Systems Integration Lead / Process Engineer

Position Summary

We're hiring a Systems Integration Lead to sit at the interface between assay science and automation engineering — taking benchtop assays and redesigning them into automation-friendly, production-compatible processes. This is a hands-on, senior role responsible for labware qualification, system robustness and guardbanding, and designing and executing acceptance criteria and verification/validation as protocols move from bench to automated production, including closing the current gap where sequencing sits outside our automated oncology workflow as a manual, off-deck step.

Primary Responsibilities

• Own labware selection, qualification, and system robustness/guardbanding across the automated platform, including DOE-driven robustness testing and failure-mode analysis for automated process steps.
• Take benchtop assays developed by the assay science team and redesign them into automation-friendly, production-compatible processes.
• Design and execute acceptance criteria and potentially verification/validation protocols as processes move from bench to automated production.
• Drive on-deck integration of sequencing into oncology assay workflows, closing the current gap where sequencing runs as a manual, off-deck process outside the automated system.
• Lead technical evaluation and integration of new NGS sequencing platforms (e.g., Illumina, Oxford Nanopore) and library prep chemistries onto the automated platform.
• Serve as the technical bridge between assay science and automation engineering, translating wet-lab protocols into robust, industrialized, automatable processes.
• Partner with Regulatory and Quality to ensure system and workflow changes are appropriately validated and documented for an FDA-cleared diagnostics environment.
• Lead technical diligence on new sequencer, automation, and reagent vendor partnerships, including independently assessing vendor-provided integration timelines and effort estimates.

Technical Skills — NGS

• Hands-on experience with at least one major NGS sequencing platform (Illumina and/or Oxford Nanopore), including run setup, sequencing chemistry, and flow cell/consumable workflows.
• Working knowledge of NGS library preparation chemistries relevant to clinical panels (hybrid capture and/or amplicon-based enrichment).
• Experience integrating or supporting a secondary analysis pipeline (e.g., DRAGEN or equivalent) and understanding how upstream lab changes propagate to sequencing QC metrics and analysis output.
• Familiarity with NGS assay QC parameters and how automation or platform changes can affect them.

Technical Skills — Automation, Labware & Systems Robustness

• Hands-on experience with Hamilton STAR/STAR2 liquid handling platforms, including VENUS software, deck design, and integrating third-party modules.
• Demonstrated experience in labware selection, qualification, and DOE-based robustness testing (tolerance analysis, failure-mode analysis) for automated liquid-handling processes.
• Strong statistical skills (design of experiments, process capability analysis, hypothesis testing, tolerance stack-up) applied to robustness and verification/validation study design.
• Track record translating manual, research-originated wet-lab protocols into production-grade, automatable, robust processes suitable for a regulated environment.
• Understanding of how liquid-handling method design and labware selection affect downstream NGS library quality and sequencing performance.