Lab Applications Manager

TACTUS AI; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Dental and vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Job summary

TACTUS AI, a robotics company in San Diego, is seeking an Applications Lead to connect R&D with commercial insights. The role involves defining standards for application workflows, translating lab protocols into robotic capabilities, and leading a team.

Candidates should have strong experience in lab operations and technical documentation to build effective workflows and manage partnerships. Competitive salary and benefits are offered as part of this crucial position in the company's growth.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in applications, field applications, or laboratory operations.
• Hands-on bench experience in a clinical or research lab.
• Demonstrated ownership of customer-facing technical documentation.

Responsibilities

• Execute the applications roadmap and validate workflows.
• Onboard and manage lab instrumentation.
• Drive training data collection for ML model development.
• Be the technical lead in customer conversations.

Skills

Field applications experience

Technical documentation ownership

Laboratory operations

Customer workflow translation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or biomedical engineering

Job description

Tactus AI is a robotics company building humanoid robotic lab assistants and intelligent orchestration software for clinical and research laboratories.

We believe robotics empowers lab staff. It never replaces them.

Our tagline:The Intelligent Touch.

About the role

Applications is the bridge between R&D and commercial. It’s the function that translates a customer’s actual workflow — the slides being moved, loaded, and tracked by hand today — into validated, demo-able, deployable robot capability tomorrow. It’s also the function that keeps the product roadmap honest: built around customer outcomes, not just technical capability.

This is the first dedicated Applications lead hire at Tactus AI. You’ll stand up the function, define its standards, build its team, and own how the humanoid robotic lab assistant shows up in front of customers, partners, and investors. You’ll report directly to the CCO and work side by side with the founder/CEO and founder/CTO.

If you’ve spent your career being the technical voice that pathologists, lab directors, and instrument partners actually trust — and you’ve wanted the chance to build that function from the ground up at a company that’s making something the world hasn’t seen before — this is that role.

What you’ll do

1. Execute the applications roadmap. Support which customer workflows we develop and validate, in what order, against what evidence base. Partner with the CTO and Head of Software on technical feasibility; partner with the CCO on commercial sequencing.
2. Validate workflows on the humanoid robotic lab assistant. Translate clinical and research lab protocols into repeatable robot workflows. Define acceptance criteria. Run validation studies. Document outcomes rigorously enough that a lab director would stake their reputation on them.
3. Onboard and manage lab instrumentation. Source instruments directly or coordinate loaners through med device partnerships. Lead installation, training, and SOP generation for each new instrument, and manage the coming and going of partner‑loaned hardware. Set up and run the lab itself, including reagent and consumable planning when specific applications require it.
4. Drive training data collection for ML model development. Partner with the ML and engineering teams to provide the data that teaches the robot each new application — digital twin generation, human task videos, and teleoperation data. The applications scientist leads day‑to‑day collection against a structured task plan; you set priorities, validate outputs, and ensure the ML team gets what it needs on the cadence it needs.
5. Author application notes and protocols. Produce the technical literature that lets customers, partners, and investors see exactly what the robot does and how reliably.
6. Be the technical lead in customer conversations. Anchor pilot kickoffs, troubleshooting, and expansion discussions. You’ll own its technical workstream alongside the CCO.
7. Own demo development. Build, rehearse, and execute demos for ADLM 2026 (Jul 26–30, Anaheim), PathVisions 2026 (Oct 16–18, San Diego), IVD partner meetings, and investor visits. Every demo is real, repeatable, and reflects product reality.
8. Be the structured voice of the customer in R&D. Push back when capability‑driven roadmap diverges from customer‑outcome value. Translate field feedback into requirements the engineering team can act on.
9. Support IVD partnership conversations. Roche, Hologic, BD, Siemens, Sakura, Leica — be the technical‑applications voice that helps partners see how Tactus AI protects and extends their installed base, not competes with it.
10. Build the team. Manage and develop the incoming applications scientist. Define the next two hires on the applications team and lead their recruiting.

Required qualifications

• 7+ years in applications, field applications, or laboratory operations within diagnostics, IVD, clinical/research labs, or life sciences instrumentation
• Hands‑on bench experience in a clinical or research lab -in the workflow
• Demonstrated ownership of customer‑facing technical documentation (application notes, validation protocols, method comparison studies, technical bulletins)
• Track record of translating customer workflows into actionable product requirements
• Fluency moving between scientific/clinical conversations and engineering conversations
• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, biomedical engineering, or a related field

Preferred qualifications

• Pathology, histology, cytology, or anatomic pathology workflow expertise
• IVD instrument or laboratory system launch experience (Roche, Hologic, BD, Siemens, Sakura, Leica, Beckman Coulter, or similar)
• Direct people‑management experience, including hiring and developing applications scientists
• Familiarity with regulated lab environments (CLIA, CAP, ISO 15189)
• Exposure to laboratory automation, robotics, or integrated lab systems

Compensation and equity

Competitive base salary commensurate with senior leadership experience in diagnostics. Equity participation as a first‑15 hire at a pre‑Series A company. Full benefits (health, dental, vision, 401(k), PTO). Specific comp band confirmed at offer stage.

Tactus AI is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.