Senior Field Deployment Engineer

Prolific Machines is ushering in a new era of biotechnology with light. Our first-of-its-kind optogenetic platform delivers unprecedented control, precisely guiding cellular behavior when and where it matters most. Unlike existing tools used to control biology, our technology enables dynamic, tunable control over virtually any cellular function in any cell type. We're enabling partners to unlock robust efficiency, quality, and reproducibility advantages across the most complex pharmaceuticals and therapeutic proteins. Prolific is supported by leading investors, including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield and SOSV.

This is a foundational, hands-on senior or staff engineering role responsible for deploying, commissioning, and supporting Prolific's systems in real-world operating environments. You will own major field deployments from planning and site preparation through installation, system integration, commissioning, validation, and handoff to customers and internal teams.
As a Field Deployment Engineer, you will operate at the intersection of mechanical, electrical, optical, software, controls, data, biology, and bioprocess engineering. You will troubleshoot complex system-level problems, work closely with cross-functional engineering teams, and translate lessons learned in the field into improvements to system design, reliability, and deployment processes.

A key part of this role will be helping define how Prolific's hardware is deployed at scale. You will be a key collaborator in developing our field deployment strategy, including site requirements, shipping, documentation creation, creating and maintaining records systems,  commissioning processes, tooling, serviceability, acceptance criteria, and operational workflows. Your experience in the field will directly inform how future generations of Prolific's hardware are designed, deployed, and supported.

Another key aspect of the role is being a master troubleshooter in high demand scenarios. You will be asked to perform a wide range of troubleshooting tasks, oftentimes in time critical situations with limited, remote-only support from subject matter experts.

The ideal candidate enjoys working close to real-world systems, is comfortable operating hands-on in labs as well as biomanufacturing facilities, and thrives when solving new technical problems where the correct approach is not always obvious.

This role will be primarily based on-site in Emeryville, CA, with regular travel to customer and deployment sites.