Director, Engineering

Biohub is a 501(c)(3) biomedical research organization building the first large-scale scientific initiative combining frontier AI with frontier biology to solve disease. We build the technology to help scientists around the world use AI-powered biology to study how cells operate, organize, and work as part of systems to understand why disease happens and how to correct it. With our compute capacity, AI research and engineering, and state-of-the-art technology for measuring, imaging, and programming biology, we are enabling scientists worldwide to use AI-powered biology to advance our understanding of human health.

Our decoding inflammation team builds tools to enable precise molecular-level measurements of inflammation within human tissues in real time, and develop proactive, early interventions that can be deployed when inflammation — which underlies the most significant causes of death worldwide — first flares in the body. You can learn more about our work here.

Our team collaborates with three powerhouse universities - Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - to develop first-in-class technologies and make breakthroughs.

• Pursue large scientific challenges that cannot be pursued in conventional environments
• Enable individual investigators to pursue their riskiest and most innovative ideas
• Facilitate research by scientists and clinicians at our home institutions and beyond

We are a team of passionate individuals powered by technology, guided by scientific research, and driven by collaboration, working toward a mission to cure or prevent all disease.

Biohub seeks a Director of Engineering to build, scale, and automate next-generation molecular measurement technologies. This role will lead the design and deployment of integrated automation systems that enable high-throughput, high-content, and reproducible experimentation across functional genomics, multi-omics profiling, and advanced cellular systems, including organoids and complex co-culture models.

The Director of Engineering will translate cutting-edge biological objectives into robust, scalable, and automated laboratory infrastructure. The ideal candidate brings deep industry experience building and operating life science technology platforms, particularly in proteomics, functional genomics, transcriptomics, imaging-based assays, and/or organoid systems—combined with strong expertise in robotics, automation engineering, and instrument integration.

This leader will architect platforms that move beyond commoditized automation toward flexible, adaptive systems capable of executing complex biological protocols at scale, with tight integration between experimental workflows, data systems, and computational analysis pipelines.

• Lead the development and integration of advanced robotic systems for liquid handling, organoid handling, environmental control, and assay execution.
• Oversee integration of molecular measurement technologies (e.g., spatial omics, proteomics, high-content imaging) directly into automated pipelines.
• Develop custom hardware, fixtures, and accessories where commercial solutions are insufficient.
• Ensure seamless integration between robotic systems, LIMS, data pipelines, and downstream analysis infrastructure.

• Leverage deep industry knowledge to evaluate and implement best-in-class commercial instrumentation, robotics platforms, and automation software.
• Build and manage strategic relationships with automation vendors, instrument manufacturers, and contract engineering partners.
• Conduct rigorous technical diligence of vendors and outsourced development partners.
• Define clear technical specifications, milestones, and quality standards for external contributors.
• Identify opportunities to translate internally developed platform innovations into Broader partnerships or collaborative networks.

• Build and lead an interdisciplinary team of automation engineers, robotics engineers, platform scientists, and systems integration…