Lab Operations Manager

Substrate is the critical infrastructure layer between AI and biology. AI for biology has a data problem not a compute problem: biological foundation models can predict but cannot experiment and the large-scale high-quality data they need does not exist. We are building the lab that generates it with quality and provenance built in. We are not a CRO and we are not a cloud lab.

The company was founded by Mostafa ElSayed co-founder and CEO; Oli Hoy who leads the lab buildout and operations; Alexey Morgunov who leads science and intelligence software; and Anna Huyghues-Despointes who leads partnerships and go-to-market.

You will run the day-to-day operations of our lab in London and be the person the scientists come to when something is missing broken late or lost. The day-one work is what you would expect: consumables and stock goods in and cold chain equipment servicing and calibration suppliers and purchasing waste streams and safety records.

Three parts go beyond a standard lab operations job. The first is provenance. Every experiment we sell carries a record of what went into it down to the lot of the consumable used and the conditions material was held in. If a lot number is not captured the data point is worth less and that record runs through you.

The second is that the systems are not written yet. Inventory goods in asset registers and ordering exist in no form that will survive the next year. You define what the lab has to capture and work with the science and software teams to make sure it does.

The third is that sample handling and stock control here get automated and you help specify the system that does it. Every sample plate reagent and consumable lot carries a barcode scanned at each point it is handled so the record is created by the work rather than reconstructed afterwards. The same scan draws stock down which turns reordering from a weekly count into something the system flags before anyone is short. Our software team is building that layer now and the requirements have to come from the lab floor: what gets a barcode where the scan points sit and what happens when a label will not read. Some find that energising; some find it outside their lane. Worth knowing which one you are.

• Take ownership of goods in: every delivery received booked in stored correctly and recorded.

• Map how material moves through the lab and build the first accurate picture of what we hold. That map is the input to a fully barcoded scheme and system.

• Put a working inventory and reorder system in place with minimum levels set from real consumption rather than guesses and own the purchasing loop.

• Agree the barcode and labelling scheme with the software team and get equipment records in one place.

• Run the lab as a routine that does not depend on being asked with the barcoded system live across one workflow goods-in to bench to stock draw-down feeding our provenance record.

You have run the physical side of a lab where being out of stock stops the work: biotech pharma a university or institute lab or a manufacturing or diagnostics operation built around one. Lab consumables and the rhythm of a working lab are already familiar to you you have handled real volume and real inventory and you know the difference between a system that works on paper and one that works at eight on a Monday morning. We are not asking for a particular speciality but you should arrive able to run the lab rather than learn what one needs.

• Two or more years running a lab or comparable physical operation hands-on and accountable for the result.

• Practical stock control: goods in inventory records reorder points stock counts that reconcile.

• Buying from suppliers: raising orders comparing quotes managing lead times.

• Hands-on with a barcoded or scanned stock system including what goes wrong when people skip the scan.

• Lab environment experience: cold storage hazardous waste containment controlled materials.

• Health and safety training such as IOSH.

• Developed or co-developed a barcode system for autonomous workflows in labs including working with software development teams to implement it.

This role is on site five days a week at 20 Triton Street in London because the lab is a physical place and the work is in it. The wider founding team is distributed across London New York and Europe. You will report to Simon Varzandeh a member of our scientific staff working on protein characterisation and one of the labs heaviest users and work alongside the protein science and functional genomics teams the engineers building the tracking and stock system with you and operations on facilities health and safety and purchasing. You will be the first person here whose whole job is focused on the lab floor.

We work in the open and each person owns their benefits are 30 days of annual leave plus public holidays a pension with a 10% employer contribution and top-tier Bupa private health cover.

Four stages: a short screening call; a conversation about how you work before anything technical; a practical exercise from our lab setup sent separately then a discussion of what you did and why; then references.

We are sharing this role through our network first. Send a note and your CV to and if you are not sure whether you are a fit send it anyway.

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.

Required Experience:

Manager