I'm Rob Padilla a product leader with 10+ years of experience who turns complex scientific platforms into profitable digital businesses. Currently Director of Product Management at Springer Nature, I own the P&L for a €16M Digital Life Science Solutions portfolio. I lead a global team distributed across the UK, Germany, and India that builds tools that scientists rely on every day.

My career journey has taken a very scenic route. Starting as a chemistry researcher, with a Ph.D. from Berkeley, I was a scientist at BASF before pivoting to technical editing at the publishers Thieme and Wiley. I then landed my first product role in the materials science space before taking on my current product leadership role in the life sciences. My background shapes how I work: I understand the user’s (scientist’s) world as well as the business one. I've spent my career building products that aim to delight both.

Focusing on empowered product teams, real-world AI implementation, and growth through partnerships, I've consistently delivered 5% year-on-year growth (2x the industry average) for mature products while launching new, impactful product lines.

This site is where the longer stories of my work live: case studies, lessons, bets that worked, bets that didn't, and my experiences of building both products and teams.