Lab Automation Engineer - Instruments & Robotics (m/f/d)
Working at Alden Scientific Immune
Alden Scientific Immune runs the leading ImmunoINSIGHTS™ autoantibody biomarker discovery and immunological insights platform. In the last year our datagenerating lab scaled production 5x, and we are scaling 10x-100x over the next 24 months to meet demand.As the measurement arm of Alden Scientific, we generate the high-quality immune data that feeds directly into Alden Scientific’s computational biology, AI modeling and clinical research platform.
Alden Scientific is a global physiology AI company transforming health and longevity by focusing on individuals, not averages. By combining multi-omic data with AI, it delivers predictive, personalized health management - making proactive health the new normal.
This is a unique opportunity to join a fast-growing and well-funded German biotechnology leader.
About the Role
We need help scaling the physical capacity of our laboratory. You are a hands-on automation engineer with electromechanical and software skills who makes instruments and liquid handling robots run reliably, unattended and at high throughput - and who makes sure that everything they produce leaves the device as structured, traceable data.
This role is based at our laboratory in Dortmund, Germany. Working on site is part of the job: understanding the instruments, the assays and the lab staff running them.
This role is based at our laboratory in Dortmund, Germany. Working on site is part of the job: understanding the instruments, the assays and the lab staff running them.
What You’ll Do - Lab Automation & Liquid Handling
- Work side by side with our lab team every day: understand their workflows and turn them into automation that fits how the bench really works.
- Develop, validate and optimize liquid handling protocols that run robustly at high sample throughput.
- Evaluate, commission and qualify new instruments and automation hardware as the lab grows.
What You’ll Do - Instrument Connectivity
- Connect lab instruments and liquid handling systems to our software systems - through vendor APIs, instrument scripting environments, or custom adapters where no standard interface exists.
- Deliver instrument output and run metadata into a defined raw-data landing zone: complete, structured, and traceable to sample, run and protocol version.
- Develop custom integrations for lab devices with proprietary or loosely structured vendor formats.
What You’ll Do - Quality at the Source
- Work with our lab scientists and our data platform engineer to define the instrument- and run-level failure modes that automated quality control needs to catch.
- Make calibration, maintenance and run status available as data rather than on paper.
What We’re Looking For
- Extensive hands-on experience programming lab robotics, in particular liquid handling systems, in laboratories with high sample throughput.
- Hands-on electromechanical understanding of lab hardware, instrument control PCs and device connectivity.
- Experience integrating laboratory devices with software systems and databases, including devices that offer no standards-compliant interface.
- Solid programming skills (e.g., Python, SQL) and the willingness to pick up new instrument scripting environments and vendor APIs as needed.
- Readiness to work on site in Dortmund - fluent English and German.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with laboratory connectivity standards (e.g., SiLA 2, AnIML, Allotrope).
- Experience bringing new instruments or automation platforms into routine production.
- Experience leading technical projects and mentoring colleagues.
- Strong interest in immunology and in building tools for scientists.
Why Join Us?
- Impact: You’ll build the automated production capacity that our analyses, contract research and the Alden Member platform all depend on.
- Growth: Shape lab automation and instrument integration in an operation scaling 10x-100x over the next two years.
- Innovation: Connect advanced measurement technology and lab robotics into one real-time production system.
- Collaboration: Work hand in hand with lab scientists and with our data platform and software development teams in Germany and the US.
- Benefits: Competitive salary and professional development support.
How to Apply
We value curiosity, scientific rigor, and a passion for turning data into a new understanding of human biology. We look forward to receiving your application, including your resume, a short cover letter and succinct answers to the questions below, by email to: Gabriele Brauer, Alden Scientific Immune GmbH
Otto-Hahn-Str. 15, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
email
Otto-Hahn-Str. 15, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
- We build health around individuals, not averages. Why does that matter to you, and what should your work change for the people behind the data?
- Describe a liquid handling method you developed that went into routine production. What throughput did it reach, what broke when you scaled it up, and what did you change to fix it?
- Describe an automated run that failed intermittently - the kind of fault that disappears when you watch it. How did you track it down, and what turned out to be the cause?
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