Senior Mechatronics Engineer

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

We’re looking for talented senior engineers who are excited by the challenges of scaling and improving our Automation Technology. The Automation Team is creating integrated robotic workcells, designing processes around walk-up robotic systems, improving how data is handled, working with scientists on scaling their processes, and much more.

As a Senior Mechatronics Engineer, you will serve as a technical lead working hand in hand with biologists, software developers, and other engineers to co-develop the hardware and aid in the development of software infrastructure that enables walkaway automation for various applications. You will bring deep expertise in CAD and mechanical design, complemented by working knowledge of robot trajectory programming, to bear on some of our most complex integration challenges.

The Automation Mechatronics Team is responsible for designing and deploying the mechanical, electrical, and control systems that form the basis for our novel integrated robotic systems. As a senior member of the team, you will be responsible for identifying and sourcing off-the-shelf equipment, delivering custom hardware solutions, leading robot trajectory design and programming, managing assembly vendors, programming PLCs, and mentoring junior engineers.

You will own your designs through the complete product lifecycle from concept, to requirements gathering, to delivery, to second tier support.

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of mechatronics infrastructure for automating various laboratory processes.
• Own end-to-end Solid Works CAD design for custom mechanical assemblies, including detailed drawings, PDM Vault management, and design reviews.
• Design, program, and optimize robot trajectories for industrial six-axis robot arms, ensuring safe, repeatable, and efficient motion in workcell environments.
• Refine and reinforce mechatronics design standards, best practices, and documentation requirements across the team.
• Collaborate with biologists on automation equipment design and operation to translate scientific requirements into robust engineering solutions.
• Work with vendors to build mutual understanding of needs and capabilities; lead technical evaluations of new instruments and components.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior and mid-level Mechatronics Engineers.
• Drive cross-functional coordination between Hardware, Software, and Systems teams on integration projects.
• Manage mechanical BOM accuracy and revision control within our PLM system.
• Support change management and upgrade/retrofit deployment across our existing fleet of deployed enclosures and hardware configurations, helping balance standardization goals with the practical realities of a diverse installed base.

• BS or MS in Mechanical, Mechatronics, Systems, Robotics Engineering or equivalent; 5+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Advanced proficiency in Solid Works (2020 or later), including part modeling, assemblies, detailed drawings, and PDM Vault – must have deep, hands‑on mechanical design experience.
• Proven experience applying Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) principles to production hardware.
• Basic software engineering proficiency; comfortable reading and writing simple scripts or recipe‑language logic (e.g., Python or equivalent) to support automation workflows.
• Must have experience in 3 or more of the following areas:
  • Laboratory automation systems and experimental workflow development.
  • Experience with making both 2D and 3D parts; familiarity with metal and/or plastic fabrication techniques including milling, turning, laser/waterjet/plasma methods.
  • Basic knowledge of wiring circuits, terminating cables with various connector types, power budgets, etc.
  • Fundamentals with PLCs, safety circuits and safety sensors, power…