Senior Human Factors Engineer - Robotics

Lila Sciences•Cambridge, MA

About The Position

You will be the human-factors voice for Robotics, working on the software that runs Lila's autonomous labs. Partnering with software engineers and researchers, you'll make its most demanding surfaces — simulation, research operations, orchestration, and SCADA-style monitoring — clear, safe, and trustworthy under pressure, directly shaping how fast the factory runs and how few mistakes it makes.

Requirements

4–8 years in UX research or human factors for complex operational, industrial, or scientific software — this is a research-first role.
High-density, high-stakes interfaces such as control rooms, monitoring dashboards, or data-heavy tooling.
Core research methods: contextual inquiry, task analysis, and usability testing, turned into clear direction.
Strong information-architecture and interaction-design skills, with prototyping in Figma or equivalent.
Designing for operator supervision and error prevention.
Partnering with engineers and domain experts and defending design decisions with evidence.

Nice To Haves

Human factors in regulated, safety-critical domains: systems-engineering rigor and prior HF/UX work in aerospace, manufacturing, or healthcare/life sciences.
Grounding in ISO 9241-210 (human-centred design) or WCAG 2.2 (accessibility) a plus.
Laboratory, robotics, manufacturing, or other regulated/operational environments.
Familiarity with control-room HMI design (ANSI/ISA-101), SCADA, or MES interfaces (you'll design the UI, not own the system).
Survey design, behavioral analytics, or other quantitative research alongside qualitative work.
Designing interfaces for AI-assisted or autonomous workflows.

Responsibilities

Lead usability research: run contextual inquiry, task analysis, and usability testing to ground UI decisions in real workflows.
Design for high-stakes displays: shape information architecture and interaction patterns for high-density orchestration and SCADA-style monitoring where situational awareness is paramount.
Prototype and validate: build Figma prototypes and testable flows for simulation, lab, and capacity-planning UIs, then iterate from evidence.
Design human-in-the-loop workflows: define how operators supervise, intervene in, and trust automated and AI-driven processes.
Partner with engineering: embed with the software engineers who build these UIs, translating research into specs, patterns, and design-system contributions.
Champion accessibility: set and uphold accessibility and interaction standards as the platform grows.