Mechatronics Engineer

VitroLabs, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Milpitas California, is a biotech company developing a scalable tissue engineering platform for the efficient and environmentally friendly production of leather from only a few cells.  Combining advanced tissue engineering processes with proprietary advances to achieve commercial scale, VitroLabs is on a mission to produce cell cultivated leather that achieves the look, feel and performance of traditional leather without compromise. The composition of the material achieves the complexity of traditional hides without the need to go to animals as an ongoing source of hides. The process is more environmentally sustainable and favorable for animal welfare than that which is used to produce traditional leather.

About the role:

As a Mechatronics Engineer, you will help optimize tissue growth by developing the next generation of tissue bioreactors. You will integrate these systems with sensor feedback, data acquisition, and mechanical actuators. You will report to the Mechanical Design Engineer and will be an essential member of the Tissue Engineering & Bioreactor team while also contributing to other cross-functional teams and projects.

About You:

You are someone who finds yourself tinkering with things; taking them apart, making modifications, and rebuilding them. You enjoy building things and working with your hands to create innovative solutions. You fuel your curiosity by learning how and why things work and thinking of different ways to improve them. You enjoy being on a multidisciplinary team and contributing to the delivery of impactful results. You seek out continual personal and professional growth and development of your skills.

Responsibilities:

• Support the development of systems to improve our workflows cross functionally; reaching into areas of bioreactor design/tissue culture, pilot manufacturing, cell seeding, and analytics
• Electrical prototyping - Investigate, build out, test, and troubleshoot electrical systems to increase capabilities and automation potential of custom tissue bioreactors and other laboratory equipment
• Mechanical prototyping - Create, modify, and improve novel bioreactor chambers and other laboratory equipment to enable and enhance the growth of large-scale tissue-engineered products
• Instrumentation - Identify, source, and integrate sensors, controls, and other instrumentation components into customized laboratory equipment to enable monitoring of in vitro conditions and enhance product growth
• Programming - Modify and create coding in various platforms to monitor, control, and automate the growth of large-scale sheets of leather

Qualifications & Skills:

• Electrical prototyping: soldering, cable building, basic circuit design and troubleshooting (use of multimeter and oscilloscope)
• Mechanical prototyping: knowledge of various mechanisms manufacturing methods and materials, some experience using machine shop equipment, 3D printers, mechanical assembly, and troubleshooting
• Hands-on experience with various types of sensors (pressure, temperature, force, gas monitoring, etc.), feedback control systems, signal conditioning, and calibration methods
• Exposure to designing electro-mechanical systems or robotic systems
• Some experience with Solidworks or similar CAD software
• Experience in LabView or other visual programming methods to integrate and control analog, digital, & mixed signal hardware

At VitroLabs, we understand that those who are courageous enough to make the bold moves and run with the "crazy" ideas are the folks who drive innovation and enable us to accomplish our mission. There is no specific pathway that makes you a fit for this role, but rather your resilience, tenacity, and constant curiosity.

If you want to collaborate with us and know you can help make a product that will change the planet for the better, we want to hear from you.

Compensation:

• $95,000 - $120,000 annually
• This range covers Associate Engineer - Engineer level

Benefits

• 90-100% employer-paid health, vision, and dental care
• Flexible Spending Account/ Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Basic Life insurance & Long Term Disability insurance
• Commuter benefits
• 401K (Employer matching)

Perks

• Onsite employer sponsored lunches (3 days each week)
• Fully stocked kitchen (snacks responsibly sourced)
• Team happy hours and regularly scheduled table tennis, foosball, and cornhole matches

DISCLAIMER:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by incumbents assigned to this job. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the functions, responsibilities, duties and skills required for the position, and VitroLabs Inc retains the discretion to modify functions, responsibilities, duties and skills at any time, including modifying the time devoted to such activities, deleting activities and assigning other activities.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

VitroLabs Inc is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunities without regard to race, color, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.