Senior Instrument Architect - Life Sciences Systems

BD; Milpitas (CA); Hybrid; USD 168,600 - 269,800; Full time

Job summary

Waters Corporation in Milpitas, CA seeks a Senior Staff Engineer to drive complex life science products from concept through verification. You will define requirements, architecture, and interfaces, and lead device drivers and communication protocols to deliver the intended customer experience.

You will collaborate with Marketing, HW, SW, Reagents, and Validation teams, mentor others, and own end‑to‑end requirements lifecycle in a hybrid, on‑site role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related discipline; Master’s or PhD preferred.
• 12+ years in systems engineering, product development, or design in regulated environments.
• Experience with design control and regulatory testing is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Define system architecture and create ICDs and block diagrams.
• Map and optimize interfaces across optical, fluidic, electronic, and software subsystems.
• Design state machines and timing for real‑time hardware interactions.
• Develop end‑to‑end data flow from detectors to software layer.
• Manage system budgets for optical power, SNR, timing, and power use.
• Lead verification, validation planning and risk-based testing.

Skills

RTOS and embedded control

Real-time systems

Data pipeline architecture

High-speed data processing

System-level thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Controls design and state machines

Biophysics & reagents knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related discipline

Master’s degree or PhD preferred

Tools

RS232

USB

TCP/IP

CAN bus

SPI

I2C

PCIe

Gigabit Ethernet

Job description

Waters Corporation in Milpitas, CA seeks a Senior Staff Engineer to drive complex life science products from concept through verification. You will define requirements, architecture, and interfaces, and lead device drivers and communication protocols to deliver the intended customer experience.

You will collaborate with Marketing, HW, SW, Reagents, and Validation teams, mentor others, and own end‑to‑end requirements lifecycle in a hybrid, on‑site role.