Sr. Principal or Engineering Advisor - Agentic Lab Automation Integration

Scorpion Therapeutics; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 87,000 - 222,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Vacation

Life insurance

Time off/leave

Well-being programs

Job summary

Scorpion Therapeutics is advancing agentic AI to integrate with robotic platforms, analytical instruments, and data pipelines in a lab setting.

You will design workflows that reason over experimental data, trigger automated actions, and surface insights to scientists. The role involves rapid prototyping, productionizing solutions, and close collaboration with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS + 2 yrs / BS + 5 yrs in Chemical/Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or related field; demonstrated wet-lab automation.
• Experience with lab automation systems and LIMS engineering.
• Experience integrating software/AI with lab automation (liquid handlers, analytical instruments, robotic workflows).
• Strong Docker + Kubernetes production orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Engineer integrations between agentic AI and lab systems, connecting robotic platforms, analytical instruments, and data pipelines.
• Design agent workflows to reason over experimental data, trigger automated actions, and surface insights to scientists.
• Prototype rapidly, productionize what works, and collaborate with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers.

Skills

Python programming

Lab automation experience

Software and hardware integration

Team collaboration

Education

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

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

LIMS engineering

Hamilton/Tecan/OpenTrons interfaces

Job description

Position Summary

• Engineer integrations between agentic AI and physical lab systems, connecting robotic platforms, analytical instruments, and data pipelines.
• Design agent workflows to reason over experimental data, trigger automated actions, and surface insights to scientists.
• Prototype rapidly, productionize what works, and collaborate with chemists, biologists, and automation engineers.

Research & Innovation

• Build multi-agent systems with orchestration, state management, error recovery, and tool integration.
• Prototype and iterate on agent planning, memory systems, and human-in-the-loop patterns.
• Interface agent architectures with lab automation platforms (Hamilton, Tecan, Opentrons) for closed-loop execution.

Solution Deployment

• Transition prototypes into reliable lab operations with automation engineers and scientists.
• Deploy and maintain containerized services (Docker, Kubernetes) using GitOps and CI/CD.
• Integrate orchestration frameworks (e.g., Argo on Kubernetes) with laboratory control systems.

External Engagement

• Publish, give talks, review papers, and scout emerging trends in AI@Lilly/external community.
• Evaluate vendors, open-source projects, and academic collaborations.

Basic Qualifications

• PhD (or MS + 2 yrs / BS + 5 yrs) in Chemical/Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or related field; demonstrated wet-lab automation.
• Experience with lab automation systems and LIMS engineering.
• Experience integrating software/AI with lab automation (liquid handlers, analytical instruments, robotic workflows).
• Strong Docker + Kubernetes production orchestration.
• Scalable production Python apps (e.g., Redis, FastAPI, Flask/Streamlit, pytest).

Preferred

• LLM post-training/fine-tuning/RLHF; AI integrated with lab automation.
• Ability to build the translation layer from planning logic to instrument control.
• Research experience with ML/NLP publications (e.g., NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR/ACL).

Compensation/Benefits

• Anticipated wage: $87,000–$222,200; eligible for company bonus and comprehensive benefits (401(k), medical/dental/vision, vacation, life insurance, time off/leave, well-being programs).