Developmental Systems Lead (Fluidics/Perfusion)

About Becoming

Becoming is building Developmental Intelligence: AI for predicting how organisms change over time.

Most experimental systems fail when metabolic demands become too high. We are building systems that don’t — enabling sustained, controllable biological processes over long time horizons so that development, adaptation, and failure can be observed, perturbed, and predicted.

Physiology is central to this effort. Without stable, well-characterized physiological function, long-horizon prediction is impossible.

The Role

We are hiring a Developmental Systems Lead to own making externally sustained developmental systems run stably, repeatably, and predictably over days to weeks.

This role is for someone who thinks in systems, not endpoints — someone who understands how transport, metabolism, signaling, mechanics, and homeostasis interact over time. You will lead the design and operation of systems that integrate perfusion, physiology, sensing, actuation, and closed-loop control to sustain and perturb development in ways that generate meaningful, causal data.

This is a high-agency role. You will be expected to define measurements, interpret dynamics, and drive improvements in system-level function.

What You’ll Own

• End-to-end responsibility for externally sustained developmental systems operating over days to weeks
• Definition of what “success” means beyond “alive,” including how stability, drift, and failure are measured over time
• Identification, characterization, and mitigation of long-horizon failure modes (e.g., drift, interface breakdown)
• Design and refinement of closed-loop control strategies for complex biological systems
• Integration of perfusion hardware, sensors, and control software into durable platforms
• Decisions about when systems are sufficiently stable to perturb, compare, and learn from
• Close collaboration with developmental biology, hardware, and ML / modeling teams
• Building systems that improve with iteration, not systems that require constant manual expert intervention

Who You Are

You are someone who:

• Operates with high agency — you identify what needs to be measured and why
• Takes ownership of outcomes, not just data collection
• Brings high energy to complex, dynamic biological systems
• Acts with high integrity — you are honest about uncertainty, limits, and tradeoffs
• Communicates directly and clearly, especially when systems are not behaving as expected
• Is self-aware about your strengths and gaps, proactively fills them and open to feedback
• Thinks like a systems integrator, not a siloed specialist

Is comfortable working where physiology, engineering, and modeling intersect

Requirements

Required

• Deep, hands-on experience with long-running biological or physiological systems (days+, not hours)
• PhD or equivalent experience in physiology, engineering, or a related field
• Experience with several of the following:
• Perfusion systems
• Fluid dynamics, flow, pressure, and shear — and their biological consequences
• Inflammation, coagulation, hemolysis, or endothelial failure in sustained systems
• Closed-loop control of noisy, drifting systems
• Real-time instrumentation and sensing in biological environments
• Diagnosing failure modes that emerge gradually, not catastrophically
• Ability to work fluently with developmental biologists and/or physiologists
• At least 1 year of industry or applied systems experience

Strong Signals

• Background in perfusion, ECMO, organ support, or organ preservation
• Physiology-driven systems engineering experience
• Experience with complex robotics or control systems operating in irreversible environments
• History of systems that failed — and improved because of it

Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity depending on experience level
• Full benefits
• High-trust, high-ownership environment
• Rapid growth in scope and responsibility