Robotics Operations Engineer I, First Shift
Lila Sciences
$75,600 - $109,200 / year
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Description
Your Impact at LILA
The Robotics Operations Engineer supports deployment and day-to-day operation of Lila’s production robot fleet. This role is the front-line technical presence for robots operating in production environments, ensuring safe, reliable operation and rapid response when issues arise.
You’ll monitor live robot operations, perform hands-on troubleshooting, document incidents clearly, and partner with robotics software and hardware teams to improve uptime. The role is based in a lab production environment and will help support expanded fleet operating hours as the team scales. This role begins on a standard 9am-5pm schedule and transitions to first shift coverage, 6am-2pm, as fleet operating hours expand.
What You'll Be Building
- Monitor robot behavior during live production operations.
- Intervene quickly and safely to pause, stop, or reset robots when needed.
- Document logs, sensor output, video, and reproduction steps for incident escalation.
- Perform minor robot maintenance, including cabling, sensor swaps, fasteners, and basic component replacement.
- Execute robot swap procedures, validate spare units, and return robots to production readiness.
- Maintain accurate records of robot health, incidents, maintenance actions, and fleet status.
- Translate field observations into clear priorities for robotics software and hardware fixes.
- Identify recurring failure patterns and recommend improvements that reduce downtime.
What You'll Need to Succeed
- Hands-on experience working with robotic systems through work experience, technical programs, internships, academic robotics teams, or equivalent practical exposure.
- Solid grasp of core robotics concepts, including kinematics, sensors, actuators, and control systems.
- Working experience with ROS2, including nodes, topics, launch files, and debugging or introspection tools.
- Comfortable with basic mechanical and electrical troubleshooting, including cabling, connectors, sensors, and fasteners.
- Strong observational skills and sound judgment for quick, safe decisions during live operation.
- Clear written communication skills for documenting issues and reporting to engineering teams.
- Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
- Flexibility to begin on a standard 9am-5pm schedule and transition to first shift coverage, 6am-2pm, as fleet operating hours expand.
Bonus Points For
- Experience supporting robots or automated systems through a production rollout or pilot phase.
- Familiarity with Nav2, Behavior Trees, or related robotics tooling.
- Scripting experience with Python or similar tools for log review, data collection, or simple automation.
- Experience with fleet management, monitoring dashboards, telemetry tools, or issue-tracking systems.
- Background in mechanical, electrical, robotics, or mechatronics engineering through a degree, technical program, or equivalent hands-on experience.
Compensation
We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.
U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.
International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.
About LILA
Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.
LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.
Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.
We’re All In
Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.
Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
A Note to Agencies
Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.
Benefits
- health insurance
- vision insurance
- stock options
- parental leave
- disability insurance
About this role
This role puts you on the front line of Lila Sciences' robotic production operations in Cambridge. You'll monitor live robot behavior, troubleshoot issues as they arise, perform hands-on maintenance like sensor swaps and cabling, and document incidents to feed back to the software and hardware teams. The work is grounded in a lab production environment where your observations directly inform engineering priorities and help identify patterns that reduce downtime. You'll start on a standard 9am-5pm schedule, transitioning to 6am-2pm first shift as the fleet scales.
You'll need solid hands-on robotics experience—whether from internships, academic robotics teams, or production work—plus a working grasp of ROS2, basic mechanical and electrical troubleshooting, and strong judgment for safe real-time decisions. Clear written communication matters here; you'll be translating field observations into actionable reports for engineering teams. Python scripting, experience with fleet monitoring tools, or a background in mechanical or robotics engineering would strengthen your candidacy, though the company encourages applications even if you don't check every box.
The position offers competitive base salary ($75,600–$109,200), early-stage equity, and a full benefits package including medical, dental, vision, paid parental leave, educational assistance, and subsidized lunch. This is a full-time, in-office role at an early-stage company building AI-driven scientific discovery tools.
How this employer is doing
solid
- H1B: Sponsors Visas
- Recently Raised Funding
- Sponsors Visas
In the news
Lila Sciences in talks for $2B funding at $8.5B valuation - Bloomberg, Investing.com
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Pay for this role
$75,600 to $109,200 per year
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