Staff Software Engineer –Lab Automation
Thermo Fisher Scientific20 hours ago
Base Salary
$129k - $175k/yr
Responsibilities
- Provide technical leadership and architectural direction for instrument-control software, graphical user interfaces, laboratory automation, workflow orchestration, and AI-enabled instrumentation.
- Develop automation frameworks that coordinate instruments, robotics, devices, and software services into reliable end-to-end laboratory workflows.
- Design and integrate AI-enabled capabilities for troubleshooting, protocol assistance, instrument knowledge retrieval, run-data interpretation, anomaly detection, and context-aware automation.
- Develop AI-driven automation that uses instrument state, workflow context, scientific knowledge, and operational data to adapt workflows, monitor execution, respond to exceptions, and recommend or initiate controlled actions.
- Apply evaluation, testing, monitoring, security, data protection, traceability, and human oversight to AI-enabled solutions.
- Diagnose complex issues involving application software, instrument communication, hardware, firmware, scripts, and laboratory workflows.
- Translate scientific, customer, system, and business requirements into reliable technical solutions.
- Define reusable instrument and device abstractions, APIs, data models, and communication patterns for interoperable laboratory automation.
- Help define and execute the technical roadmap for connected instruments, intelligent instrument-control software, and increasingly autonomous laboratory workflows.
- Collaborate with engineering, product management, applications, service, customer-facing, and geographically distributed teams.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Automation Engineering, or a related technical field with at least 8 years of professional software development experience, or an advanced degree with at least 6 years of professional software development experience.
- Advanced proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Python, Java, or C++, with demonstrated delivery of production-quality software systems.
- Experience developing, integrating, and supporting software for scientific instruments, laboratory automation, robotics, medical devices, industrial equipment, or other hardware-controlled systems.
- Experience developing instrument-control applications, graphical user interfaces, engineering utilities, simulators, or diagnostic tools using .NET/WPF, WinUI, Qt, or comparable frameworks.
- Experience integrating instruments or automation systems through vendor SDKs, REST APIs, messaging, serial communication, TCP/IP, OPC UA, file-based interfaces, or comparable mechanisms.
- Strong understanding of software architecture, object-oriented or modular design, design patterns, data structures, APIs, and hardware abstraction.
- Experience with asynchronous programming, multithreading, event-driven design, instrument state management, and fault recovery.
- Experience integrating software with embedded controllers, sensors, robotics, firmware, or other hardware components.
- Strong scripting and automation skills using Python, PowerShell, Bash, or comparable technologies.
- Experience applying AI technologies or AI-assisted development tools to engineering, scientific instrumentation, or automation use cases.
- Experience working within Agile or Scrum development methodologies.
- Preferred: experience with laboratory automation or liquid-handling scripts, protocols, or workflows; instrument-control applications and touchscreen interfaces; telemetry, operational logs, run data, or service diagnostics; local, edge, offline, or resource-constrained AI deployment; and regulated product development involving traceability, cybersecurity, risk management, verification, validation, and design controls.
Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans with health incentive programs.
- Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement.
- At least 120 hours of paid time off, 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave, accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability coverage.
- 401(k) retirement savings plan and employee stock purchase plan with discounted company stock purchases for eligible employees.
- Standard Monday-Friday schedule in an office environment.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific builds analytical instruments, lab equipment and consumables, specialty diagnostics, and provides pharma services (CDMO and clinical research) for biotech, pharma, academic, and healthcare customers. It earns revenue through product sales, e-commerce distribution (Fisher Scientific), and contract services under brands such as Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Patheon, and PPD. Headquartered in Waltham, MA, it is publicly traded on the NYSE (TMO) and was created by the 2006 merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific.