Senior Principal Engineer, Workcell Lead

🚀 About Lila Sciences

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai    

At Lila, we are uniquely cross-functional and collaborative. We are actively reimagining the way teams work together and communicate. Therefore, we seek individuals with an inclusive mindset and a diversity of thought. Our teams thrive in unstructured and creative environments. All voices are heard because we know that experience comes in many forms, skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way.

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, please apply.

🌟 Your Impact at Lila

Lila Sciences is seeking a dynamic and experienced Team Lead and Senior Principal Automation Engineer to lead the design and deployment of innovative automation systems that bridge life sciences, material sciences, and industrial automation. This role focuses on creating scalable, integrated solutions by combining advanced laboratory automation with custom-engineered systems. Your leadership will drive cutting-edge automation in life science laboratories while expanding into material and physical sciences, supporting a wide range of applications including drug discovery, bioengineering, and advanced material characterization. 

🛠️ What You'll Be Building

• Life Science Lab Automation: 
  • Provide technical leadership in life science laboratory automation, architecting custom workcells.  
  • Design and oversee the development of integrated automation solutions for life sciences, leveraging off-the-shelf liquid handlers, sealers, peelers, schedulers, and other automation components, combined with custom-engineered hardware to meet specialized research needs. 
  • Implement advanced error recovery protocols and robust integration strategies for seamless operation of instruments like liquid handlers, analyzers, and robotic systems. 
• Material and Physical Science Applications: 
  • Develop automation solutions for material science research, including high-precision robotics for handling delicate materials and advanced control systems for experimental setups.  
  • Lead cross-functional collaborations to integrate physical science instruments with custom peripherals for automated workflows. 
  • Drive innovation in custom hardware development for physical sciences, enabling high-throughput experimentation. 
• System Design & Development: 
  • Architect and oversee the development of sophisticated automated systems that integrate commercial platforms, custom-engineered components, PLCs, and SCADA technologies to create hybrid laboratory and industrial automation environments. 
  • Design dynamic workflows using advanced Python programming and integrate with leading scheduling platforms such as Overlord, Cellario, and Green Button Go to optimize laboratory and material science operations. 
  • Guide the development of hardware and software standards for multi-vendor automation systems, ensuring compatibility across diverse scientific disciplines. 
• Team Leadership: 
  • Lead and mentor a team of automation engineers, fostering innovation and technical excellence. 
  • Promote collaboration between life science researchers, material scientists, and industrial engineers to create tailored automation solutions. 
• Strategic Planning: 
  • Develop long-term roadmaps for automation initiatives, emphasizing scalability and flexibility in life sciences and physical sciences environments. 
  • Lead technology selection for large-scale automation deployments, ensuring effective integration of custom hardware with commercial and analytical instruments.