Autonomous Lab Engineer - AI-Driven Manufacturing

A*STAR RESEARCH ENTITIES; Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A*STAR's Advanced Manufacturing Research Directorate seeks a Research Engineer to develop AI-powered autonomous laboratory platforms and software infrastructure in Singapore. You will architect AI agent systems, automate experimental workflows, and integrate robotics with scientific instruments to accelerate discovery.

You will collaborate with researchers and engineers to design scalable backends, experiment planning pipelines, and data management, enabling autonomous experimentation across

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related disciplines.
• Strong programming skills in Python with solid software engineering practices.
• Experience with machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Experience developing modular software systems using Git and collaborative development workflows.
• Familiarity with laboratory automation, scientific instrumentation, workflow automation, or robotics is desirable.
• Experience integrating hardware and software using communication protocols such as Serial, TCP/IP, REST APIs, OPC-UA, or vendor SDKs is an advantage.
• Understanding of Bayesian Optimization, active learning, reinforcement learning, or AI-assisted optimization techniques is desirable.
• Experience with AI agent frameworks (e.g., LangGraph, LangChain, AutoGen, CrewAI, or Model Context Protocol) is an advantage.
• Experience with FastAPI, Flask, Docker, Linux, cloud platforms, or scientific computing environments is a plus.
• Familiarity with databases (e.g., SQLite or PostgreSQL) and scientific data management is desirable.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively in interdisciplinary research teams

Responsibilities

• Developing software infrastructure for AI-powered Self-Driving Laboratory platforms.
• Designing and implementing AI agent systems for autonomous scientific workflows.
• Building workflow orchestration systems for experiment planning, scheduling, execution, monitoring, and recovery.
• Integrating laboratory instruments, robotics, and scientific equipment through software interfaces (e.g., Serial, TCP/IP, REST APIs, vendor SDKs).
• Developing autonomous experiment control pipelines by integrating AI models with laboratory hardware and scientific software.
• Implementing Bayesian Optimization, active learning, reinforcement learning, or other AI-driven experimental optimization techniques.
• Building experiment data management, provenance tracking, and scientific data pipelines.
• Developing APIs and backend services for laboratory automation platforms.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams working on AI for Science, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and autonomous experimentation

Skills

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Communication

Interdisciplinary teamwork

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/AI/Robotics/Engineering

Tools

Python

PyTorch

Git

FastAPI/Flask

Docker

Linux

REST/OPC-UA

SQL (SQLite/PostgreSQL)

Job description

A*STAR's Advanced Manufacturing Research Directorate seeks a Research Engineer to develop AI-powered autonomous laboratory platforms and software infrastructure in Singapore. You will architect AI agent systems, automate experimental workflows, and integrate robotics with scientific instruments to accelerate discovery.

You will collaborate with researchers and engineers to design scalable backends, experiment planning pipelines, and data management, enabling autonomous experimentation across