Product Manager

Ginkgo’s mission is to make biology easier to engineer. We design, build, and test organisms to address fundamental challenges the world is facing today. Ginkgo bioengineers use our foundry—a custom-built, centralized set of robotic lab equipment and software—to build new organisms for making natural products, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and more. We're creating the code base, compiler and debugger for biology. We're looking for amazing software Product Managers to help us design and build the best bioinformatics and analysis tools that will define how bioengineers design organisms at scale.

In the role of Product Manager, you will contribute to Ginkgo’s strong set of internal software tools, automation, and processes that enable high-throughput genetic engineering across multiple species. You will advance these tools by adding to their capabilities and scaling their performance, while making them easier and more efficient to use. The ideal Product Manager has a passion for synthetic biology and scientific software, a strong understanding of its challenges, and a proven track record for delivering incredible software.

Responsibilities

• Oversee a functional area and act as the product owner for 1-2 scrum teams. 
• Develop strategy for product planning, including  short-term release plans and long-term road maps for your functional area
• Stay on top of new computational and software capabilities being developed in the industry and understand how these new technologies may be applied to your functional area
• Define and track key performance metrics and other measurable success criteria
• Collect and synthesize user feedback to identify product gaps and define requirements to meet the gaps
• Work with stakeholders and developers to understand the implications of solution ideas
• Collaboratively develop the best solutions that can be delivered in a time and cost sensitive manner
• Build, groom and prioritize the backlog for your functional area
• Align development teams and stakeholders around the solutions you develop by advocating for them, ensuring their quality, and maintaining user engagement
• Ensure sufficient documentation for developed solutions

Desired Experience and Capabilities

• One of the following: (1) B.S. or higher degree in biological engineering, synthetic biology, or a related field, or (2) B.S. or higher degree in computer science or a related field and industry experience with biology, biological engineering, synthetic biology, or a related field
• 4+ years of product management experience and proven track record delivering incredible software
• Demonstrated ability to break down complex problems into actionable steps
• Experience leading or supporting user research
• Experience in an Agile development environment
• Excited to work with the best scientists and engineers to develop new software tools to solve never-before-seen scientific challenges
• Ability to work on-site in our office in Boston’s exciting Seaport district

To learn more about our Software Team and how we're growing Ginkgo's platform, check out our team page. as well as some of the team's blog posts:

Using React Memo for a More Performant User Experience

Building a Data Processing Pipeline for NGS Part 1

Ginkgo's COVID-19 Pivot: Decisiveness and Agility

Day in the Life: Chris

Day in the Life: Dan

To learn more about Ginkgo, check out some recent press:

What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)

Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)

Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (WSJ)

The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)

The engineering of living organisms could soon start changing everything (The Economist)

Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)

Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)

Ginkgo Bioworks Is Turning Human Cells into On-Demand Factories (WIRED)

Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)

This food tech startup just raised $90 million to make it easier to invent new plant-based meats (Fast Company)

We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.  

We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.