Research Engineer, Lab Automation
About the role
We're building an autonomous lab to speed up materials discovery, and we need someone who understands thin film research from the inside—someone who’s deposited and characterized films, troubleshot instruments, and knows what makes an experiment reproducible. As our Research Engineer, you’ll translate scientists’ goals into hardware setups, instrument sequences, and engineering requirements to automate workflows, combining hands-on experimental judgment with Python to connect thin-film synthesis, characterization, and data collection.
Responsibilities
- Work closely with bench scientists to understand experimental goals and turn them into concrete hardware and workflow requirements.
- Evaluate, select, and configure deposition and characterization instrumentation and hardware to support thin film workflows.
- Design and prototype experimental and automation workflows that connect thin film deposition, characterization, and data collection.
- Serve as the technical bridge between scientists and the automation/software engineering team, helping define and test instrument interfaces and integration.
- Troubleshoot instrument and workflow issues that require materials domain knowledge to diagnose.
- Collaborate with AI and data scientists to capture experimental conditions and results in formats that support analysis and planning.
Qualifications
- PhD in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent research experience).
- Hands-on experience in a thin-film lab, including film deposition and characterization.
- Strong working knowledge of deposition equipment and the supporting hardware, such as vacuum systems, gas handling, temperature control, and characterization.
- Ability to communicate fluently with both scientists and engineers, and to translate scientific intent into clear technical requirements.
- Comfort writing Python to interact with instruments, manipulate experimental data, and prototype automation workflows.
Skills
About Periodic Labs
From bits to atoms.
Periodic Labs is an artificial intelligence research company pioneering the next leap in scientific discovery. We operate at the intersection of machine learning and scientific experimentation under the thesis that that true understanding of the universe is only possible by interacting and experimenting on it.
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