Our client is a profitable, venture-backed software company built for the life sciences. Its platform is used by global pharmaceutical companies, national research programmes and major data providers to accelerate early-stage R&D. It has raised around $70m from leading investors and has tripled its top line this year.
It is now launching a new AI product line and building it as a standalone business unit with its own product, its own go-to-market motion and its own revenue stream. Where the core business sells multi-million dollar enterprise deals on long cycles, this product is product-led: a scientist signs up, gets value immediately, and expands into the wider platform as their work demands it. This is the General Manager who will own it — effectively the CEO of a startup inside a well-funded, established business, reporting to the group CEO.
Location
Remote, with a strong preference for London or the US East Coast (New York, DC, Boston, Miami). The company is remote-first, and intends to establish an office wherever the new team concentrates — expect to be together weekly if you are co-located, or roughly monthly if the team is spread. Candidates across European time zones will also be considered.
Key Role Details
- Own the commercial and product outcomes of the business unit, carrying both a revenue target and a product uptake target.
- Define and execute the go-to-market strategy for a new AI product line, with product-led growth as the primary motion and land-and-expand into pharma as the route to scale.
- Own sales, marketing and pricing for the unit, and build the teams behind each.
- Recruit, structure and lead the business unit team, starting from a team of around five.
- Set the commercial operating cadence — pipeline management, forecasting and deal governance.
- Work with product and engineering leadership to keep the roadmap aligned to commercial demand.
- Report directly to the CEO on business unit performance.
- Launch is targeted for early Q1, with an ambition of around $10m ARR by the end of next year.
Experience and Competencies Required
- Around 10 to 15 years' experience. This is deliberately not a role for a seasoned executive — our client wants someone who still has a great deal to prove and wants to build something of their own.
- Proven ownership of a product-led growth software product end to end. This is the single most important qualification and the one you will be assessed on hardest.
- Direct ownership of commercial targets, ideally in healthcare or life sciences software.
- A track record of taking a product from zero to one and scaling it commercially.
- Experience closing enterprise deals in excess of $300k, alongside the self-serve motion.
- Experience building and managing a commercial team.
- The ability to operate with very high autonomy in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment.
- A biomedical or life sciences background is a strong plus rather than a requirement, but a genuine interest in the field is essential.
This is likely to suit someone who has taken a product through an early growth phase to a funding round or exit, and is looking to do it again with the resources of an established company behind them.
