---
title: 'Laboratory Technician (Contract-to-Hire) at Periodic Labs'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/laboratory-technician-contract-to-hire-periodic-labs-menlo-park-eaxp4pxtqbt7'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Laboratory Technician (Contract-to-Hire) at Periodic Labs

- **Company:** Periodic Labs
- **Location:** Menlo Park, CA
- **Employment:** contract
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs/50a878d1-f9a6-4234-950d-f18d73c65c47

## Job description

## ABOUT PERIODIC LABS

We’re an AI and physical sciences company building state-of-the-art models to accelerate breakthroughs across materials, energy, and beyond. Backed by world-class investors and growing rapidly, we operate at the pace the frontier requires. Our team brings deep expertise, genuine ownership, and an insatiable drive to push the boundaries of what’s scientifically possible.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

Periodic Labs is seeking a hands-on, detail-oriented Lab Technician to support the daily operations of our high-throughput materials experimentation facility. You’ll work directly alongside our scientists and engineers to keep the lab running at the pace our science demands — performing calibrations, executing QC protocols, supporting method development, and helping build the SOPs and systems that make rigorous, reproducible research possible.

This role is for someone with a science or engineering background who enjoys working with instruments, takes pride in precision and consistency, and is always looking for ways to make workflows faster and more reliable. You’re equally comfortable performing careful manual tasks and thinking critically about how to automate or optimize them over time.

## WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Perform regular calibration and verification of instruments and sensors, maintaining accurate records and flagging drift or anomalies
- Execute and continuously refine QC workflows to ensure data integrity across experimental runs
- Perform and optimize manual material handling and preparation steps — including weighing, labeling, packaging, and batch preparation — with an eye toward efficiency and automation
- Assist with inventory tracking, chemical management, and lab organization; keep shared spaces clean, stocked, and functional
- Collaborate with scientists and engineers to develop, document, and iterate on SOPs for routine lab procedures
- Identify inefficiencies in manual workflows and proactively propose or implement improvements
- Support the onboarding and training of new technicians on lab best practices, equipment operation, and safety protocols
- Assist with the development of QC and metrology protocols for new processes and instruments as our capabilities expand
- Participate in test runs and validation of new labware, equipment, or experimental methods
- Troubleshoot equipment and process anomalies; escalate appropriately and document findings clearly

YOU WILL THRIVE IN THIS ROLE IF YOU HAVE

- A bachelor’s degree in chemistry, materials science, mechanical or chemical engineering, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience in a technical lab setting
- A demonstrated ability to follow detailed SOPs with precision and maintain high standards of consistency and cleanliness
- Comfort performing physical, repetitive tasks carefully — and the motivation to make them more efficient over time
- Technical curiosity and eagerness to learn how to operate, maintain, and improve complex equipment
- A no-task-too-small attitude: moving materials, cleaning tools, and prepping batches are part of the daily rhythm and you do them with care
- Strong written and verbal communication — you document clearly, flag problems early, and collaborate well across technical and non-technical teammates
- Comfort with basic software tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, or lab inventory systems

## ESPECIALLY STRONG CANDIDATES MAY ALSO HAVE

- Experience in a robotics-integrated lab, pilot plant, or high-throughput R&D environment
- Familiarity with LIMS, LES, MES, SCADA, or other lab data and process control systems
- Prior work in cleanroom, semiconductor, battery, or analytical chemistry settings
- Experience with powered machinery and tools such as pallet jacks, impact wrenches, or similar equipment
- Background in one or more characterization techniques — XRD, SEM/EDS, TGA/DSC, BET, or metrology tools

## MECHANICS

- Minimum education: Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and training or experience
- Location: Our lab is located in Menlo Park
- Compensation: The annual compensation range for this role - $100,000-$130,000

We’re building a team of the world’s best — the scientists, engineers, and problem-solvers who don’t just follow the frontier, they define it. If you’re driven to bring AI to life in the physical world and make discoveries that have never been made before, you belong here.

## About Periodic Labs

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Periodic Labs is building AI scientists and autonomous laboratories to accelerate scientific discovery in the physical sciences, starting with materials design and semiconductor research.
- **Entity Type**: Private (seed-stage, $300M total funding raised in 2025)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (primary) and Menlo Park, California, USA (dual locations) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Founded**: 2025 [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Founders**: Ekin Dogus Cubuk (Co-Founder) and other undisclosed founding team members with backgrounds at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs), [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Physical sciences R&D, artificial intelligence, autonomous laboratory systems
- **Target customers**: B2B – enterprises in semiconductor manufacturing, materials science, energy, and other deep-tech sectors requiring experimental research
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Our goal is to create an AI scientist” that can autonomously hypothesize, run experiments, and learn from results to discover new materials and accelerate technological progress [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Products & Services
- **AI Scientist**: A suite of AI models trained to generate hypotheses, design experiments, and interpret results across physical science domains.
- **Autonomous Laboratories**: Fully automated, high-throughput experimental platforms that produce large volumes of high-quality data (including negative results) to train AI models. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **Custom Agents for Industry**: Tailored AI agents for engineers and researchers, e.g., helping a semiconductor manufacturer analyze heat dissipation data to accelerate iteration. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private seed-stage company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $300M in a single seed round (2025) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: a16z, Felicis, DST, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Accel, Emerson Collective, Fellows Fund, Coatue; individual backers include Jeff Bezos, Elad Gil, Eric Schmidt, Jeff Dean. Also collaborating with academic advisors from Stanford, Northwestern, and more. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/), [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Growth Signals**: 40 employees as of mid-2026, with monthly headcount growth of +19.6% and 25 active job postings (+47.1% quarterly growth) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary data generation**: Autonomous labs produce massive, unique datasets (including valuable negative results) that do not exist in public literature, creating a data moat.
- **Founding team pedigree**: Core team co-created ChatGPT, DeepMind’s GNoME, OpenAI’s Operator (Agent), MatterGen, and scaled autonomous physics labs – rare concentration of AI + science talent. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **End-to-end integration**: AI models, simulation, and physical experimentation are all in-house, enabling rapid closed-loop learning.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale autonomous labs**: Expand capacity to generate experimental data across multiple physical science domains.
- **Target high-impact problems**: Superconductor discovery, semiconductor heat dissipation, and other materials challenges that can unlock Moore’s Law, advanced energy grids, and space travel. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **Develop the first generation of AI scientists**: Train models that can operate independently of human input across the entire scientific method.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “From bits to atoms” – a deep-tech startup blending frontier AI with hands-on lab work. Emphasis on rapid iteration and real-world impact.
- **Work policy**: In-office preferred; primary offices in Menlo Park and San Francisco, CA. Most roles are on-site. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Notable perks**: Work alongside world-class AI researchers and experimental scientists; access to cutting-edge automated lab equipment; early-stage equity and high-growth trajectory.
- **Engineering culture**: 34% of employees are in technical roles; talent sourced from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, xAI, and Stanford – strong peer learning environment. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)

## Sources
1. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
2. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/periodic-labs)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs)

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