Scientific Automation Engineer III

Generate:Biomedicines; Somerville (MA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits package

Annual bonus

Equity compensation

Job summary

Generate:Biomedicines in Somerville, Massachusetts is seeking an experienced Automation Engineer to enhance our lab automation and protein therapeutics discovery efforts. This role is crucial for sustaining and advancing our wet lab platform through automated workflows including DNA and protein production.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate expertise in liquid handling, method development, and troubleshooting, partnering closely with scientists to drive successful projects. Continuous learning and adaptability are key traits desired in this fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in lab automation and analytical & process instrumentation development.
• Strong experience with liquid handlers and integrated workcells.
• Experience owning workflows end-to-end from design to debugging.

Responsibilities

• Drive reliability and method development for DNA/protein production workflows.
• Build and integrate custom instrument capabilities into the wet-lab platform.
• Provide high-quality in-lab support and unblock experiments quickly.

Skills

Liquid handling

Workcell automation

Troubleshooting

Scripting

Method development

Communication skills

Education

BS in engineering or related field with 5+ years industry experience

MS in engineering or related field with 3+ years industry experience

PhD in engineering or related field

Tools

Biomek

Tecan

Hamilton

Opentrons

Job description

Generate:Biomedicines is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Automation Engineer to join our team at the interface of lab automation, instrumentation, integrated workcells, custom hardware, and protein therapeutics discovery.

This role will be central to sustaining and advancing Generate’s wet lab platform, with particular emphasis on automated workflows spanning DNA production, protein production, cell culture, and screening & validation assays. Just as importantly, this engineer will help extend Generate’s capabilities beyond immediate automation support by building and integrating custom instrument capabilities into the wet lab ecosystem and partnering on adjacent engineering efforts where thoughtful hardware, fluidics, or systems integration can unlock better science.

The role sits within an organization of highly motivated scientists and engineers where collaboration and communication across technical disciplines drives the team's success. The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in liquid handling, workcell automation, troubleshooting, scripting, and method development, along with experience building, adapting, or integrating instrumentation in close partnership with scientists and the rest of the engineering team. This role is well-suited for someone who can execute at a high technical level while thinking end‑to‑end about building scalable support through training, documentation, and handoff practices that increase scientist independence.

Here’s how you will contribute:

• Drive reliability, troubleshooting, and method development for DNA/protein production and assay/readout workflows on integrated workcells, while improving throughput, parallelization, and data quality across platform and pipeline programs.
• Build, adapt, and integrate custom instrument capabilities into Generate’s wet‑lab platform, including in‑house‑built hardware, fluidic systems, or related technologies into scientist‑facing workflows.
• Own critical automation and instrumentation problems end‑to‑end, from method design and system improvement through live troubleshooting on active runs, vendor coordination, documentation, and knowledge transfer.
• Partner closely with scientists to provide high‑quality in‑lab support, unblock experiments quickly, and identify new automation‑ or engineering‑enabled capabilities that reduce timelines for production, scale‑up, and future platform workflows.

The Ideal Candidate will have:

• BS + with 5+ years industry experience in lab automation and analytical & process instrumentation development, MS with 3+ years industry experience, or PhD in engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, life sciences, or a related field.
• Strong experience with liquid handlers and integrated workcells, including platforms such as Biomek, Tecan, Lynx, Hamilton, Opentrons, and/or similar systems.
• Experience owning workflows end‑to‑end, from method design and execution through debugging, documentation, and operational support.
• A strong drive to proactively hand‑off workflows to scientists in a way that improves adoption, increases autonomy, and effective use of automation tools.
• Exceptional communication skills and proactivity to facilitate interactions between scientists, engineers, and other stakeholders that span a range of technical and scientific languages.
• Experience developing and/or deploying wet lab‑facing agentic applications, e.g. closed‑loop experimental systems.
• Experience building, integrating, or supporting custom instrumentation, fluidic systems, and/or microfluidic devices in an R&D environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting DNA production, protein production, protein purification, cell culture, functional & binding assays, and/or related molecular biology workflows at scale.
• Significant experience with HighRes, Retisoft, and/or other advanced scheduling and orchestration systems and integrated hardware environments.
• Experience supporting platform transfer, vendor coordination, user training, or expansion of methods across multiple instruments and lab locations.
• Experience working in a highly collaborative, matrixed research environment where automation, platform engineering, and discovery teams are tightly integrated.

Who Will Love This Job

• You are motivated working in fast‑paced and dynamic research environments, with a drive to frequently move out of your immediate comfort zone and learn new things.
• You like working in the lab and helping scientists succeed not only by solving urgent problems, but by building systems, habits, and training that empowers them.
• You enjoy translating across biology, engineering, software, and instrumentation, and you are energized by working on problems that span automation as well as broader wet‑lab engineering.
• You take a pragmatic, builder‑oriented approach to method development and troubleshooting: moving fast, improving iteratively, and focusing on what will best unblock the science.
• You are curious and adaptable, and get excited by learning new devices, workflows, and biological contexts quickly while helping make the lab more capable over time.

Generate:Biomedicines is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Compensation: The base salary range provided reflects our current estimate of what we anticipate paying for this position. Your actual base salary will be based on several factors, including job‑related skills, experience, internal equity, relevant education or training, and market dynamics. In addition, you will be eligible for an annual bonus, equity compensation, and a competitive benefits package.