Senior Instrumentation Engineer

HYPERSPECTRAL CORP•Cambridge, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

HyperSpectral builds Physical AI for the molecular world, pairing advanced spectral sensors with AI to identify pathogens, chemical contaminants, drug formulations, and material properties. Their SpecAI platform and CortX runtime serve customers in clinical diagnostics, biopharma manufacturing, food safety, and defense, designed for FDA-regulated medical and food applications. The company operates with a lean, distributed team model, emphasizing tooling, coordination, and AI-first practices. Every hire is expected to work comfortably in a regulated environment, utilize AI as a primary output method, and collaborate across functions and time zones proactively. This role is critical as the platform depends on integrated instrumentation. The Senior Instrumentation Engineer will be the sole individual responsible for taking an integrated reference device from build documentation to a calibrated, validated bench unit. This includes owning its daily operation and driving engineering decisions to evolve it into an operational product. The position requires hands-on expertise across mechanical, microfluidic, optical, and electrical domains, with the ability to debug issues across these layers.

Requirements

7+ years of professional engineering experience building and operating integrated scientific instruments or analytical devices (academic instrument work and scientific instrument industry experience both qualify).
Demonstrated cross-disciplinary depth across at least three of: mechanical engineering, microfluidics, optical engineering, electrical engineering (depth, not survey familiarity, in each claimed area).
Hands-on experience with microfluidic device assembly, fluid handling at micro-liter-per-minute scale, and electrokinetic or analogous separation techniques.
Direct experience with confocal optical instrumentation (Confocal Raman preferred; equivalent confocal optical experience acceptable when paired with Raman exposure).
Working competence with electrical subsystem design and debug for scientific instruments: drive electronics, sensors, motion control, safety interlocks.
Experience reading vendor or academic build documentation and converting it into a working device, including identifying and resolving gaps the documentation did not anticipate.
Demonstrated current use of AI-assisted development tools as a primary work method for code, scripting, and documentation.
Comfort operating in a regulated context with documented procedures, audit trails, and validation expectations (formal FDA experience not required, but working style must fit).
Willingness and ability to travel periodically (domestic and international).

Nice To Haves

Direct microfluidic chip design or microfabrication experience (PDMS, glass, or polymer chip processes; photolithography; electrode patterning).
Prior work with biological sample preparation or sample handling across complex matrices.
Production Raman instrument experience or equivalent platforms.
LabVIEW, Python, or C / C++ instrument control development; integration of disparate vendor SDKs into a unified acquisition pipeline.
Familiarity with FDA SaMD, 21 CFR Part 11, or IVD development frameworks.
Graduate degree in mechanical, optical, electrical, or biomedical engineering, or applied physics (a strong industry track record can substitute).

Responsibilities

Lead the hands-on build, integration, and operation of advanced analytical instruments that combine sample preparation with spectroscopic detection.
Take an instrument from build documentation to a working, calibrated, validated bench unit.
Own the day-to-day operation and long-term performance of the instrument.
Drive engineering decisions that move the instrument toward an operational product.
Build, calibrate, and validate integrated analytical instruments that combine microfluidic sample preparation with optical detection.
Source, qualify, and integrate microfluidic components from external microfabrication vendors, transitioning from hand-assembled prototypes to repeatable supply.
Integrate microfluidic front ends with optical readout, including sample handoff geometry, alignment, focus control, and acquisition triggering.
Characterize and tune the optical path.
Own electrical subsystem design and maintenance for the integrated instrument.
Diagnose cross-domain failures by reasoning across mechanical, microfluidic, optical, and electrical engineering layers.
Author and maintain build SOPs, calibration procedures, performance qualification scripts, and acceptance criteria suitable for a regulated medical device context.
Operate the instrument daily for internal studies, producing data for regulatory submissions and the analytics pipeline.
Partner with the AI / ML function on data quality, instrument-side automation, and the path toward more autonomous workflows.
Use AI-assisted development tools as a primary work method for instrument control software, scripting, and documentation.
Coordinate continuously with external technical partners, vendors, and cross-functional internal teams.