{"id":840153,"url":"https://alion.io/job/onepot-hardware-engineer","title":"Hardware Engineer","company":{"id":679989,"name":"onepot","domain":"onepot.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/onepot","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"is_intermediary":false,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["South San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":200000,"max":250000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":250000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"ROS","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-06T21:14:11Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-06","last_verified_at":"2026-09-24T00:31:01Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":48,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":48},"description":"onepot is automating chemistry. Our goal is to enable a self-improvement loop for chemistry by combining AI and advanced robotics. In this loop, AI systems design experiments, robotic systems execute them, and the resulting data improves the next generation of models.\nThis goal can only be achieved by bringing together people from different backgrounds: ML engineers, chemists, computer scientists, and hardware engineers. We are building a small, unusually ambitious team and are looking for an engineer who wants substantial ownership over design and creation of systems that operate in the real world.\nMost existing automation equipment was developed for biology, where much of the work involves pipetting easy-to-handle aqueous solutions. Chemistry is very different: reagents can corrode metals, attack plastics, evaporate, react with air or moisture, precipitate, and clog tubing. Solids may not dispense consistently, reaction mixtures may change behavior over time, and workflows that appear simple on paper can fail in dozens of unexpected ways.\nThis makes chemistry automation extremely challenging. In many cases, existing equipment cannot simply be adapted to the task. Entire workflows, instruments, and robotic modules must be redesigned from first principles.\nThe role\nIn this position, you will build key parts of onepot's hardware stack and enable previously inaccessible chemistry to be performed automatically.\nThe work will involve both the design of bespoke hardware modules and the integration of commercially available equipment. You may build systems for liquid or solid dispensing, vial and plate handling, reaction setup, heating and cooling, inert-atmosphere operations, sampling, instrument loading, or automated analysis.\nThis is a deeply hands-on role. You will design parts, assemble prototypes, write control software, debug systems in the lab, and work directly with chemists to understand why existing tools fail. You will own systems from initial concept through fabrication, deployment, failure, and improvement.\nThis is not a role centered on producing designs for someone else to build. We are looking for someone who wants to see their work operate reliably under real laboratory conditions.\nEngineering philosophy\nIn many ways, building hardware for chemistry presents challenges unseen in most settings.\nLab-automation equipment is often extremely expensive and, in many cases, simply not good enough. We approach the problem from first principles and in a scrappy, entrepreneurial manner.\nWe move quickly between design, fabrication, testing, and deployment. We use commercial components when they are good enough and build our own when they are not. We prefer a simple system that works today over an elaborate system that exists only on paper.\nRequirements will evolve as we learn. Prototypes will be tested immediately. Designs will fail, and you will be expected to understand why, fix them, and make the next version substantially better.\nEducation\nDegree in an engineering discipline or physics; we will consider exceptional candidates without one\n\nWe care more about demonstrated engineering ability and what you have built than about a particular credential\n\nExperience\nWe would love to see things you have built independently or as part of a small team - drones, robotic arms, scientific instruments, manufacturing equipment, custom electronics, liquid-handling robots, or other technically ambitious projects\n\nExperience taking a physical system from an initial idea to a functioning and reliable implementation\n\nEvidence that you can move quickly, make good decisions with incomplete information, and solve difficult problems without waiting for detailed instructions\n\nExperience in a startup, research group, competition team, or other environment where you had significant ownership and limited resources is particularly relevant\n\nSkills\nFamiliarity with CAD software of your choice\n\nAbility to develop electronic components and software that interfaces with physical hardware\n\nStrong capability in at least one of mechanical engineering, electronics, embedded systems, robotics, or controls\n\nComfort working across disciplines and learning unfamiliar technical areas as necessary\n\nExperience working with motors, pumps, valves, sensors, microcontrollers, or other electromechanical components\n\nStrong written and verbal communication skills\n\nCuriosity and excitement about chemistry\n\nA strong bias toward building, testing, and learning from real systems\n\nParticularly relevant experience\nExperience in any of the following areas would be useful, but we do not expect one person to have all of it:\nFluid handling and chemical compatibility\n\nMotion control\n\nEmbedded systems and microcontrollers\n\nMachine vision\n\nPLCs, ROS, or industrial communication protocols\n\nSafety interlocks and fault-tolerant systems\n\nMachining, fabrication, or rapid prototyping\n\nDesigning systems that must operate reliably in harsh or unusual environments\n\nWho will thrive here\nYou may be a strong fit if you:\nWant substantial responsibility early in your career\n\nAre energized rather than discouraged by difficult, poorly defined problems\n\nCare deeply about the quality and reliability of what you build\n\nMove with urgency while maintaining sound engineering judgment\n\nAre willing to work outside a narrow job description to make the overall system succeed\n\nWant your work to have a direct and visible effect on the company's technical progress\n\nAre excited by the opportunity to build systems that do not yet exist\n\nAdditional requirements\nAbility to work extended hours and weekends as necessary\n\nonepot works fully in person in our South San Francisco lab\n\nAbility to work safely in an active chemistry laboratory and around scientific equipment\n\nBenefits\nLunches and dinners (if staying late) in office\n\nCommute stipend\n\nTop-of-the-line insurance\n\nGenerous equity grants\n\nonepot is an equal-opportunity employer.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5951,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Artificial Intelligence"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-12T21:29:18Z"}],"liveness":{"score":26,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.478,"p_room":0.55,"age_days":48,"expected_fill_days":33,"reasons":["conf:5","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-09-24T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":250000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/onepot-hardware-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/onepot-hardware-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-24T06:01:48Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers"}}