Lead Robotic Automation Engineer

Job Details:
Level: Experienced |

Job Location:

Company Office-US-MA-01915-01 - Beverly, MA 01915 | Salary Range: $ - $ Salary/year | High Res is seeking a Lead Robotic Automation Engineer to join our Lab Automation engineering team at our headquarters in Beverly, Massachusetts. This role combines technical project ownership with people leadership to deliver complex laboratory automation solutions at the highest standard. Reporting to the Associate Director of Automation Engineering, you will own the full delivery lifecycle of customer-facing capital projects, lead a team of 2 to 6 automation engineers, and drive the continuous improvement initiatives that shape how High Res operates.

This is the right role for a technically experienced engineer who is ready to lead. You will manage complex, multi-resource projects from internal kickoff through customer acceptance, develop engineers through direct coaching and structured feedback, and identify and fix the systemic gaps that slow teams down. The ideal candidate brings deep lab automation experience, strong customer-facing skills, and the ownership mindset to hold accountability across project delivery, team performance, and process quality.

• Own the full delivery lifecycle of customer capital projects from internal kickoff through SAT signoff at the customer site
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for the customer throughout project execution, managing expectations, communicating status, and resolving issues
• Coordinate and oversee complex, multi-resource projects, ensuring engineers have the direction, resources, and support they need to execute
• Guide engineers through Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) and Site Acceptance Tests (SATs), providing hands‑on technical oversight and ensuring systems meet customer specifications and applicable regulatory requirements
• Identify risks early and drive the team to resolution, not just escalation
• Collaborate with Project Management, System Design Engineering, and Manufacturing Operations to ensure clean handovers and fast problem resolution
• Deploy to customer sites to oversee and support large or complex project installations, up to 20% travel

• Identify systemic gaps in commissioning and deployment processes and own initiatives to close them
• Drive measurable improvements in quality, consistency, and efficiency across the engineering organization
• Document and standardize best practices, ensuring they are adopted and sustained, not just written down
• Bring cross‑functional partners into improvement initiatives and drive alignment through implementation
• Measure the impact of process changes and iterate based on outcomes

• Set and maintain technical quality standards for your team's work across active projects
• Review system configurations and commissioning outputs for correctness and consistency
• Mentor engineers on best practices, systematic debugging, and customer‑facing professionalism
• Serve as the escalation point for complex technical issues; escalated further with context and a recommended path forward, not just the problem
• Build and maintain tools or scripts that reduce manual work and improve team efficiency

• Lead a team of 2–6 automation engineers, providing clear direction, regular feedback, and active development
• Run weekly 1:1s focused on performance, growth, and unblocking your direct reports
• Build individual development plans for each direct report and provide specific, timely feedback on both technical and professional growth
• Write performance reviews grounded in outcomes and demonstrated behaviors
• Participate actively in hiring decisions and the onboarding of new team members

• 4+ years of experience in lab automation, deployment engineering, robotics, or a closely related technical field
• Experience working with laboratory automation platforms such as High Res Biosolutions, Thermo Fisher, Hamilton, Beckman Coulter, Tecan, or similar
• Demonstrated experience owning projects end‑to‑end: managing timelines, driving milestones, and handling customer or stakeholder communication
• Hands‑on…