Principal Mechanical Engineer – Advanced Automation & Systems Integration

Principal Mechanical Engineer – Advanced Automation & Systems Integration

Vivodyne creates human data before clinical trials. We accelerate the discovery, design, and development of human therapeutics by testing on large, lab‑grown human organ tissues at massive scale, driving technological advancement at the convergence of novel biology, robotics, and AI.

As a Principal Mechanical Engineer at Vivodyne, you will be part of a multi‑disciplinary team pushing the boundaries of automated, large‑scale “organ‑on‑a‑chip” robotics and related manufacturing systems. Your focus will be on developing and optimizing hardware and software that orchestrates robotic arms, embedded controllers, and microfluidic systems to enable high‑throughput, high‑precision biological workflows.

This role requires expertise across hardware and software, but primarily hardware. From high‑level motion control and machine vision to robotics programming and embedded firmware, you’ll work extensively with existing Python, C# and C++ codebases, ensuring seamless system integration and performance.

You are a mechanical design expert. Kinematic docking, material selection, FEA and error budgets are very familiar to you. Your friends include McMaster‑Carr, Misumi, and Grainger.

Collaboration is key—you’ll engage with mechanical engineers, biologists, immunologists, AI scientists, and process engineers to design and refine automation workflows that drive breakthroughs. We’re looking for a problem solver comfortable working across multiple domains, thriving in a fast‑paced, high‑innovation environment that values continuous learning and technical excellence.

This is a full‑time, onsite role in San Francisco, where you’ll be designing, building, and testing some of the most advanced automation and high‑throughput biology systems in the world.

• Architect, design, and implement advanced automation systems, ranging from automated microfluidic manufacturing to high‑precision mammalian cell culture platforms—all of which are mission‑critical and highly visible both internally and externally.
• Develop hardware and software systems that acquire and process data reliably, ensuring smooth handoffs to production through rigorous documentation, data acquisition, and analysis.
• Embrace the dynamic nature of a rapidly growing startup, working across multiple projects and disciplines.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with Product leads, tissue engineers, microfluidics specialists, and AI researchers to gather requirements, set technical objectives, and integrate new features into our robotics platforms.
• Design and implement resilience mechanisms to ensure system robustness, enabling fault detection, fault recovery, and minimal downtime, while maintaining data integrity.
• Proactively identify optimization opportunities, selecting priorities through engineering analysis and data‑driven decision‑making.
• Communicate progress and findings to internal stakeholders—including mechanical engineers, data scientists, and senior leadership—through data‑laden presentations and technical reports.

• Bachelor’s degree (M.S. or Ph.D. preferred) in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related field with a focus on microfluidics, tissue engineering, or lab automation; at least six years of directly relevant industry experience.
• Broad experience in hardware and, preferably, software design for automation, spanning off‑the‑shelf solutions and custom‑built systems; you have developed complex automation workflows for production‑level environments.
• Hands‑on experience with commonly used automation hardware, such as vision/camera systems, motion control, liquid handling, and pick‑and‑place robotics.
• Highly knowledgeable in various manufacturing technologies, understanding which approaches fit particular applications.
• Industry‑specific expertise valued: biotech/lab automation or semiconductor robotics experience; knowledge of microfluidics and fluid handling systems; experience integrating robotics with high‑content imaging and confocal microscopy systems; biology background or familiarity with cell and…