---
title: 'Systems Integration Engineer at Pilgrim'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/systems-integration-engineer-pilgrim-redwood-city-ya39bvqezt3q'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-14'
---

# Systems Integration Engineer at Pilgrim

- **Company:** Pilgrim
- **Location:** Redwood City, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pilgrim/28f26f84-ae60-4e09-b28c-11b27b8845fe

## Job description

About Pilgrim: Pilgrim is building America’s biology prime - engineering, manufacturing, and deploying advanced biotechnology for defense and national security. Our primary platform, ARGUS, is a fully autonomous system for detecting biological threats in near real time, from naturally occurring pathogens to engineered agents. We engineer hardware for biology, turning breakthrough science into fielded capabilities. Based in Redwood City, our team brings together mechanical and electrical engineering, chemistry, and biology under one roof to deliver critical technologies to the people who need them. About the Role: As a Systems Integration Engineer/Scientist at Pilgrim, you’ll turn biological methods into automated workflows on ARGUS. You’ll adapt sample preparation, reagent handling, qPCR, and sequencing preparation to the system, troubleshooting failures across biology, fluidics, and controls. Working with scientists and engineers, you will translate scientific advances into integrated systems that perform reliably in the real world. Responsibilities:

- Adapt sample preparation, reagent handling, qPCR, and sequencing preparation methods to automated workflows on ARGUS.
- Define operating requirements for those workflows, including sample and reagent volumes, timing, temperature, and contamination control.
- Establish bench baselines and compare automated performance using recovery, inhibition, sequencing quality, and processing time.
- Design and run integration tests from individual fluidic and instrument subsystems through complete sample-to-result workflows.
- Isolate failures across biology, fluidics, sensing, controls, and instrument software; verify causes and fixes experimentally.
- Test workflow repeatability across operating conditions and verify performance after changes to hardware, software, reagents, or protocols.
- Maintain test plans, run records, protocol versions, and instrument configurations so failures can be reproduced and fixes tracked.

Qualifications:

- Strong foundation in bioengineering, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related field. MS or PhD is a plus, not required.
- Experience adapting laboratory protocols to automated instruments, liquid handlers, or custom hardware.
- Ability to troubleshoot biological workflows and instrumentation using assay results, sensor readings, instrument logs, and bench measurements.
- Experience designing comparisons between bench and instrument performance, selecting controls, and setting measurable acceptance criteria.

Preferred:

- Experience with laboratory automation, liquid handling, microfluidics, cartridge-based systems, or development and testing of scientific instruments.

Pilgrim is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Certain positions require access to export-controlled information and are limited to U.S. Persons as defined by applicable export control regulations.

## About Pilgrim

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Pilgrim develops, validates, and deploys battlefield-ready biotechnology solutions to enhance the resilience and capabilities of military personnel.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: Redwood City, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Not publicly disclosed (company was started by a 21-year-old founder, per Business Insider, but name not listed in available sources)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Defense and Space Manufacturing / Military Biotechnology
- Target customers: U.S. Department of Defense, allied militaries, and national security agencies (B2G)
- Mission: "Where biology meets the battlefield" — building the warfighter of tomorrow by transforming breakthrough science into decisive capabilities for those who operate at the edge.

## Products & Services
- **[Kingsfoil](https://pilgrimlabs.com/)**: A hemostatic dressing that seals wounds and promotes healing – designed for battlefield and civilian use. (Medical device)
- **[Voyager](https://pilgrimlabs.com/)**: An inhaled mist intended to neutralize chemical threats, protecting warfighters from chemical warfare agents. (Biotechnology product)
- **[ARGUS](https://pilgrimlabs.com/)**: A surveillance platform for detecting biological and chemical hazards in high-risk environments. (Monitoring / detection system)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$7.55 million**, including a $4.3 million Seed round (March 2025) and a $3.2 million Pre-Seed round (March 2025), plus an earlier Angel round (November 2023)
- **Notable Investors**: Cantos (Seed lead), Thiel Capital, Refactor, and others
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew 50% year-over-year (from ~2 to 4 employees as of mid-2025)
  - 8 open positions posted on hiring platforms, indicating aggressive expansion
  - Featured in Business Insider (Aug 2025) for founder’s high-risk demonstration to secure funding

## Competitive Advantages
- First-mover focusing purely on **battlefield-ready biotechnology** for human performance and protection
- **Backed by prominent defense/tech investors** (Peter Thiel, Cantos, Refactor) lending credibility and network
- **Small, agile team** enables rapid prototyping and deployment of novel solutions
- Product pipeline addresses urgent, unmet needs (hemostatic control, chemical neutralization, bio-threat detection)

## Strategic Focus
- Move from concept to field-deployable products: Kingsfoil, Voyager, and ARGUS are in validation and testing phases
- Scale manufacturing and expand government contracts
- Continue building a talent-dense engineering and biotech team
- Extend dual-use applications (military and civilian emergency medicine)

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven culture** with direct impact on national security and warfighter survivability
- **Small, early-stage company** (currently 4 employees) offering outsized responsibility and the chance to shape product direction
- **In-office presence** in Redwood City, CA; some hybrid roles available (e.g., Biomedical Engineer on Built In)
- **Recent funding** provides runway and signals investor confidence
- **Exciting technical challenges** spanning electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and industrial design – as seen in open roles

## Sources
1. [pilgrimlabs.com](https://pilgrimlabs.com/)
2. [LinkedIn – Pilgrim](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pilgrimlabs)
3. [Built In – Pilgrim](https://builtin.com/company/pilgrim)
4. [VentureRadar – Pilgrim, Inc.](https://www.ventureradar.com/organisation/Pilgrim,%20Inc_%5Bdot%5D_/f199410e-2af6-4f52-af75-4125b4970d99)
5. [Black Flag Job Board – Pilgrim](https://www.blackflag.vc/hiring/pilgrim)

## Other roles at Pilgrim

- [Research Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/research-associate-pilgrim-redwood-city-zdbrbxs4n9hj) — Redwood City, CA
- [Molecular Biologist](https://feeny.ai/job/molecular-biologist-pilgrim-redwood-city-1hvbws4y67cy) — Redwood City, CA
- [Bioinformatics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/bioinformatics-engineer-pilgrim-redwood-city-e9pp1ha1812b) — Redwood City, CA
- [Pathfinder](https://feeny.ai/job/pathfinder-pilgrim-redwood-city-9ynd0mh2qcmq) — Redwood City, CA / Washington, DC
- [Head of Talent](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-talent-pilgrim-redwood-city-147z2t8vaqgy) — Redwood City, CA
- [Supply Chain Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-manager-pilgrim-redwood-city-80yrw79n5229) — Redwood City, CA
- [Executive Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-pilgrim-redwood-city-pb2r1zb1r95j) — Redwood City, CA
- [Government Relations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/government-relations-lead-pilgrim-washington-mnh9nm8c97aw) — Washington, DC
- [Government Ops Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/government-ops-lead-pilgrim-redwood-city-hwv8wv33p07q) — Redwood City, CA / Washington, DC
- [Facilities Director](https://feeny.ai/job/facilities-director-pilgrim-redwood-city-ampmfgxsxhf2) — Redwood City, CA