Automation Engineer, Wet Lab

This is, in many ways, the role we always wished existed : high autonomy, genuinely difficult engineering problems, the freedom and resources to solve them properly, and a mission worth the hard work.

This is not a role for someone who wants to select the next six-figure laboratory automation system from a catalogue. We want someone who looks at a €500,000 solution and asks: Why does this cost €500,000? What problem are we actually solving? And could we achieve the same outcome - or a better one - for a fraction of the cost and at 10x the scale?

Sometimes the answer will be an established lab instrument. Sometimes it will be an industrial robot, a €50 sensor, a 3D-printed part, and some clever engineering.

Your opportunity is to help us completely rethink how lab automation is done and build the infrastructure that makes biological R&D dramatically faster and cheaper.

Key responsibilities:

• Own lab automation at Differential Bio end-to-end, from creating individual components to developing complete new automated fermentation systems, including technical decisions, experimentation, suppliers, and budget.
• Drive our ambition to dramatically increase experimental density while reducing the cost per experiment and cost per insight.
• Translate wet-lab workflows into reliable, scalable automation together with our scientists, software engineers, and ML engineers.
• Make pragmatic build vs. buy vs. modify decisions instead of defaulting to expensive, closed laboratory automation platforms.
• Prototype and build yourself: fermentation pods and small bioreactors, using 3D printing & our workshop.
• Evaluate and integrate robots, liquid handling systems, and emerging automation technologies, working directly with manufacturers to adapt or co-develop around our requirements.
• Continuously improve reliability, throughput, maintainability, and cost as our automation platform scales.

Qualifications:

We care more about how you solve engineering problems than about a specific degree or career path.

You should:

• Have evidence of excellence: 4+ years of experience in lab automation, robotics, or other automation projects involving real hardware - or an equivalent track record of serious hobby projects where you have built, modified, automated, and debugged physical systems yourself.
• Be a tinkerer : someone who enjoys opening the box, understanding how something works, modifying it, and building something better when necessary.
• Be comfortable with robotics, sensors, actuators, mechanical design, electronics, embedded systems, or related technologies.
• Be able to move quickly between disciplines and collaborate with wet-lab scientists, automation specialists, software engineers, and ML engineers.
• Be comfortable with ambiguity and high autonomy. We define outcomes; you have substantial freedom to determine how to achieve them.
• Combine creative engineering with a strong focus on reliability and repeatability.

Experience with laboratory automation, bioreactors, liquid handling, CAD, 3D printing, Python, PLCs, machine vision, or industrial automation is a plus - but not a requirement.

This is a demanding job. The problems are hard, the ownership is real, and there will not always be a playbook to follow. We are looking for someone who enjoys that responsibility rather than avoids it. We want to see the fire in you : the curiosity, energy, and determination to keep digging until something works.

Benefits:

• Build something fundamentally new: Help move lab automation away from boutique, over-engineered systems toward high-density biological data factories.
• High ownership: Own our lab automation stack, technical direction, suppliers, and significant parts of the automation budget.
• Real freedom to build: We have 3D printers, workshop capabilities, testing space, and the budget to buy robots and hardware when experimentation requires it.
• Direct impact: Work closely with our founder and CTO and shape one of Differential Bio's core technological advantages.
• Competitive compensation through salary + stock options.
• eGym WellPass membership.

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Source: Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), table; dl-de/by-2-0; StarIn's calculation