Junior Engineer, Bioreactors

Retro
Redwood City, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

Best suited to hands-on engineers with experience in precision manufacturing or hardware-heavy R&D who thrive in rapid iteration environments.

Best fit for

  • Engineers who enjoy building and debugging complex hardware systems.
    — “someone who loves building complex, reliable systems
  • Candidates with experience in transforming prototypes into production-ready platforms.
    — “track record of transforming prototype systems into closed, production-ready platforms

Things to consider

  • This role requires being physically present at the bioreactor for assembly and maintenance.
    — “expect to be at the bioreactor—assembling hardware
  • Experience in cGMP environments is highly preferred.
    — “within cGMP environments

How to stand out

  • Demonstrate your ability to enable scientific experiments through hardware improvements.
    — “enabling scientists to run more experiments confidently
  • Showcase projects where you balanced rapid iteration with rigorous documentation.
    — “balance rigor and documentation with a bias toward unconventional approaches
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · MediumAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Junior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • expanding Retro’s capabilities
  • building, maintaining, and scaling custom bioreactor systems
Typical background
precision manufacturinginstrument assemblyhardware-heavy R&D

Skills & requirements

Required

Bioreactor SystemsPrecision AssemblyFluidicsElectronicsAutomationCgmp Environments

Preferred

Rapid IterationUnconventional Approaches

About the role

Original posting from Retro via Lever

Retro develops therapies for diseases driven by the biology of aging. We focus on cellular reprogramming and autophagy to rejuvenate cell and tissue function with the ultimate aim of adding 10 years to healthy human lifespan.

We’re building a mission-driven team of accomplished and kind individuals who embrace our startup culture of rapid iteration, transparency, and versatility.

We are hiring a new member of the team who will expand Retro’s capabilities by building, maintaining, and scaling custom bioreactor systems used for automated cell culture. This is a highly hands-on “builder” role at the intersection of precision assembly, fluidics, sensors, electronics, and automation. In this role, expect to be at the bioreactor—assembling hardware, improving designs, strengthening reliability, and enabling scientists to run more experiments confidently.

About you:

You are a hands-on engineer at heart—someone who loves building complex, reliable systems. You balance rigor and documentation with a bias toward unconventional approaches and rapid iteration.

You’ve likely worked in environments like precision manufacturing, instrument assembly, or hardware-heavy R&D where you were close to the hardware—not just designing it, but building it, debugging it, and improving it. Ideally, you have a track record of transforming prototype systems into closed, production-ready platforms, within cGMP environments.

Source: Retro careers (Lever)

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