Software Engineer

California Institute of Technology; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 69,000 - 113,000; Full time

Job summary

Caltech is hiring a Software Engineer to help build a cloud-accessible platform for remotely submitting, scheduling, and monitoring experiments on ELECTRA’s instruments. You will also help create an open-access data repository for training scientific AI models.

The role requires 5+ years of production software experience, strong API design skills, and the ability to work alongside scientists in a laboratory setting. Foundations in Python and either JavaScript/TypeScript or C/C++ are needed.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building production software with ownership of complex systems end-to-end.
• Experience designing and operating APIs or services with real users and uptime expectations.
• Experience controlling instruments, robotics, or physical systems in software, or equivalent device-integration or distributed-systems experience.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with front-end web development (JavaScript/TypeScript) or a compiled language for driver work (C/C++).
• Ability to work embedded in a laboratory alongside scientists.
• Strong collaboration and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the API, user interface, and orchestration/scheduling layer that let users specify, submit, schedule, and monitor experiments, coordinating instrument control and data collection into reliable end-to-end workflows.
• Integrate commercial and custom instrument hardware and software, including device drivers and abstraction layers over low-level communication protocols (e.g., RS-232, USB, TCP/IP, OPC-UA, SiLA2), securing vendor programming interface access where it is not publicly documented.
• Build data pipelines that capture raw data, provenance, and metadata for every experiment, with traceability from request to result and shared schemas for interoperability with other PCL nodes.
• Own authentication, access control, logging, and monitoring for a remotely accessed facility, and build fault tolerance, automated tests, and simulation environments so the platform and its drivers can be validated reliably.
• Provide field support and troubleshooting for remote users encountering instrument, connectivity, or data-pipeline errors.
• Collaborate with the team to translate experimental requirements into durable software, contribute to documentation and onboarding materials, and mentor students and junior engineers.

Skills

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

C/C++

API design

Distributed systems

Collaboration

Education

B.S. or M.S. in computer science, software or electrical engineering, or related field

Job description

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Job Summary

Caltech has been awarded funding under the National Science Foundation's Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed program to establish ELECTRA, a remotely accessible, AI-enabled automated laboratory for electron diffraction (MicroED) and structural elucidation. ELECTRA is one node in a nationwide network of 20 PCL Test Bed facilities that will let researchers anywhere, including at institutions with limited access to advanced instrumentation, submit and run real experiments over the cloud. We are hiring the founding team that will help build and operate the Caltech node. Our cross-disciplinary team is composed of scientists and engineers from academia and the private sector. This project will directly impact various scientific fields, including chemistry, biology, and materials science, with applications in tech and medicine.

As Software Engineer, you will help build the platform that lets remote users specify, submit, schedule, and monitor real experiments on ELECTRA's instruments: the core software layer that turns a laboratory into a cloud-accessible facility. You will also assist in the building of an open-access data repository for training scientific AI models.

Read more:

https://www.nsf.gov/tip/updates/nsf-announces-400m-investment-new-national-network-ai

https://pasadenanow.com/main/a-17-million-bet-on-automation-caltech-team-builds-cloud-lab-to-decode-unknown-molecules

Essential Job Duties

• Design and build the API, user interface, and orchestration/scheduling layer that let users specify, submit, schedule, and monitor experiments, coordinating instrument control and data collection into reliable end-to-end workflows.
• Integrate commercial and custom instrument hardware and software, including device drivers and abstraction layers over low-level communication protocols (e.g., RS-232, USB, TCP/IP, OPC-UA, SiLA2), securing vendor programming interface access where it is not publicly documented.
• Build data pipelines that capture raw data, provenance, and metadata for every experiment, with traceability from request to result and shared schemas for interoperability with other PCL nodes.
• Own authentication, access control, logging, and monitoring for a remotely accessed facility, and build fault tolerance, automated tests, and simulation environments so the platform and its drivers can be validated reliably.
• Provide field support and troubleshooting for remote users encountering instrument, connectivity, or data-pipeline errors.
• Collaborate with the team to translate experimental requirements into durable software, contribute to documentation and onboarding materials, and mentor students and junior engineers.

Basic Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in computer science, software or electrical engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years building production software with demonstrated ownership of complex systems end-to-end.
• Experience designing and operating APIs or services with real users and uptime expectations.
• Experience controlling instruments, robotics, or physical systems in software, or equivalent device-integration or distributed-systems experience.
• Proficiency in Python and experience with front-end web development (JavaScript/TypeScript) or a compiled language for driver work (C/C++).
• Ability to work embedded in a laboratory alongside scientists.
• Strong collaboration and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Laboratory automation, instrument orchestration, device driver development, or LIMS/ELN experience.
• Scheduling and optimization (constraint programming, MILP, heuristics).
• Scientific data formats, metadata standards, or relational database and data warehousing experience.
• Electron microscopy, crystallography, or imaging data.
• Agentic systems, LLM-backed applications, or tool-use frameworks.
• Cloud infrastructure and front-end experience for user-facing portals and dashboards, or prior work in academic or national laboratory research computing.

Required Documents

• Resume
• Cover Letter

Hiring Range

$68,700 - $112,500 Per Year

The salary of the finalist(s) selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, specialty and training.

As one of the largest employers in Pasadena, CA, Caltech is committed to providing comprehensive benefits to eligible employees and their eligible dependents. Our benefits package includes competitive compensation, health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement savings plans, generous paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick time, parental leave, bereavement, etc.), tuition reimbursement, and more. Non-benefit eligible employees will have access to some benefits such as onsite counseling and sick time. Learn more about our benefits and staff perks.

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Caltech is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

To read more Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) go to eeoc_self_print_poster.pdf.

Disability Accommodations

Caltech complies with the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We consider reasonable accommodation measures that may be necessary for eligible applicants and employees to perform the essential functions of a position.

If you would like to request an accommodation to complete this application, interview, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please contact Caltech Recruiting at [e-mail].

Additionally, if you do not meet the basic qualifications of a role but believe you can perform the essential functions of the job with reasonable accommodation, please reach out to Caltech Recruiting at [e-mail].