About the Role
This is a senior individual contributor role owning the automation platform that generates the data behind Satomic's chemistry. You will design and build the systems that turn chemistry requirements into high-throughput automated workflows, partnering directly with chemists and software engineers to ship methods that run reliably in production.
The right candidate brings deep experience in liquid handling and lab automation and implements solutions with the systems thinking of a developer. You will define test coverage, build internal tools, and work closely with the software team to integrate automation workflows into internal software systems including data capture, experiment tracking, and laboratory information management. You will ensure workflows can be diagnosed and recovered quickly when things go wrong. You will work closely with the chemistry team to validate new methods, troubleshoot complex workflows, and drive improvements that make the platform more robust as scientific scope grows.
This is a hands-on, lab-based role for someone energized by solving hard problems at the intersection of chemistry, instrumentation, and software, and who takes pride in building automation that the whole team can depend on.
Technologies and systems you may work with include:
- Liquid handling robotics (e.g., Hamilton liquid handlers)
- Automation control software (e.g., VENUS, PyHamilton, PyLabRobot)
- Laboratory instrumentation such as incubators, de-cappers, and analytical systems
- Internal software systems used for experiment orchestration and data capture
- Automation validation and testing frameworks used to ensure reliability of automated workflows
Expected Outcomes
By day 30, you will have:
- Assessed existing automated chemistry workflows and the method library, identifying validation status, reliability gaps, and immediate risks to execution
- Worked with the Platform and Chemistry teams to identify and drive resolution of the key automation decisions required before the platform can scale, documenting a clear, prioritized path forward for system expansion
- Shipped at least one production-ready automation method or method improvement on a liquid handling platform, including documented workflow, validation results, and operating procedure
By 90 days, you will have:
- Onboarded at least two liquid handling platforms including all necessary integrations, meaningfully expanding dataset generation and reaction development capacity
- Defined and shipped a liquid class onboarding pipeline with a documented promotion path from development to production, including automated validation checks
- Built internal tooling that meaningfully accelerates method development work
- Established consistent engineering practices for version control, testing, and documentation that are actively used across automation workflows
By year 1, you will have:
- Delivered a dataset generation platform supporting multiple concurrent chemistry programs and generating training data for Satomic's machine learning models
- Engineered at least one solution that adapts a previously incompatible chemistry workflow to run reliably on the automation platform
- Worked with the software team to integrate automation workflows with internal data systems, reducing manual data handling across the platform
- Trained at least one other team member on platform operation using documentation you authored
By year 5, you will have:
- Translated the hardest unsolved chemistry problems in the organization into reliable automated workflows, continuously expanding the chemistry the platform can execute
- Deployed agentic tooling and custom software integrations that enable autonomous handoffs across the platform and support 24-hour unattended operation
- Built Satomic's dataset generation capability into a core competitive advantage, enabling throughput and data quality unachievable without an automation-first platform
What You Will Own
- Technical direction and implementation of Satomic's dataset generation automation platform
- Liquid class development, validation, and lifecycle management from development through production
- Dataset generation method development and maintenance for ML and reaction development workflows
- Internal tooling to accelerate method development, worklist execution, and run analysis
- Integration of automation workflows with internal software systems and data pipelines
- Automated regression testing infrastructure and test coverage methodology for the full method development lifecycle
- Instrument procurement, configuration, and method migration as the platform expands
- Chemistry support and training as the automation technical point of contact for research operations
Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in laboratory automation engineering with demonstrated ownership of method development, validation, and production deployment
- Prior Venus (Hamilton) experience is required. You must be able to write,