Senior Automation Engineer

$125,000 - $136,800/Yr

Eikon Therapeutics - Hayward, CA

posted 4 months ago

Full-time - Mid Level
Hayward, CA
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

Eikon Therapeutics is a new biopharmaceutical company employing revolutionary technology at the intersection of chemistry, engineering, computation, and biology to discover novel treatments for life-threatening diseases. Eikon's discovery platform is built on groundbreaking innovations from its founders (Nobel Prize, 2014), culminating in the creation of microscopes which enable real-time, molecular-resolution measurements of protein movement in living cells, thereby unlocking otherwise intractable classes of proteins as drug targets. As a Senior Automation Engineer, you will collaborate with scientists, mechanical engineers, and service engineers to adapt and maintain scientific processes on automated platforms. Your role will involve developing corrective actions to ensure reliable performance across various equipment and automation systems. You will identify and implement opportunities to automate manual processes and enhance existing systems. Coordination with equipment manufacturers and third-party services for purchasing and integration will also be a key part of your responsibilities. Strong communication and adaptability are essential for success in this role. You will partner with scientists and engineers to understand scientific processes and shepherd their transition onto automated platforms or instruments. This includes identifying and characterizing opportunities for improvement in producing repeatable, high-quality data. You will write new liquid handler methods or update existing methods, working with users to qualify these methods and release them for general use. Additionally, you will design, develop, and qualify new work cells for high-throughput biology experiments, collaborating closely with the mechanical engineering team to create custom solutions for laboratory challenges.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with scientists and engineers to adapt and maintain scientific processes on automated platforms.
  • Develop corrective actions to ensure reliable performance across various equipment and automation systems.
  • Identify and implement opportunities to automate manual processes and enhance existing systems.
  • Coordinate with equipment manufacturers and third-party services for purchasing and integration.
  • Write new liquid handler methods or update existing methods, working with users to qualify and release them for general use.
  • Write new work cell methods or VWorks protocols to run new assay types on existing high throughput platforms.
  • Partner with the mechanical engineering team to design custom solutions for laboratory problems.
  • Design, develop, and qualify new work cells for high throughput biology experiments.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree with 5 years of experience, or Master's degree with 3 years of experience, or PhD in Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry or related field.
  • Experience designing, building, programming and qualifying automated work cells under a scheduler (e.g., VWorks, Overlord, Cellario, Hamilton, GBG).
  • Significant experience with VWorks is highly encouraged.
  • Expertise in liquid handler method development on platforms like HamiltonSTAR or Vantage, Tecan Fluent or Evo, Bravo, and EL406 plate washers.
  • Experience with culturing and handling of cell cultures (iPSC, adherent or suspension mammalian cells) is a plus.
  • Experience integrating work cell generated data with a LIMS system is preferred.
  • Experience qualifying and deploying laboratory equipment into research or regulated environments.
  • Experience managing and delivering projects with a capex budget of $1M+.
  • Experience delivering detailed documentation, user training material and programming guides for the systems launched into research or production environments.
  • Experience supporting laboratory equipment and troubleshooting automation instrument or software errors.
  • Excellent communication and organizational skills.
  • Experience developing software tools to support data tracking, integrations with LIMS systems is preferred.
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Experience developing and monitoring uptime metrics.
  • Experience effectively communicating with and managing third party service providers and vendors.

Nice-to-haves

  • Experience with automated cell culture methods.
  • Familiarity with machine learning applications in laboratory settings.

Benefits

  • 401k plan with company matching
  • Medical (premiums covered by Eikon at 95%)
  • Dental and vision insurance (premiums covered by Eikon at 100%)
  • Mental health and wellness benefits
  • Weeklong summer and winter holiday shutdowns
  • Generous paid time off and holiday policies
  • Life/AD&D Insurance (premiums covered by Eikon at 100%) and optional supplemental employee-paid life/AD&D policies
  • Enhanced parental leave benefit
  • Daily subsidized lunch program when on-site
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