Senior Field Deployment Engineer

Prolific Machines•Emeryville, CA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

Prolific Machines is hiring a hands-on senior or staff engineering professional to deploy, commission, and support its optogenetic systems in real-world operating environments. The role owns major deployments from planning and site preparation through installation, system integration, commissioning, validation, customer handoff, and ongoing support. It works across mechanical, electrical, optical, software, controls, data, biology, and bioprocess engineering, troubleshooting complex system-level issues and translating field experience into improvements to system design, reliability, and deployment processes. The engineer will help define how Prolific hardware is deployed at scale, including site requirements, shipping, documentation and records systems, commissioning processes, tooling, serviceability, acceptance criteria, and operational workflows. The role also involves high-demand troubleshooting, sometimes in time-critical situations with limited remote support from subject matter experts. It is primarily based on-site in Emeryville, California, with regular travel to customer and deployment sites; estimated travel is 30–40%. The position is salaried and exempt. The stated salary range is $120,000–$170,000 per year, with typical ranges of $120,000–$145,000 for Senior Engineer and $140,000–$170,000 for Staff Engineer, depending on experience, knowledge, and skills.

Requirements

BS or MS with 5+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent experience owning deployment of complex engineering systems, required for the Senior Engineer level; additional experience is expected at the Staff Engineer level.
Experience deploying, commissioning, integrating, and supporting prototype systems in laboratory, manufacturing, or customer environments.
Experience transitioning R&D systems into manufacturing or production environments.
Customer-focused mindset and a track record of successful internal and external projects with satisfied customers.
Strong systems engineering mindset and ability to troubleshoot interactions across mechanical, electrical, optical, software, controls, and process systems.
Experience independently leading technical projects or engineering workstreams, including commissioning, validation, acceptance testing, or qualification.
Strong experimental and analytical skills, including designing tests, analyzing data, isolating failure modes, and developing practical engineering solutions.
Experience with sensors, instrumentation, data acquisition, and automated test equipment.
Ability to read mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, and system documentation.
Strong technical communication and documentation skills, including experience working directly with customer engineering, facilities, manufacturing, or operations teams.
Willingness to travel regularly to domestic and international customer and deployment sites and work hands-on with hardware in a dynamic startup environment; travel is estimated at 30–40%.
Comfort working hands-on with hardware in labs and biomanufacturing facilities and solving novel technical problems where the correct approach may not be obvious.

Nice To Haves

Experience deploying laboratory automation, bioprocessing equipment, manufacturing systems, robotics, optical systems, or complex scientific instrumentation.
Experience with bioreactors, cell culture, pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotech equipment, or laboratory automation.
Experience with optical systems, LEDs, spectrometers, photodiodes, or optical measurement equipment.
Experience with industrial controls, PLCs, motion systems, robotics, or automation.
Experience with commissioning and qualification in regulated or highly controlled environments.
Familiarity with GxP, GMP, or GLP environments.
Experience with structured root-cause analysis methods such as FMEA, fault-tree analysis, or 5 Whys.
Experience with CAD, mechanical prototyping, or 3D printing.

Responsibilities

Lead hands-on installation, integration, startup, and commissioning of alpha, beta, and deployed systems.
Troubleshoot and resolve complex system-level issues across optical, mechanical, electrical, software, and controls domains using experiments, diagnostics, and historical data, including time-critical situations with remote-only subject-matter-expert support and limited documentation.
Own major deployments from site readiness and planning through commissioning, handoff, and ongoing support.
Develop deployment plans, site requirements, commissioning procedures, system tests, and acceptance criteria.
Work directly with customers and partners during deployment, including technical training, scheduled maintenance, and troubleshooting.
Help define Prolific's hardware field deployment strategy, using field experience to inform system architecture, installation, serviceability, and operational workflows.
Own and improve deployment documentation, including facilities checklists, training materials, standard operating procedures, and field procedures.
Partner cross-functionally to identify root causes, resolve field issues, and translate deployment learnings into product and process improvements.
Develop tools and processes to improve deployment reliability, repeatability, efficiency, and scalability.
Perform engineering upgrades to field-deployed equipment and own the end-to-end process.
Mentor junior engineers and field technicians in systems integration, commissioning, troubleshooting, and field engineering practices.
Develop, execute, document, and improve tests on deployable and prototype systems and subsystems.