Lead Engineer, Agentic Lab Automation & AI

Lilly Group; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 87,000 - 222,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company bonus

401(k) plan

Health insurance

Job summary

Lilly seeks a hands-on engineer to connect Agentic AI with physical lab systems, designing workflows that automate experiments and surface insights for scientists. You will prototype rapidly, productionize successful ideas, and collaborate with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers to accelerate molecule discovery.

You will deploy containerized services, build scalable Python applications, and help integrate cloud orchestration with lab control systems, contributing to Frontier AI’s

Qualifications

• PhD (or MS + 2 yrs / BS + 5 yrs equivalent) in Chemical/Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or related discipline with wet-lab automation experience.
• Experience with laboratory automation systems and LIMS engineering.
• Experience integrating software control/AI systems with lab automation platforms (liquid handlers, analytical instruments, robotic workflows).
• Strong containerization and Kubernetes experience in production environments.
• Experience building scalable Python applications using Redis, FastAPI, Flask/Streamlit, pytest.

Responsibilities

• Build multi-agent systems with robust orchestration, state management, error recovery, and tool integration.
• Prototype and iterate agent planning, memory systems, and human-in-the-loop patterns.
• Design architectures interfacing with lab automation platforms for closed-loop experimental execution.
• Deploy prototypes into reliable lab operations with automation engineers and scientists.
• Containerize services with Docker/Kubernetes and CI/CD practices; integrate Argo on Kubernetes with lab control systems.
• Represent Frontier AI in external research communities; evaluate vendors and open-source projects.

Skills

Lab automation integration

Containerization

Kubernetes orchestration

Python backend development

LIMS engineering

Education

PhD or MS + 2 yrs / BS + 5 yrs in relevant field

Tools

Docker

Redis

FastAPI

Flask/Streamlit

Pytest

Job description

Lilly seeks a hands-on engineer to connect Agentic AI with physical lab systems, designing workflows that automate experiments and surface insights for scientists. You will prototype rapidly, productionize successful ideas, and collaborate with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers to accelerate molecule discovery.

You will deploy containerized services, build scalable Python applications, and help integrate cloud orchestration with lab control systems, contributing to Frontier AI’s