Research Engineer - Hardware Research Team
Research Engineer, Hardware Research
Synthego recently established a new research team that is focused on inventing, designing and building new and innovative hardware solutions with the explicit goal of transforming a multi-billion dollar industry. We are looking for a Research Engineer who is inspired by the possibility of being at the bleeding edge of hardware innovation and having a big impact on the future of biotech.
As one of the first engineers on the team you’ll be directly contributing to drafting the overall systems architecture of Synthego’s future instrumentation stack and you’ll help build it. You’ll be taking on a lot of technical ownership, provide technical leadership and quickly prototype novel ideas. You will own rapid prototyping cycles end-to-end: From whiteboard sketch to running experiments on functional prototypes.
What You'll Do
- Initiate architecture level design development and execute feasibility study for highly complex biomedical hardware instrumentation
- Rapid, quality CAD modeling of prototype designs and testing infrastructure in SolidWorks
- Selection of sensors and actuators
- Rapid iteration prototyping of novel technologies and mechatronic instruments
- Assembling, wiring, soldering & troubleshooting of prototype technologies
- Writing Python code well enough to get our machines to proof of concept
- Designing and executing experiments to learn what works and what doesn’t work
- Repeat all of the above. Quickly. While having fun.
About You
- 5+ years of experience in mechanical or systems design
- 2+ years of experience in industrial automation, instrument design, or systems engineering
- You have designed, built, tested and deployed complex automated instruments
- You have had a very high level of ownership of the projects you worked on
- You have an extensive portfolio of badass projects to show us
- You can code. You’re not a software developer, but you’re familiar with git, Linux command line tools and you can whip up a PID loop, a low pass filter, read out sensor data and control actuators
- SolidWorks, SolidWorks, SolidWorks ...
- You have a knack for cross-disciplinary problem-solving
- You know when to outsource and when you need to build it yourself
- You love to work in a fast-paced, innovative and collaborative environment
- You are skilled at methodical self-management and project-management
- You have a sense of humor
- BS/MS in Bioengineering or Mechanical Engineering and related work experience
- Demonstrated mastery of pneumatics and fluid control
- Experience with applied material science (chemical compatibility)
- Familiarity with scientific instrument control, laboratory automation and liquid handling
Nice to Haves
- Microfluidics experience
- Previously contributed to designing the high-level systems architecture of complex scientific instrumentation
- Experience in working with cell cultures or other biotech experience
- Motion and Industrial controls experience
- ECAD experience - Altium Design, KiCAD
- CAM experience - HSMWorks
- CNC experience - Haas & Datron
Company Benefits & Perks
- Competitive salary
- Generous equity at an early stage company
- Robust medical, dental and vision benefits
- 401k Plan
- Fully stocked kitchen and snacks
- Free catered lunches and dinners
- 4x daily Shuttle bus to & from San Francisco
ABOUT SYNTHEGO
Synthego’s vision is to turn biology into an information science, with the ultimate goal of dramatically extending the healthy human lifespan.
Synthego builds advanced bioinformatics and automated hardware platforms to create next-generation molecular biology tools, starting with full-stack genome engineering.
These world-class tools accelerate basic scientific discovery, critical disease cures and novel synthetic biology applications to improve and prolong life.