Senior Automation Engineer

About Clear Labs

Clear Labs builds an end-to-end, FDA-cleared next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostics platform. Our system, Clear Dx, combines automated sample-to-report workflows with an assay menu spanning oncology and infectious disease testing. We're a hands-on team building hardware, software, and wet-lab science together, and we're looking for senior engineers ready to take full ownership of systems, not just advise from the sidelines.

Position Summary

We're hiring a Senior Automation Engineer to strengthen the performance, reliability, and validation of the laboratory automation supporting our FDA-cleared NGS diagnostics platform. This is a hands-on, senior role, you'll be at the deck daily, developing methods, troubleshooting hardware, and contributing to formal validation studies alongside our existing automation team.

Location: San Carlos, CA

Travel: No travel required.

Primary Responsibilities

• Contribute hands-on reliability engineering, method development, and troubleshooting expertise for our Hamilton STAR/STAR2 liquid-handling automation fleet running NGS library preparation workflows.
• Help design and execute formal automated-vs-manual equivalence and validation studies for NGS sample prep, in support of regulatory requirements.
• Support root-cause investigation for automation performance issues affecting NGS library quality and sequencing output, working through mechanical, calibration, and liquid-class variables systematically, and flagging labware-related findings to Systems Integration for formal qualification.
• Partner with Regulatory and Quality on validation protocols and documentation for a regulated, FDA-cleared diagnostics workflow.
• Collaborate on vendor and equipment relationships as needed to support fleet performance.