Senior Laboratory Automation Engineer

Join Vylor—Powering the Future of Agriculture

At Vylor, we’re advancing agriculture through breakthrough science—combining elite germplasm, cutting-edge biotech, and next-generation expertise in gene editing and molecular breeding. Our portfolio includes trusted industry brands like Pioneer®, Brevant®, and Hoegemeyer®, delivering performance farmers rely on.

Join us to help scale innovation globally and shape what’s next in crop science.

In our mission to scale innovation globally and shape what’s next in crop science Vylor is seeking an experienced Senior
Laboratory Automation Engineer who can help drive the design, implementation, and optimization of automated laboratory workflows to accelerate research across the organization.

The successful candidate will serve as a technical leader, translating scientific needs into scalable automated workflows, integrating emerging technologies, collaborating with scientists and engineers, driving process improvements, and ensuring robust documentation and knowledge transfer across the Vylor research organization.

Responsibilities –

What You’ll Do:

• Work directly with researchers to understand current-state laboratory processes, map workflow and material flow, identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, and develop data-driven automation strategies.

• Lead automation projects from requirements definition through deployment, managing scope, schedules, resources, risks, and stakeholder alignment to deliver robust automated workflows for manual laboratory processes.

• Operate as a technical leader in the development, validation and optimization of liquid handler methods across multiple platforms (Tecan, Hamilton, Dynamic Devices, etc.) defining key parameters such as deck layouts, liquid classes, labware, tip strategies, data management, and error handling.

• Serve as a senior escalation point for method failures, instrument faults, and liquid-handling performance issues, leading root-cause analysis and implementing timely, effective corrective solutions.

• Partner with engineering team members to design, build, and integrate fully automated work cells combining liquid handlers, robotics, peripheral instrumentation, custom equipment, and scheduling software.

• Collaborate with external vendors to identify, evaluate, and integrate emerging technologies into Vylor processes, with potential emphasis on large scale, high throughput, droplet-based technologies.

• Collaborate with research groups throughout the company to drive standardization across automation, software, and scientific solutions.

• Train laboratory personnel on automated workflows, instrument operation, and safety procedures.

Qualifications – What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Engineering, Life Sciences, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.

• 7+ years of experience translating scientific needs into robust, reproducible, and scalable automated workflows.

• Demonstrated ability to operate as a senior technical lead while effectively building strong partnerships, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and driving strategic impact across key deliverables.

• Strong understanding of typical biotechnology lab processes including genotyping, plant transformation, tissue culture, gene editing, analytical biology, and related workflows.

• Extensive experience developing and deploying automated workflows using Tecan Fluent Control and Hamilton VENUS platforms, including liquid class optimization, custom scripting, device integration, worklist generation, sample tracking, and LIMS connectivity.

• Experience with other liquid handling platforms (i.e. Dynamic Devices Lynx, Agilent Bravo, etc.) is a plus but not required.

• Experience with microfluidic based systems is a plus but not required.

• Proficiency in…