Automation Engineer I/II, Sustaining Engineering & Lab Operations

Description

Automation Engineer I or II, Sustaining Engineering and Lab Operations, full-time and on site in Cambridge, MA.

The company builds an automated platform that runs the scientific method end to end for drug discovery, bioengineering, and advanced materials, pairing AI models with its own instruments.

You would join the group that keeps this platform running and improves it. During your shift you run and recover the workcells, and you also build the changes that make them more reliable and faster.

The group is made up of automation, mechanical, and controls engineers working across shifts. Many problems cross those disciplines, such as a scheduling fault traced to a sensor or a throughput limit caused by gripper tolerance. You bring operating data and work with them toward a lasting fix.

Production never stops, so improvement work has to be planned rather than squeezed into spare time. You arrange downtime with Research Operations, place the work in an approved window, and confirm the change works before the system returns to service. That takes as much coordination as engineering.

Handoffs are a core part of the role. You give and receive a structured handoff at shift overlap and write up events, decisions, and open issues so the next shift can act without calling you.

Responsibilities

• Run the workcells during your shift: triage instrument, software, and run faults as they appear, recover stalled runs, and decide whether to fix a problem now or stabilize it and pass it on at handoff.
• Find where reliability, throughput, or recoverability falls short in the systems you run, propose a change, and carry it through implementation and verification.
• Plan improvement and maintenance around live work: arrange downtime with Research Operations, book approved windows, and check the change before returning the system to service.
• Work with mechanical and controls engineers on problems that span hardware, controls, integration, and software, supplying the operating evidence needed to find root cause.
• Carry out preventive maintenance and calibrations on schedule, and arrange vendor service, parts, and spares for issues in your area.
• Work with on-shift Research Operations scientists to set recovery priority when several issues compete, keeping active experiments within their scientific limits.
• Update the runbooks, recovery playbooks, and diagnostic tools so the next engineer resolves recurring problems faster.
• Record shift events, decisions, and open issues, and run structured handoffs in both directions.
• Report recurring failure patterns and process gaps to the group so root causes get fixed rather than tolerated.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in engineering, biology, chemistry, materials science, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 1+ years of hands-on work with lab automation, lab instruments, or production operations in life sciences or physical sciences.
• Able to troubleshoot electromechanical equipment and software on your own and to know when to escalate.
• Clear written communication, since your notes must let engineers on other shifts act without follow-up.
• Able to work across mechanical, controls, software, and scientific teams.
• Comfortable in live production where scientists rely on the systems you touch.
• Available for either the first or second shift listed below, on site in Cambridge, MA.
• Bonus: experience with liquid handlers, plate-based workflows, automated storage, or high-throughput screening instruments.
• Bonus: familiarity with lab scheduling or workflow orchestration software such as Cellario, Overlord, Green Button Go, or similar.
• Bonus: scripting or light programming in Python, C, or similar for log analysis, diagnostics, or tooling.
• Bonus: understanding of scientific work and its limits, such as sample stability, timing windows, reagent handling, and why a deviation affects the result, not only the run.
• Bonus: exposure to robotic integration platforms or multi-instrument workcells.
• Bonus: experience running preventive maintenance programs or managing vendor service.
• Bonus: background in multi-shift or continuous operations where structured handoffs were routine.
• Bonus: practice in continuous improvement, measuring a system, changing it, and confirming the change held.

Conditions

Shift-based, with both shifts hiring: first shift runs 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM on weekdays, and second shift runs 2:00 to 10:00 PM on weekdays.

The shifts overlap by one hour for direct handoff. Assignments are fixed rather than rotating, and both shifts carry the same responsibilities, expectations, and development ownership.

The expected base salary range is $75,600 to $124,800 USD. USD ranges apply only to U.S. positions, and international salaries follow the local market.

Equal opportunity: the company hires without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.

Benefits

• Base pay is competitive, with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. The final offer reflects background, expertise, and expected impact.
• U.S. full-time employees get medical, dental, and vision coverage, employer-paid life and disability insurance, flexible time off with generous company-wide holidays, paid parental leave, an educational assistance program, commuter benefits including bike share memberships for office-based staff, and a subsidized company lunch program.
• Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a benefits package tailored to their region.