Facilities Operations

Merge Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Merge Labs in San Francisco is seeking a hands-on Facilities & Lab Operations Associate to keep the lab and office functional daily, coordinate maintenance, and support vendors. This role emphasizes practical problem-solving and physical upkeep to enable scientists and engineers.

You will manage space planning, shipping/receiving, utility systems, and buildout support, while maintaining records and checklists to scale operations as Merge expands.

Qualifications

• Hands-on facilities or lab operations experience in a wet lab, R&D, biotech, or similar environment.
• Strong mechanical aptitude with ability to troubleshoot and repair equipment.
• Experience coordinating vendors, service providers, and facilities projects.

Responsibilities

• Keep the physical site ready for science and daily work, owning upkeep of lab, office, and shared spaces.
• Serve as first line of defense for lab equipment issues and coordinate service when needed.
• Support lab utility systems (vacuum, compressed air, RODI, autoclaves, dishwashers).
• Own the practical flow of goods through the site: shipping, receiving, storage, and moves.
• Maintain the physical condition of the office and lab environment with hands-on repairs.
• Coordinate facilities vendors and trades to keep the site running smoothly.
• Support workplace operations including desk planning, moves, and signage.
• Assist small facilities buildouts and buildout input for future labs/offices.
• Support internal events with setup, vendor coordination, and logistics.
• Build disciplined maintenance records and checklists for scalable operations.

Skills

Facilities operations

Lab equipment maintenance

Vendor coordination

Preventive maintenance

Office & lab logistics

Tools

Asset databases

Ticketing systems

BMS interfaces

Job description

Merge Labs is a frontier research lab with the mission of bridging biological and artificial intelligence to maximize human ability, agency and experience. We're pursuing this goal by developing fundamentally new approaches to brain-computer interfaces that interact with the brain at high bandwidth, integrate with advanced AI, and are ultimately safe and accessible for anyone to use.

About the team:

The Lab and Facilities Operations team is the operational backbone of Merge Labs, responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of our R&D environment - from conceptualizing and building the physical infrastructure to operating it at scale. We own the systems that keep our labs, workplace, and building infrastructure running: lab operations, equipment and facilities management, safety and compliance, workplace operations, procurement, and logistics. Together, these functions ensure that the scientific environment is reliable, scalable, and proactive. We view operations not as a support function, but as a catalyst; our mission is to create a world-class Lab and Facilities Operations System that not only enables our scientists and engineers but, through integrated systems and operational excellence, actively accelerates their progress.

In this role, you will:

• Keep the physical site ready for science and daily work, owning the hands-on upkeep that makes the lab, office, and shared spaces functional every day - walkthroughs, janitorial coordination, space moves, facility equipment management, physical security touchpoints, and the first-pass repairs that keep small facilities issues from becoming team-wide friction.
• Serve as the first line of defense for lab equipment issues, troubleshooting and self-repairing equipment where appropriate, coordinating service when needed, and helping ensure critical lab equipment stays available, maintained, and ready for use.
• Support the lab utility systems that experiments depend on, helping monitor, maintain, and coordinate service for systems like vacuum, compressed air, RODI, autoclaves, dishwashers, and related lab infrastructure.
• Own the practical flow of goods through the site, supporting shipping, receiving, unpacking, logging, internal movement, and storage of lab and office materials so deliveries do not pile up, get lost, or slow down the team.
• Maintain the physical condition of the office and lab environment, handling or coordinating repairs across patching, painting, sinks, doors, bathrooms, carpet, elevators, fixtures, and other building issues that need a hands-on owner.
• Coordinate facilities vendors and trades, including janitorial, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, mechanical service, elevator support, kitchen equipment, plants, signage, and other vendors needed to keep the site running well.
• Support workplace operations for a growing team, helping with desk planning, office moves, food and kitchen operations, signage, Zoom room coordination with IT, physical security, and the day-to-day details that make the workplace functional.
• Help execute small facilities projects and buildout work, such as electrical modifications, minor construction, furniture changes, office reconfigurations, and future lab or office buildouts where this role provides practical input and execution support.
• Support internal events and site moments, helping with setup, vendor coordination, space readiness, cleanup, and the physical logistics needed to make events run smoothly without pulling scientists or operators away from their core work.
• Build the operating discipline behind Facilities and Lab Operations, keeping vendor lists, maintenance records, equipment notes, service histories, and recurring checklists current so the function becomes more reliable, less reactive, and easier to scale as Merge grows into the space.

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• Hands-on facilities or lab operations experience, ideally in a wet lab, R&D, biotech, life sciences, manufacturing, or similarly equipment-heavy environment. You understand that the physical environment is part of the operating system of the company.
• A strong mechanical instinct. You are the kind of person who reaches for a tool first, not a ticket. You can troubleshoot, repair, adjust, move, mount, assemble, patch, and diagnose physical problems - and you know when something is beyond your scope and needs a vendor.
• Real comfort inside a lab. You understand the needs of scientists and lab users: equipment uptime, clean and orderly spaces, utilities that work, cold storage that is protected, materials where they belong, and small operational details that can either speed science up or slow it down.
• Good judgment around building systems and vendors. You can coordinate plumbers, electricians, janitorial teams, equipment service providers, mechanical vendors, and other trades without losing ownership of the outcome. You know how to follow up, ask practical questions, compare options, and make sure the work actually gets done.
• A bias toward order and preventive maintenance. You can spot patterns and trends in failure modes. You are comfortable maintaining checklists, vendor rosters, service records, asset notes, maintenance schedules, and other simple systems that make operations less reactive over time.
• Resourcefulness and common sense. You can figure things out in imperfect conditions, make practical decisions, and keep moving without needing every step spelled out. You are calm when something breaks and know how to triage what matters most.
• A service mindset without being passive. You like helping people, but you are not just taking requests. You are looking around corners, noticing what is off, and actively improving the environment before the lab or office has to complain.
• Enough technical literacy to operate modern lab and facilities systems. You are comfortable using spreadsheets, asset databases, ticketing systems, BMS interfaces, vendor portals, inventory tools, and documentation systems - and you are willing to keep records accurate because you understand that sloppy systems create sloppy operations.
• Flexibility about the range of the work. Some days this role is lab equipment, utilities, and vendor coordination. Other days it is shipping and receiving, office moves, kitchen equipment, signage, small repairs, event setup, or helping plan a future buildout.

For more information about hiring at Merge, please visit our Hiring FAQ

Merge Labs does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, family status, ancestry, citizenship, U.S. military (state and federal) and veteran status, or any other legally protected status. It is our intention that all applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions are based on job related factors. We are an equal opportunity employer.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made by emailing [e-mail].

Compensation Range: $95K - $120K