Laboratory Automation Engineer

The Carnegie Mellon Cloud Lab (CMU Cloud Lab) is a groundbreaking academic facility offering round-the-clock, year-round remote access to a cutting-edge laboratory equipped with over 200 advanced scientific instruments.

Inspired by a concept developed by two CMU alumni through their company, Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL), the CMU Cloud Lab is situated in Pittsburgh's Bakery Square, near the university's main campus. Utilizing the same innovative software as ECL's Austin, TX facility, this lab ensures seamless integration and operation between the two sites. Researchers have full control over laboratory workflows, data management, and sharing, with comprehensive traceability supported by sensor data and sample tracking. This results in robust datasets that facilitate advanced visualization, analysis, and simulation.

The Lab Automation Engineer at the CMU Cloud Lab, also known as the Scientific Operations (SciOps) team, is integral to the lab’s success, providing on-site technical expertise for both hardware and software to ensure efficient execution of experiments. They support a wide range of clients, including pharmaceutical firms, startups, and academic institutions, enabling them to conduct pioneering research. The role demands analytical thinking, scientific expertise, and troubleshooting abilities across various disciplines. SciOps team members gain deep knowledge of over 200 instrument types and the infrastructure powering experimental workflows. Extensive training in the Wolfram Language and Emerald’s Symbolic Lab Language (SLL) ensures team members are well-equipped to excel.

We are looking for dedicated individuals who are excited about transforming how scientific research is conducted, eager to learn, and ready to embrace the challenges of driving this innovation forward.

This is an on-site, full-time role located in Pittsburgh, PA, with relocation assistance available for eligible candidates.

Who You Are:

• Have 4 years of experience in a GxP or Life Sciences setting.
• Hold a PhD in Life Sciences (preferred).
• Skilled in using logical reasoning to troubleshoot complex and ambiguous challenges.
• Comfortable working fixed, non-traditional hours, including night shifts.
• A data-driven individual with strong quantitative abilities.
• Excited to learn programming and software development (prior experience is a bonus, but not required).
• Experienced in diagnosing and resolving issues with scientific instrument hardware and software.
• Passionate about learning and mastering a wide range of instruments and scientific techniques.
• Thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced laboratory operations environment.

As a Scientific Operations team member, you will:

• Use critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to tackle challenges that arise during experiment execution, including software and instrumentation issues.
• Efficiently diagnose and resolve software bugs, coding errors, and instrument setup problems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve the performance and quality of the cloud lab, fostering seamless teamwork across departments.
• Develop a deep understanding of the Wolfram Language and leverage it to bridge the gap between customers and the physical lab.
• Build expertise across all experiments and instruments offered by Emerald, gaining familiarity with the software and hardware that support lab processes.

You might resonate with the culture at ECL if ...

• You are passionate about science, technology, and medicine.
• You are impressively empathetic. You can argue the rationale you disagree with as convincingly as the one you agree with.
• You are intellectually fearless. Stretching yourself well out of your comfort zone across multiple disciplines is more the rule than the exception at Emerald.
• You are curious. When first-principles reasoning illuminates a path that diverges from the standard assumptions, you feel compelled to see where it leads.
• You have a keen interest in developing unique skills in an unconventional setting that traditional laboratories cannot provide.

$105,000 - $115,000 a year

Only Night shift available

About the CMU Cloud Lab and ECL:

https://cloudlab.cmu.edu/

The Carnegie Mellon Cloud Lab (CMU Cloud Lab) is the world's first academic Cloud Lab offering a 24/7/365 remote-access facility with over 200 scientific instruments.

Based on the concept pioneered by two CMU alumni through their company, Emerald Cloud Lab ( ECL ), the CMU Cloud Lab is located in Pittsburgh in the Bakery Square neighborhood in close proximity to CMU’s main campus. The Carnegie Mellon Cloud Lab is powered by the same software running ECL’s facility in Austin, TX, making all operations executable in either facility.

The CMU Cloud Lab provides researchers full control over laboratory processes, data inputs, outputs and sharing. All processes are fully traceable, end-to-end, and enhanced with auxiliary sensor data and sample/asset tracing, creating rich and comprehensive datasets that researchers can investigate and learn from using thousands of powerful functions for data visualization, analysis, and simulations.

Applying

We’d love to hear from you! Please follow the "Apply" link below, and include your resume and a remark or two about where you are coming from and why you are interested in Emerald and this role.