Lead Automation Engineer, Autonomous Lab Science & Technology

Roche • South San Francisco, CA

1d • $169,100 - $314,100

About The Position

The Lead Automation Engineer is the technical lead for Lab Automation within Automation Science & Technology and owns the physical platform architecture for the Roche Autonomous Lab Accelerator. The role reports to the Head, Automation Science & Technology, Autonomous Lab Accelerator.

Working with Science & Technology Project Leaders, scientific subject-matter experts, Lab Operations, and Lab Automation Informatics partners, the engineer translates scientific workflow requirements into executable laboratory processes and scalable physical automation platforms. The role is responsible for realizing scientific requirements through robotics, instrumentation, instrument-control software, execution-layer interfaces, and integrated laboratory systems. It partners with Lab Operations from design through operational acceptance to engineer capabilities for autonomous, reliable, and supportable routine use.

The position leads architecture, technical selection, integration, commissioning, and verification of laboratory automation systems. It also defines physical-platform interfaces with digital orchestration, develops reusable engineering standards, supports operational handoff, and remains the technical design authority for significant architecture changes and new capabilities after operational acceptance. Lab Operations owns routine execution, monitoring, maintenance, incident response, and established recovery procedures.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in engineering, computer science, life sciences, or a related discipline.
• Significant experience in laboratory automation and systems integration.
• Deep experience designing, programming, integrating, and deploying laboratory automation platforms, such as Hamilton, Tecan, Agilent, HighRes, Opentrons, robotic arms, schedulers, or comparable technologies.
• Strong Python and API-integration skills.
• Experience connecting instruments to schedulers, databases, message brokers, LIMS/ELN, or other scientific software systems.
• Demonstrated ownership of greenfield automation platforms from architecture and vendor selection through commissioning and production deployment.
• Strong systems thinking across hardware, software, data, science, and reliability.
• Proven ability to lead through technical authority, mentor engineers, and create reusable solutions in ambiguous, cross-functional environments while remaining hands-on when needed.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture of the physical execution platform, including instruments, robotic work cells, and integrated, increasingly unattended laboratory systems.
• Serve as technical design authority for robotics, scientific instrumentation, instrument-control software, execution-layer interfaces, and reusable platform patterns.
• Translate scientific requirements and acceptance criteria into automatable unit operations, equipment requirements, sample and material flows, execution sequences, control points, and exception states.
• Identify technical constraints and recommend workflow adaptations for robust automated execution.
• Partner with the Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CS CoE) to define interfaces between digital orchestration and physical execution, including machine-executable actions and the return of instrument outputs, system state, sample identity, metadata, and execution context.
• Own physical-platform interfaces and device requirements while partnering with CS CoE, which owns higher-level AI, informatics, and orchestration capabilities.
• Lead technical selection, integration, commissioning, and verification of robotics, liquid handlers, scientific instruments, schedulers, and control layers.
• Demonstrate that new platforms satisfy defined technical and scientific requirements before operational acceptance.
• Engineer unattended-execution capabilities, including state awareness, observability, exception detection, automated recovery, safe-stop behavior, and appropriate human escalation.
• Design systems for maintainability and serviceability; jointly define operational-readiness criteria with Lab Operations and support formal acceptance into routine operations.
• After acceptance, remain the technical design authority for material architecture changes, new capabilities, and systemic technical limitations.
• Lead complex technical problem solving and architecture and design reviews; develop reusable engineering standards.
• Mentor engineers and direct contractors, vendors, and system integrators; communicate technical tradeoffs across science, software, automation, facilities, and operations.
• Deliver a scalable physical execution-layer reference architecture with clearly defined interfaces to CS CoE systems.
• Deliver priority laboratory automation platforms from defined scientific requirements through commissioning, technical verification, and scientific acceptance.
• Develop reusable patterns for instrument and robotic integration, execution state, data capture, observability, error handling, recovery, and deployment.
• Develop joint operational-readiness criteria and handoff packages that enable Lab Operations to accept systems into routine use, with clear post-deployment ownership.

Benefits

• A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance.
• The position qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided in the posting; specific benefits are not listed.
• Relocation benefits are not available for this opportunity.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior