Insitro
Lead/ Senior Automation Engineer
$147K–$183K
South San Francisco, CA · Senior · Full-time · Posted Jul 15, 2026
- Experience
- B.S. with 8+ years, M.S. with 6+ years, or Ph.D. with 3+ years of professional experience working with automation hardware.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Robotics, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Software or Bioengineering, or Physics, Chemistry or Biology.
About the job
Build, qualify, and improve laboratory automation systems and workflows, integrating robotic data capture with LIMS and AI/ML pipelines.
What you'll do
- Translate scientific workflows into automated processes; define QC metrics and develop liquid handling protocols and workcells.
- Integrate automated data capture with LIMS and AI/ML pipelines, and troubleshoot mechanical, software, and system integration issues.
- Improve automation development and deployment, and help plan automation retirement, growth, and redeployment.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in a listed engineering or science field.
- Proficiency in life-sciences automation and systems integration, especially robotics and liquid handling platforms.
- Technical depth across automation systems of varying scale and experience automating scientific workflows.
- Ability to independently handle complex projects, guide others, and manage relationships with engineering teams, vendors, or service providers.
Nice to have
- Proficiency in Python, SQL, and/or C#, and data handling including database work.
Pay
USD 147,000 - USD 183,000 base salary
Tools
Python, SQL, C#, LIMS, robotics, liquid handling platforms
AI focus
Support automated data flow into AI/ML pipelines and collaborate with machine learning teams on technology onboarding, batch effects, and process improvements.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative