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.
Ginkgo Introduction
Ginkgo is a high-growth, well-capitalized public biotech company headquartered in Boston that is redesigning the living world to solve some of the globe's growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. 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 mission to "make biology easier to engineer" is poised to disrupt multiple industries by leveraging our innovative data, automation, and scale in biological engineering.
Team Introduction
We're looking for motivated, curious, and detail-oriented engineers who are excited by the challenges of scaling and improving our Autonomous Lab Technology. The Automation Team is developing an industry-leading autonomous lab, integrating robotics, lab equipment, and industrial manufacturing processes into a novel modular platform for accelerating the pace of scientific discovery.
Ginkgo is hiring a Mechatronics Engineer I to join our in-house automation and integration team. This team is responsible for designing, developing, and deploying automation solutions to both internal labs and external automation customers, as well as providing expertise and support for deployed systems.
Job Description
As a Mechatronics Engineer I, you will learn about all aspects of our RAC system’s technology while contributing design work towards new RAC accessories, new instrument integrations, and even new product areas that will support the advancement of our Autonomous Lab. You will work hands-on in our Boston headquarters supporting Nebula (the world’s largest autonomous lab) and developing new tech for our internal initiatives and for our external customers. You’ll collaborate hand-in-hand with biologists, software developers, and other engineers to advance the hardware and aid in the development of software infrastructure that enables walkaway automation for various laboratory applications.
Ideal candidates will demonstrate keen attention to detail, excitement for learning, and a passion for producing high-quality work. Our systems are complex and multidisciplinary; being able to work across domains (e.g., mechanical, electrical, software) will ensure success in this role. You will be responsible for developing custom hardware solutions, participating in robot trajectory design and programming, managing the fabrication, inventory, and assembly of parts, gathering test data and performing deep evaluations, and producing design documentation for integrating your work into our product line. Experience with Solidworks is a plus. Coding or robotics experience is also a plus.
Like all Mechatronics engineers on the team, you will have tasks sourced from a number of different projects on your to-do list. You should expect variety in your day-to-day work, along with an agile environment where priorities shift quickly in response to new projects and updated customer needs. You will be expected to fully own your projects, from concept, to delivery, to second tier support.
Responsibilities
-Lead the design, development, and deployment of projects that support Ginkgo’s autonomous lab product
- Own end-to-end SolidWorks CAD design for custom mechatronic assemblies, including detailed drawings and PDM Vault management
- Manage mechanical BOM accuracy and revision control within Aligni PLM
- Participate in team design reviews, both providing and receiving feedback, and provide detailed asynchronous review and feedback on both 3D designs from peer engineers and 2D drawings from our Drafting team
- Design, program, and optimize robot trajectories for industrial six-axis robot arms, ensuring safe, repeatable, and efficient motion in workcell environments
- Collaborate with biologists on automation equipment design and operation to translate scientific requirements into robust engineering solutions
- Work with vendors to source components, and to build understanding of vendor needs and capabilities
- 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
- Support the performance evaluation, optimization, and maintenance of Nebula, the world’s largest autonomous lab
- Support RAC deployment efforts as we deliver new systems to external customers and expand our in-house RAC installations
Minimum Requirements
- BS or MS in Mechanical, Mechatronics, Systems, Robotics Engineering or equivalent
- Experience designing a complex custom mechatronic system, including mechanical and electronic component specification and selection, custom part design, and assembly
- Experience using a 3D CAD tool such as Solidworks, Autodesk Inventor, or OnShape for from-scratch modeling of parts and assemblies
- Experience reading and producing 2D manufacturing drawings
- Experience with basic electronics debugging and system troubleshooting techniques
- Experience with data collection and analysis techniques
- Windows proficiency, and fluency in productivity software tools including spreadsheets, word processing, and presentation tools
We do not expect that any one candidate will have all of the following experiences - each is independently a preferred or "nice-to-have" capability.
- Familiarity with lab automation equipment fundamentals (liquid handlers from Agilent, Hamilton, and Beckman/Labcyte; plate sealers, bulk dispensers, etc.)
- Experience with conveyor or transport systems (e.g., MagneMotion or similar)
- Demonstrable fabrication experience or hands-on 'workshop' skills
- Experience with robot teaching, programming, or simulation
- Experience with scripting or coding in a language like Python or JavaScript, command line navigation, and familiarity with version control and code repositories such as Git
Closing
We also feel that it's important to point out the obvious here - there's a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.
We're developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can - and will - impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it's something we'll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it's critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.
It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants.
Special Requirements / Materials to be Provided by Candidates
- Portfolio or examples of SolidWorks designs and/or robot trajectory programming work are strongly encouraged
- In all applications, application source and EEO (equal employment opportunity) data fields along with links (LinkedIn, GitHub) are included in the post for the candidate to populate.
Ginkgo has implemented a return to office policy effective October 1, 2025 with required in office days 5x per week. Some teams may require to be onsite 4-5 days per week and this will be discussed as part of the interview process. This policy applies to all employees who live within 50 miles of Ginkgo’s offices in Boston, MA, Emeryville, CA and West Sacramento, CA.
It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.
Privacy Notice
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