What We're Building

At Medra, our mission is to accelerate biology research by making lab automation accessible to every scientist. Our robotic system relieves scientists from repetitive wet lab tasks so they can focus on making groundbreaking scientific discoveries. By combining recent advances in robotics with state-of-the-art computer vision, Medra is developing technology that can perform protocols to the highest quality standards and be quickly deployed to new tasks.

Every person has thought to themselves “If only we could solve this faster.” Ever more often, we’ve been impacted by environmental and medical shifts where the speed of research has directly impacted the wellbeing of our communities. Medra is here to meet that wish- we can make research faster, and we’re already doing it.

The Team

You’ll be joining a growing team who are applying their extensive professional and academic experience to Medra’s mission: how do we give scientists better tools, so that they can solve the world’s problems? Since deploying our first system and raising a seed round from incredible investors, Medra is now focused on growing our team so we can meet demand.

An extension of our team are our clients- amazing folks we partner with who are hoping to cure the incurable and solve the unsolvable problems in the world. Folks who are trusting Medra to help them complete their mission faster than they thought possible.

Why Join Medra Now?

Medra has already met part of its goal: we’ve brought scientists an initial taste of accessible lab automation. Since we’ve raised a seed round of funding, you’ll be joining us in the race against ourselves- how many labs can we bring our solution to, and how can we do it faster and better every time?

What you will do

• Develop robotic solutions to manipulate and control biology tools designed for humans

• Develop and implement motion planning algorithms to avoid collisions in a complex and dynamic environment

• Use computer vision to work with consumables and equipment that humans use

• Integrate, test, and debug software solutions in simulation and on physical robots

• Work with partner scientists at customer labs to understand their painful processes, ideate on creative solutions, decompose into individual projects, and guide implementation and deployment

• Besides your focus on robustness and performance, you’ll be expected to identify opportunities for simplification, and to design for scalability

Requirements

• This position is 100% in-person, you must be able to come on-site to our San Francisco office. We do offer relocation benefits for applicants that need to relocate.

• Experience designing and building robotic control systems

• Experience or familiarity with robot arm manipulators

• Proficient in C++ or Python

• Relevant research/work experience in one or more of the following areas: machine learning, computer vision, motion planning and trajectory optimization, kinematics and dynamics, control, and state estimation/SLAM

• Experience with software engineering tools and best practices in production

• A hacker’s mindset - getting quickly to a good-enough solution

• A willingness to wear many hats / a flexible attitude towards responsibilities and scope

Nice to haves

• Experience with robotic simulation systems such as PyBullet or MuJoCo

• Experience with robotics in a laboratory or manufacturing environment

• Familiarity with mechanical design tools and methodology (Solidworks, etc.)

• Understanding of software communication protocols (ZMQ, Redis, gRPC, etc…)

• Contribution to software for a hardware product that shipped

What we offer

• 401k matching

• Medical insurance

• Dental Insurance

• Relocation benefits

• Unlimited PTO

• Weekday dinners

Medra is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies. We value diversity at Medra and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!