Sr. Principal or Engineering Advisor - Agentic Lab Automation Integration

Position Summary

• Engineer integrations between agentic AI and physical lab systems, connecting robotic platforms, analytical instruments, and data pipelines.
• Design agent workflows to reason over experimental data, trigger automated actions, and surface insights to scientists.
• Prototype rapidly, productionize what works, and collaborate with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers.

Research & Innovation

• Build multi-agent systems with orchestration, state management, error recovery, and tool integration.
• Prototype and iterate on agent planning, memory systems, and human-in-the-loop patterns.
• Interface agent architectures with lab automation platforms (Hamilton, Tecan, Opentrons) for closed-loop execution.

Solution Deployment

• Transition prototypes into reliable lab operations with automation engineers and scientists.
• Deploy and maintain containerized services (Docker, Kubernetes) using GitOps and CI/CD.
• Integrate orchestration frameworks (e.g., Argo on Kubernetes) with laboratory control systems.

External Engagement

• Publish, give talks, review papers, and scout emerging trends in /external community.
• Evaluate vendors, open-source projects, and academic collaborations.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD (or MS + 2 yrs / BS + 5 yrs) in Chemical/Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or related field; demonstrated wet-lab automation.
• Experience with lab automation systems and LIMS engineering.
• Experience integrating software/AI with lab automation (liquid handlers, analytical instruments, robotic workflows).
• Strong Docker + Kubernetes production orchestration.
• Scalable production Python apps (e.g., Redis, FastAPI, Flask/Streamlit, pytest).

Preferred

• LLM post-training/fine-tuning/RLHF; AI integrated with lab automation.
• Ability to build the translation layer from planning logic to instrument control.
• Research experience with ML/NLP publications (e.g., NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR/ACL).

Compensation/Benefits

• Anticipated wage: $87,000–$222,200; eligible for company bonus and comprehensive benefits (401(k), medical/dental/vision, vacation, life insurance, time off/leave, well-being programs).