Lab IT & OT Systems Administrator

Lila Sciences•Cambridge, MA

4d•$88,000 - $126,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Lab IT/OT Systems Administrator is a hands-on technology role responsible for the day-to-day administration, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement of computing infrastructure inside Lila Sciences' laboratory environments. This role owns the layer of technology that sits between corporate IT and operational technology (OT), the workstations, edge compute, lab-area networking, and instrument-adjacent systems that enable autonomous science to run reliably. Reporting to the Senior Director, OT Security and IT/OT Convergence, the Lab IT/OT Systems Administrator works in close partnership with the OT network architecture team, corporate IT operations, facilities/building automation, and laboratory operations leadership. The successful candidate is comfortable operating in a complex, fast-moving research environment where standard corporate IT practices do not always apply, where change control matters more than speed, and where the end users are scientists running irreplaceable experiments on highly specialized equipment. This is a foundational role in Lila's IT/OT convergence program. The person hired will not only deliver operational support but will also help define standards, build the device catalog, and establish the playbooks that scale the function as the company grows.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
3 to 7 years of hands-on experience in IT systems administration, with a meaningful portion of that experience spent supporting non-standard or specialized environments (laboratories, manufacturing, healthcare clinical environments, broadcast, or similar settings where standard corporate IT practices must be adapted).
Demonstrated experience supporting users and systems in environments where rebooting, re-imaging, or applying patches on demand is not an acceptable approach, and where coordinated change windows are required.
Experience working in close partnership with networking, infrastructure, or operational technology teams on shared systems and boundary handoffs.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to scientists, engineers, and executives in language appropriate to each audience.
Willingness and ability to work on-site at Lila's laboratory locations on a regular basis; this is not a remote role.
Strong Windows administration skills: domain join, group policy, drivers and networking stack, advanced troubleshooting; working comfort with macOS and Linux as they appear on laboratory benches.
Solid networking fundamentals: VLANs, DHCP, DNS, switch port configuration, Wi-Fi troubleshooting, and the ability to read packet captures when vendor diagnostics fall short.
Experience with modern endpoint management platforms such as Microsoft Intune, JAMF, Addigy, or SCCM, including the judgment to know when standard policies should not be applied to specialized equipment.
Identity and access administration experience with Okta, Active Directory, Entra ID, or equivalent SSO platforms; comfort making informed decisions about local vs. domain accounts on specialized equipment.
Hands-on experience with ITSM/CMDB platforms (Freshservice, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or similar), including asset management and inventory hygiene.
Familiarity with cybersecurity fundamentals, endpoint security tooling, and patch management practices.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience in a life sciences, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical laboratory environment, particularly one with automated laboratory equipment (liquid handlers, plate readers, sequencers, robotic arms, or similar).
Exposure to operational technology (OT) or industrial environments, PLCs, SCADA, building automation systems, or Purdue Model concepts.
Familiarity with SD-WAN platforms (e.g., Cato Networks), OT asset visibility and vulnerability platforms (e.g., Claroty, Tenable OT), and OT-aware security frameworks (IEC 62443, NIST SP 800-82).
Experience supporting environments subject to GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, ISO 9001, or comparable quality/regulatory frameworks.
Experience building or maintaining standardized device catalogs, golden images, and secure onboarding workflows for specialized equipment.
Industry certifications such as CompTIA Network+ or Security+, Microsoft 365 Certified, ITIL Foundation, or Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP).
Disciplined and methodical, with a strong preference for understanding root cause over applying quick fixes.
Customer-oriented mindset, with patience and curiosity for the work of the scientists and lab operators this role supports.
Comfortable working in ambiguity and helping to define a function that is still being built, while also delivering reliable day-to-day operational support.
Strong sense of accountability; treats change-control, documentation, and coordination as core to the role rather than overhead.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day administration and troubleshooting for laboratory computing assets, including lab-area workstations, edge compute nodes, lab-supplied PCs, and dedicated lab-network infrastructure (switches, access points, cabling).
Respond to and resolve Lab IT incidents and service requests through the enterprise ITSM platform, applying appropriate prioritization for experiments in progress and time-sensitive scientific work.
Maintain a strong on-site presence across Lila's laboratory locations; observe how scientists and lab operators use technology in practice and proactively identify issues before they become tickets.
Coordinate scheduled maintenance windows for Lab IT systems in alignment with laboratory operations leadership; ensure changes do not disrupt active experiments.
Provide IT-side support for laboratory instruments and automated platforms, including networking, identity integration, agent deployment decisions, and image/configuration alignment with company standards.
Partner with the OT network architecture team, instrument vendors, and laboratory automation engineers to support new instrument deployments and changes, recognizing that instrument-connected systems require specialized handling distinct from standard corporate endpoints.
Troubleshoot authentication, networking, and connectivity issues on vendor-supplied lab equipment, including systems with non-standard configurations, embedded operating systems, or unique vendor account models.
Maintain accurate, current Lab IT asset records in the enterprise CMDB, including device tier, owner, location, configuration baseline, and lifecycle state.
Apply company labeling standards (QR/barcode asset tags linked to CMDB records) to Lab IT assets and conduct periodic ownership reconciliation.
Serve as a primary point of contact when security or vulnerability management tools generate alerts on Lab IT assets, executing the workflow of alert review, asset identification, owner notification, and resolution.
Contribute to the development and ongoing maintenance of the standardized device catalog and golden image program for laboratory computing equipment.
Support the secure onboarding of new laboratory instruments and platforms, including baseline configuration, segmentation placement, monitoring enrollment, and owner assignment.
Provide IT/OT review of laboratory procurement requests involving compute or network equipment, ensuring new acquisitions can be supported, secured, and monitored before they are placed into production.
Work alongside the OT network team to support and operate dedicated laboratory network infrastructure, including access points, intermediate distribution switches, and instrument-tier switching.
Support enterprise network migration and modernization projects from the laboratory side, including SD-WAN cutovers, DHCP and reservation validation, and post-cutover instrument connectivity troubleshooting.
Identify and remediate drift from segmentation and architecture standards across laboratory sites.
Coordinate all lab-impacting technology changes through the established laboratory operations approval channels; uphold change-control discipline as a core principle of the role.
Translate between the network/architecture, facilities/building-automation, and laboratory operations perspectives; resolve issues that arise at the boundaries between these groups.
Provide cross-coverage between laboratory sites and partner with managed-service support providers and second-shift resources as the function scales.
Document Lab IT standards, procedures, and runbooks so the function remains operable, scalable, and onboardable as the team grows.