Senior Product Support Engineer

Madrona Venture Labs; San Carlos (CA); On-site; USD 86,000 - 127,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

401k retirement plan

Unlimited paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Madrona Venture Labs in San Carlos is seeking a Product Support Engineer to install and support complex biotech instruments. The role requires strong technical troubleshooting skills, experience in biotechnology, and a proactive approach to customer service. Responsibilities include diagnosing system issues, providing onsite support, and participating in product improvement efforts. This position offers a compensation range of $86K - $127K and requires flexibility to travel up to 50%. Benefits include comprehensive insurance and a competitive options grant.

Qualifications

• 4-8 years of experience supporting complex instruments or capital equipment.
• Experience in biotech, life science devices, medical devices, or analytical instrumentation preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Install, commission, and qualify instruments at customer sites.
• Diagnose and resolve system issues in hardware, software, and optics.
• Provide on-site and remote technical support.

Skills

Troubleshooting electromechanical systems

Optical imaging knowledge

Communication skills

Problem-solving skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Biotechnology, or related field

Tools

PC & Linux based systems

Fluidics and optical systems

Job description

Location

San Carlos

Employment Type

Full time

Department

Services & Support

Compensation

• $86K – $127K Offers Equity

The hiring pay range for this position is based on skills, education, and experience relevant to the role. New hires are typically hired into the low to midpoint of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

Benefits include medical, vision, and dental insurance, group and supplemental life insurance, 401k retirement plan, responsible (unlimited) paid time off, parental leave, and more. Other components of total compensation include a competitive options grant at the time of hire (with potential for additional grants).

At Nautilus, we have a big and important mission: improve the health of millions by unleashing the potential of the proteome to accelerate drug development and enable a new world of precision and personalized medicine. We are developing a single‑molecule protein analysis platform of unprecedented sensitivity, scale, and ease of use that we believe will democratize access to the proteome – one of the most dynamic and valuable sources of biological insight. To accomplish this, we are pursuing hard scientific problems with an entrepreneurial mindset and creating a world‑class team of builders, innovators, and dreamers across a wide range of disciplines.

We are hiring for a Product Support Engineer to join our growing team. The Product Support Engineer is responsible for installing, supporting, and improving complex biotech instrumentation onsite and in customer environments. This role sits at the intersection of customers, engineering, manufacturing, and quality, ensuring high system availability while driving rapid learning and product improvement during early commercialization. This position is hands‑on, customer‑facing, and requires strong technical troubleshooting skills combined with disciplined documentation and feedback into design, manufacturing, and quality systems.

Responsibilities

• Install, commission, and qualify instruments internally and at customer sites
• Diagnose and resolve hardware, software, fluidic, optical, and electromechanical issues
• Perform preventative and corrective maintenance to maintain target system uptime
• Respond to internal and external customer escalations
• Provide on‑site and remote technical support
• Represent the company professionally in customer laboratories and production environments
• Troubleshoot complex system failures using structured problem‑solving (RCCA)
• Identify recurring failure modes and contribute to root cause analysis
• Document issues clearly and feed findings back to Engineering, Manufacturing, and Quality
• Support beta, early access, and commercial customers with high service expectations
• Capture field data on reliability, usage patterns, and failure rates
• Contribute to design‑for‑serviceability (DFS), reliability, and DFM/DFT improvements
• Support implementation of design changes, ECOs, and service bulletins
• Participate in pilot builds, validation testing, and release readiness activities
• Create and maintain service procedures, troubleshooting guides, and installation documentation
• Follow complaint handling, nonconformance, and CAPA processes
• Ensure service activities comply with company quality system requirements
• Support traceability of parts, repairs, and service actions
• Partner with Engineering to debug early designs and validate fixes
• Work with Manufacturing and Supply Chain to improve part quality and availability
• Support Product Management with customer feedback and field insights
• Assist Sales and Applications teams during critical customer interactions when needed

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Biotechnology, or related technical field
• 4-8 years of experience supporting complex instruments or capital equipment
• Experience in biotech, life science devices, medical devices, or analytical instrumentation strongly preferred
• Strong hands‑on troubleshooting of electromechanical and fluids systems
• Comprehensive knowledge of optical imaging systems, with particular strengths in fluorescent imaging
• Experience with fluidics, pneumatics, sensors, valves, optics, or robotics preferred
• Comfortable working with PC & Linux based systems, firmware, and software diagnostics
• Ability to read & create schematics, drawings, and technical documentation
• Excellent problem‑solving and root cause analysis skills
• Strong written and verbal communication
• Comfortable working independently in customer environments
• Able to manage multiple priorities in a fast‑paced and evolving organization
• Flexibility to travel up to 50%

Compensation Range: $86K - $127K