Staff Software Engineer (Core Systems)
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- London, GB
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Staff
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 7+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- You are a hands-on technical leader (not a manager)–you are the best and lead by example
- You are wired for ownership—you don’t wait for clarity, you create it
- You bring intensity and pace—and channel it into structured, repeatable execution
- You care deeply about teams and performance—holding a high bar while enabling people to do their best work
- You balance sharp decision-making with strong judgment—knowing when to push, when to unblock, and when to step back
- You’ve already operated at a high bar in engineering—you’ve seen what “great” looks like and know how to get there again
- You are resilient, accountable, and outcome-focused—you don’t hide behind process or complexity
- You communicate with precision and influence—aligning other stakeholders without noise
- You are curious, adaptable, and constantly evolving—never static in how you think or operate
Full description
Level: 5Minimum 3 days per week on site at our office in Angel, London
At Automata, we're on a mission to transform how scientists work by making automation accessible to every lab in the world. We believe that by giving labs the power to automate, we can unlock discoveries that will shape the future of life sciences—from diagnostics and drug discovery to synthetic biology.
But we’re more than just a company disrupting the industry—we're a team of innovators, problem-solvers, and creators passionate about empowering scientists. Our LINQ platform combines hardware and software to streamline workflows, making lab automation fast, flexible, and affordable. This means our customers can focus on groundbreaking research, while we take care of the rest.
Why Work at Automata?
- Impact: Your work will directly contribute to advancements in science and medicine, supporting labs around the globe as they push boundaries in research and innovation.
- Innovation: You’ll be part of a team solving complex problems (seriously, no one else has figured out how to do this yet), using cutting-edge technology (we have robots).
- Growth: We invest in our people. Whether through hands-on experience, professional development, or collaborative projects, you’ll grow both professionally and personally.
- Community: Join a diverse, passionate team that values collaboration.
This role is about Technical leadership, both in execution and team mentoring perspective (not managers). In this role you will help build the next generation of our core system, a realtime, streaming, AI native integrated engine for physical lab automation. We’re targeting an experienced engineer who architected and built highly complex realtime products, all while leading senior engineers within a squad.
You hate bureaucracy and excuses. You thrive in high-pace, high-quality, high-ownership environments. And you want a place with a purpose that leaves a legacy in the world (we literally help save lives).
Your Day-to-Day in This Role
- Own end-to-end squad delivery within Product Engineering (Software), in a department with Product, Engineering, Design, Data & AI (PEDDAI)—turning challenges into predictable, high-quality product delivery
- Hand-on squad leader–set the bar of what high-quality looks like at pace
- Own part of the technical architecture–set the direction of our product
- Partner with PEDDAI, Customer Success, and Sales leadership to align on challenges, initiatives, and roadmap
- Lead, and level-up high-performing Product Engineers that reports to you—hiring, mentoring, and setting an uncompromising bar for execution