Lab Automation - Robotics Systems & Simulation Engineer

Xaira Therapeutics • South San Francisco, CA

1d • $150,000 - $185,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Xaira Therapeutics is building a next-generation laboratory automation and robotics platform combining robotic systems, simulation, computer vision, and AI to improve the speed, reliability, reproducibility, and scale of experimental biology. The Robotics Systems & Simulation Engineer connects digital environments with physical systems and helps make robotic capabilities adaptable to new equipment and settings. The role owns simulation and digital-twin infrastructure for bringing vision-guided robots to new instruments and for testing robotics control, perception, and embodied AI. Working with robotics, AI, software, and automation engineers, the engineer develops and validates integrated systems from prototype through real-world operation. This is an onsite, hands-on role spanning software, 3D geometry, simulation, and hardware.

Xaira Therapeutics is an innovative biotech startup using AI to transform drug discovery and development. Its work includes generative AI models for designing protein and antibody therapeutics and foundation models for biology and disease. The company is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and London.

The position requires a bachelor's, master's, or PhD in computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related field; recent graduates with substantial relevant research or project experience are encouraged to apply. The role calls for software engineering experience, robotics simulation or digital-twin development, knowledge of 3D transformations and robot kinematics, integration of physical systems, and familiarity with GPU computing and cloud-based workflows.

Xaira offers a competitive compensation and benefits package, including base salary, bonus, and equity. The expected annual base salary range is $150,000–$185,000, with the offer varying based on market and job-related knowledge, skills, capabilities, and experience.

Requirements

• Bachelor's, master's, or PhD in computer science, robotics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related field; recent graduates with substantial relevant research or project experience are encouraged to apply.
• Strong software engineering skills in one or more of Python, C++, or C#, with experience developing and debugging integrated applications in Linux.
• Hands-on experience building or extending robotics simulations or digital twins using Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Gazebo, or comparable tools.
• Solid understanding of 3D coordinate transformations, robot kinematics, calibration, and the relationship between simulated models and physical systems.
• Experience integrating robots, sensors, or other physical systems through APIs, SDKs, ROS2, or comparable middleware.
• Familiarity with GPU computing and cloud-based workflows for simulation, AI, or data processing.
• Strong debugging and experimental skills, clear technical communication, and the ability to learn unfamiliar methods while critically validating software and AI-generated outputs.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with 3D reconstruction, CAD/robot-model pipelines, RGB-D perception, multi-view fusion, or learned scene representations.
• Experience integrating LLMs, vision-language models, AI agents, or Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers with external tools and physical systems.
• Experience with spatial or object reasoning, active perception, or perception of transparent, reflective, or partially occluded objects.
• Experience with video understanding, human-object interaction, learning from demonstrations, imitation learning, or other robot-learning methods.
• Experience with GPU profiling, CUDA programming, accelerated inference, or edge deployment.
• Experience with 6-axis robotic arms, mobile robots, laboratory instruments, or hands-on mechanical prototyping.
• Experience mentoring students, interns, or junior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Build reusable Real2Sim and Sim2Real workflows across robotic platforms and laboratory environments.
• Create and validate digital twins from CAD, robot and sensor models, and reconstructed scenes, including coordinate alignment, articulation, and collision geometry.
• Connect simulation, perception, motion planning, and physical execution through the robot control stack, including robot-state feedback and synchronization; investigate differences between simulated and measured behavior.
• Integrate AI models and task-level state machines with simulation and robotic tools, including structured requests, action validation, and execution feedback.
• Build synthetic-data and augmentation workflows, as well as synchronized video and telemetry capture, replay, and evaluation tools.
• Benchmark system accuracy, reliability, latency, and GPU resource use, and improve performance across local and cloud computing environments.
• Collaborate with software engineers on reusable configuration and operator tools; validate new installations and reduce manual setup effort.
• Work with scientists to integrate new capabilities, debug physical systems, and document architecture, experiments, and operating procedures.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and benefits package.
• Base salary, bonus, and equity.
• Technical mentorship and cross-disciplinary growth opportunities.
• Access to advanced robotic platforms, scientific instrumentation, GPU computing, and AI development tools.

What This Job Offers

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