autonomous wet laboratories, serving as critical infrastructure for AI-driven biological discovery.
• We provide cloud-based data production facilities integrated with AI foundation models, making experimental biology as accessible as compute.
• We are a small, venture-funded team with government grants, opening our first node in London and a second in San Francisco.
• We have two scientific verticals live: protein characterisation and functional genomics.
• Our software platform connects API calls to automated assay execution.
• Our commercial pipeline spans foundation model labs, AI biotechs, pharmaceutical companies, and publicly funded research organisations.
• We are growing to approximately thirty people by early 2027.

Equal Opportunity

• Substrate is an equal opportunity employer.
• Hiring decisions are made on merit, scope-fit, and the strength of the working relationship.
• Applications are welcome from candidates of any background.