Automation Hardware Engineer — Peptide Synthesis Lab

Capable; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellness budget

Comprehensive healthcare

Visa sponsorship

Daily team dinners

401K plan

Job summary

Capable Labs in San Francisco seeks a hardware engineer to pioneer a novel peptide synthesis instrument. You will own the design, build, and optimization of automated systems, interfacing with chemists to translate failure modes into hardware improvements.

A strong background in electromechanical hardware and lab instrumentation is essential. You will work in a mission-driven team, delivering robust systems with high throughput and reproducibility.

Qualifications

• Experience designing, building, or maintaining laboratory instrumentation.
• Hands-on experience with electromechanical hardware.
• Ability to diagnose instrumentation issues and implement improvements.
• Background in mechanical, electrical, chemical engineering, bioengineering, automation, or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop automated peptide synthesis systems for high-throughput SPPS.
• Engineer fluidic architectures including pumps, valves, and reactors.
• Develop reaction modules with inline sensing and thermal management.
• Create control systems for timed reagent addition, flow, temperature, and fault recovery.
• Prototype and test electromechanical systems including sensors, actuators, and controllers.
• Validate hardware performance against purity, yield, and cycle time targets.
• Collaborate with chemists to translate failure modes into hardware improvements.
• Develop test protocols and quality criteria for subsystems and integration.
• Integrate synthesizer with analytical workflows (HPLC, LC-MS, QC).
• Drive toward faster, more reproducible peptide synthesis with minimal manual intervention.

Skills

Systems design

Problem solving

Ownership

Collaboration

Job description

Capable Labs in San Francisco seeks a hardware engineer to pioneer a novel peptide synthesis instrument. You will own the design, build, and optimization of automated systems, interfacing with chemists to translate failure modes into hardware improvements.

A strong background in electromechanical hardware and lab instrumentation is essential. You will work in a mission-driven team, delivering robust systems with high throughput and reproducibility.