Senior Engineer I / Technical Program Manager, Hardware & Controls Engineering

Your Impact at LILA

Lila Sciences is hiring a Technical Program Manager / Senior Engineer within the Hardware and Controls Engineering team to drive execution of critical, multidisciplinary hardware, controls, and software platform program. This TPM will own both program level cross-project coordination as well as day-to-day project management — milestones, procurement, resourcing, vendor coordination, and cross-functional alignment — to keep an ambitious engineering effort on track. This is a high-impact role for a technical candidate who thrives at the intersection of complex hardware and software systems and enjoys building and following structure in a fast paced environment.

What You'll Be Building

• Lead complex, multi-project engineering programs focused on the development, integration, and deployment of custom hardware, controls, and automation systems within regulated and industrial environments.
• Own end-to-end program execution, serving as the primary technical and delivery point of contact across internal stakeholders including Product Management, Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Software, IT, Facilities, Process Automation, and external vendors.
• Ensure hardware and system offerings align with established product architectures, IT standards, process automation frameworks, and facilities requirements.
• Manage engineering projects from concept through commissioning, including scope definition, scheduling, risk management, budgeting, and quality-first execution.
• Partner with Legal, Procurement, and Finance to review MSAs, develop SOWs, manage purchase orders, and oversee vendor contracting for external engineering and integration services.
• Lead and coordinate multidisciplinary teams spanning engineering, design, manufacturing, construction, quality, panel shops, IT, and third-party system integrators.
• Support project team members, promoting standardized execution, technical rigor, and continuous improvement across programs.
• Oversee vendor performance and ensure contracted hardware, control systems, and automation solutions meet technical, quality, regulatory, and delivery expectations.
• Lead by example and drive program pipelines and stage-gate execution models to ensure predictable, on-time, and on-budget delivery of new hardware and systems offerings.
• Communicate program status, risks, financial performance, and forecasts clearly and effectively to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Automation, or related discipline); Master’s degree preferred.
• 3-5 years of experience delivering complex systems engineering, automation, or industrial control programs; experience operating at a senior project or program management level.
• Demonstrated experience working with life sciences, regulated manufacturing, and industrial automation integration environments.
• Strong background in systems integration, including controls, SCADA, hardware/software interfaces, and networked systems.
• Proven experience executing projects within quality management systems, including validation, verification, installation procedures, deviation management, and root cause investigations (e.g., GAMP 5, 21 CFR Part 11).
• Extensive experience managing multidisciplinary teams and coordinating work across engineering, operations, IT, quality, and external vendors.
• Strong financial and program management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, margin control, and resource utilization.
• Quality-first mindset with a track record of delivering compliant, reliable, and scalable systems.

Bonus Points For

• Experience supporting laboratory, manufacturing, or research environments in life sciences or industrial settings.
• PMP or equivalent project/program management certification.
• Six Sigma or continuous improvement training.
• Experience modernizing or migrating legacy systems to standardized, reusable architectures.

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.