Senior Lab Instrumentation Automation Engineer

We are seeking a Senior Lab Instrumentation Automation Engineer to join our team to work on lab automation projects at IDEXX. The successful candidate will have a background in engineering and system analysis and thrive in complex and rapidly changing work environment. This position will be part of a team that works with business experts, manufacturing people, scientists, software and hardware engineers to maintain existing hardware and design new diagnostic systems. Communication and collaboration with a variety of voices is a key skill. Developing requirements, margin analysis and troubleshooting using functional system breakdown are critical for the successful candidate.  Experience in development of methods to run automated liquid handling systems and robots.

This is an on-site role to be based out of our Westbrook, ME corporate Headquarters.

Why this role matters:

• You will be part of an R&D team that works collaboratively with our reference labs to develop automation solutions to enable high throughput delivery of results to our customers.

• You will be part of a highly cross functional team and will be involved in the conceptualization, development and implementation of automation solutions into our refence lab network both in North America and across the globe.

• You will be a strong technical leader with proven project management skills and excellent interpersonal traits.

What will you do:

• You will conceptualize and evaluate technical feasibility of new product concepts and major hardware changes to existing products.

• You will create and communicate vision of systems being developed.

• You will work cross-functionally with scientific as well as engineering personnel and others to consider full spectrum of relevant aspects of product development and design.

• You will understand and help develop system architecture and complete picture of product requirements. Understands various talent and resources available and allocates requirements within defined processes/work streams to ensure they are accounted for and included in overall systems and final products.

• You will characterize systems by breaking them down into their component parts, mapping out how each function will work within the overall system to make sure products will operate as intended.

• You will build in traceability through allocation so each project segment can be verified and validated.

• You will account for margin for failure in designs, building extra leeway into products so they continue to function despite potential problems.

• You will qualify products by determining measurable product requirement standards. Verifies and validates that products function as designed by testing and measuring performance.

• You will manage overall system throughout entire product development process, providing consultative support and ensuring work is progressing and integrated according to plan.

• You will adhere to good design, development, documentation and verification of systems design.

• You will evaluate field performance of existing software and systems and troubleshoot any problems by investigating root-cause of software-related problems, diagnosing faults, reverse-engineering existing code

• You will specify, implement and test modifications to existing automation software.

What you need to succeed:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in biomedical, chemical, mechanical or electrical engineering and 4-6 years of industrial experience.

• Experience with liquid systems e.g. Hamilton, Tecan or Revvity is preferred.

• Ability and proficiency in lab automation programming e.g Venus or WinPREP is also preferred.

• Troubleshoot complex failures spanning software, robotics, instruments, networking, and data flows.

• Support commissioning, validation, and rollout of new automation capabilities.

• Serve as an escalation point for complex or systemic automation issues following implementation of automation solutions.

• Proficient in analyzing test results, assessing probable failure modes and developing and executing appropriate corrective action.

• Ability to work with and on cross-functional development teams.

• Ability to synthesize requirements from variety of sources, create allocated work plans and report on status and commitments.

• Effective verbal and written communications skills, including ability to communicate complex array of issues both to team and other parts of the organization.

• Working knowledge of Microsoft desktop environment and analytical tools such as Matlab, and JMP.

• Familiar with source level software debugging techniques and related tools.

• Understanding of coding in Python or similar languages.