---
title: 'Engineer II/ Senior Engineer, Robotics Platform Evaluation at Lila Sciences'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineer-ii-senior-engineer-robotics-platform-evaluation-lila-sciences-cambridge-yjfk83r6maep'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Engineer II/ Senior Engineer, Robotics Platform Evaluation at Lila Sciences

- **Company:** Lila Sciences
- **Location:** Cambridge, MA
- **Compensation:** $94k–$158k
- **Posted:** 2026-10-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/lilasciences/jobs/4404771009

## Job description

## Your Impact at LILA

Lila is building a dedicated platform evaluation function within our robotics organization. The team tests and benchmarks alternative robotics platforms, including mobile manipulators, AMRs and AGVs, and other form factors, against our current production baseline. Consistent methodology across platforms is the point: results have to be directly comparable to be useful.

As a Robotics Platform Evaluation Engineer, you own robots end to end. You unbox and commission new hardware, integrate it with our software stack and infrastructure, execute the full test program, and turn the results into decision-ready comparisons that inform which platforms we adopt.

This is a hands-on, systems-level role. You will be in the lab working directly with hardware, not reviewing spec sheets. You will also shape the evaluation methodology and the tooling behind it, so each platform assessment runs faster and more consistently than the last.

## What You'll Be Building

- Commission new robotics platforms from unboxing through integration with our stack
- Own end-to-end evaluation of assigned platforms, from test plan to benchmark report
- Run test suites spanning navigation, manipulation, perception, and controls
- Integrate platforms with ROS2 and Nav2, adapting drivers, configurations, and interfaces
- Characterize manipulator, gripper, and AMR/AGV performance against comparable baselines
- Extend the shared evaluation framework and tooling for future platform assessments
- Flag integration issues, safety concerns, and platform limitations early and clearly

## What You'll Need to Succeed

- Professional experience deploying robotics platforms in production, commercial, or applied R&D settings
- Hands-on ROS2 and Nav2 experience in real deployments, not simulation alone
- Experience with manipulation and pick-and-place, including motion planning and grasp execution
- Experience with controls for robot arms or mobile bases
- Experience integrating and calibrating camera or lidar perception pipelines
- Direct experience with AMRs/AGVs or 6 to 7 DoF arms, including grippers and end effectors
- Track record turning test results into clear, decision-ready comparisons

Bonus Points For

- Evaluated or compared multiple robotics platforms or vendors head to head
- Experience with mobile manipulators, meaning an arm mounted on a mobile base
- Experience with robotics simulation tools (Isaac Sim, Gazebo, or similar) for platform validation
- Built internal tooling or frameworks for standardized robot testing
- Background in industrial, warehouse, logistics, or manufacturing automation

## Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.

International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range $93,600—$158,400 USD

## 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](https://www.lila.ai/candidate-privacy-policy-notice).

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.

## About Lila Sciences

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Lila Sciences is building the world’s first Scientific Superintelligence platform and autonomous lab, using AI to autonomously generate hypotheses, design and run experiments, and learn from results in real time across life sciences, chemistry, materials, energy, and defense.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held) – Series A, Seed, and Grant funding rounds
- **Headquarters**: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (first funding round was Seed in March 2025)
- **Founders**: Not publicly available (founded within Flagship Pioneering’s ecosystem)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI-powered scientific discovery and autonomous laboratory platforms
- **Target customers**: B2B – research organizations, biotech, pharmaceutical, energy, materials, aerospace, and defense companies
- **Mission**: “Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind’s greatest challenges” – accelerating discovery across medicine, materials, energy, and defense

## Products & Services
- **LILA Platform (Scientific Superintelligence)**: An AI model and operating system that autonomously executes the entire scientific method – generating hypotheses, designing experiments, running them in physical labs, and learning from results in real time.
- **AI Science Factory™ Instruments**: Proprietary hardware and robotics that serve as the “body” of the platform, enabling automated experimentation at scale.
- **Domain-specific applications**: Tailored solutions for biotech (drug discovery, protein engineering), therapeutics (mRNA, antibodies, cell therapies), energy & environment (clean fuels, catalysis, critical minerals), advanced materials, chemicals, aerospace & defense, and oil & gas.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – USD $550.7M (as of LinkedIn data)
  - Seed Round (March 2025): $200M led by Flagship Pioneering
  - Series A (September 2025): $235M led by Braidwell and Collective Global Management
  - Series A (November 2025): $115M led by NVentures (NVIDIA)
  - Grant (January 2026): $671,400 led by ARIA
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Flagship Pioneering, NVIDIA (NVentures), Braidwell, Collective Global Management, ARIA
- **Growth Signals**: Named #25 on the 2026 CNBC Disruptor 50 List; headcount of 308 employees (monthly growth +10.6%); 122 active job postings; operates in 6 countries (US, UK, Canada, Poland, Spain, Germany)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary AI model** that consistently outperforms other models across scientific domains in complex analysis and reasoning.
- **Autonomous physical labs** that close the loop between AI hypothesis generation and real-world experimentation.
- **“Team of Teams” operating model** enabling startup speed at scale while maintaining radical transparency and high trust.
- **General platform approach** (inspired by Rich Sutton’s “Bitter Lesson”) rather than narrow domain-specific tools, allowing broad applicability.

## Strategic Focus
- Accelerating discovery across medicine, materials, energy, and defense
- Scaling the autonomous science platform to more industries and use cases
- Building “Scientific Superintelligence” that can tackle humanity’s greatest challenges
- Continued investment in AI research, robotics, and lab automation

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Emphasizes velocity, trust, curiosity, truth, and grit. “Think freely, prove precisely.” A high-trust, mission-driven environment where scientists and engineers work side by side.
- **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Roles are listed in Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA; and London, UK. Physical lab presence suggests significant on-site work, but some roles may offer flexibility. Policy not explicitly stated.
- **Notable perks/engineering culture**: Opportunity to work at the frontier of AI and scientific discovery; collaboration with world-renowned experts; access to cutting-edge robotics and AI infrastructure; strong emphasis on learning and teaching (“generous teachers and eager learners”).

## Sources
1. [lila.ai](https://www.lila.ai/)
2. [lila.ai/about](https://www.lila.ai/about)
3. [lila.ai/open-roles](https://www.lila.ai/open-roles)
4. [LinkedIn - Lila Sciences](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lila-sciences)
5. [Greenhouse Job Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/lilasciences/jobs/4246302009)

## Other roles at Lila Sciences

- [Contractor, P2P Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/contractor-p2p-specialist-lila-sciences-cambridge-hqgazjbfnk8p) — Cambridge, MA
- [Product Manager, Chemistry AI Science Factory](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-chemistry-ai-science-factory-lila-sciences-cambridge-aqja2ckq6shw) — Cambridge, MA
- [Senior II/ Staff Robotics Platform Evaluation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ii-staff-robotics-platform-evaluation-engineer-lila-sciences-cambridge-gsm62c66738g) — Cambridge, MA
- [Contractor, Robotics Lab Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/contractor-robotics-lab-technician-lila-sciences-cambridge-bhecv6sm4kf3) — Cambridge, MA
- [Senior Engineer II, Robotics Mechanical Design](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-engineer-ii-robotics-mechanical-design-lila-sciences-cambridge-pxv5xb3e5y22) — Cambridge, MA
- [Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Applied AI](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-machine-learning-engineer-applied-ai-lila-sciences-cambridge-srsp3tf862dg) — Cambridge, MA / San Francisco, CA
- [Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Applied AI](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-machine-learning-engineer-applied-ai-lila-sciences-cambridge-w8b902v8n99s) — Cambridge, MA / San Francisco, CA
- [Director, Product Marketing, Life Sciences](https://feeny.ai/job/director-product-marketing-life-sciences-lila-sciences-cambridge-vje1ygvbfcfk) — Cambridge, MA
- [Platform Scientist I/II, Functional Materials Instrumentation](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-scientist-i-ii-functional-materials-instrumentation-lila-sciences-q02rjs2f3cwm) — Cambridge, MA
- [Director, Enterprise Account Management, Physical Sciences](https://feeny.ai/job/director-enterprise-account-management-physical-sciences-lila-sciences-cambridge-h8s6rjtjrv6g) — Cambridge, MA