Senior Instrument Control Software Engineer – Python / Robotics / Hardware Integration
Location: San Carlos, CA – Onsite
Role Overview
We are seeking a Senior Instrument Control Software Engineer with strong hands-on experience in Python, hardware integration, robotics, and scientific/industrial instrumentation.
You will work on a sophisticated Python-based instrument-control platform integrating robotic motion systems, microfluidics, cameras, sensors, telemetry, custom electronics, firmware, and scientific workflows.
This is a highly hands-on role focused on system integration, debugging, reliability, and troubleshooting across software and physical hardware systems.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain, debug, and enhance Python-based instrument-control software.
- Integrate software with hardware devices, embedded controllers, firmware, and device APIs.
- Debug complex cross-system issues involving robotics, motion control, sensors, imaging, microfluidics, and electronics.
- Analyze logs, telemetry, device states, and system behavior to identify root causes.
- Troubleshoot intermittent and difficult-to-reproduce hardware/software failures.
- Implement robust error handling, recovery, observability, and fault-management mechanisms.
- Work with real-time/streaming telemetry and event-driven systems.
- Support instrument integration, testing, and troubleshooting on physical hardware.
- Collaborate with software, firmware, electrical, mechanical, systems, and scientific engineering teams.
- Contribute to architecture, testing, documentation, and reliability improvements.
Required Qualifications
- 7+ years of software engineering experience with significant Python development.
- Advanced proficiency in Python and production software development.
- Strong Linux experience, including CLI debugging, processes, networking, logs, and device interaction.
- Hands-on experience integrating software with physical hardware or embedded systems.
- Experience coordinating or controlling multiple hardware components.
- Strong debugging skills across distributed and hardware-integrated systems.
- Experience with real-time or streaming telemetry.
- Strong understanding of asynchronoconcurrent and event-driven programming.
- Experience with firmware interfaces, device APIs, serial communication, or network-connected devices.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals including testing, Git/version control, code reviews, and maintainable architecture.
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Preferred Experience
- Scientific instrumentation, laboratory automation, robotics, medical devices, semiconductor equipment, industrial automation, or motion-control systems.
- Experience with motors, stages, actuators, motion controllers, or robotic positioning systems.
- Experience with cameras, sensors, machine vision, or imaging pipelines.
- Experience with Serial, USB, Ethernet, CAN, Modbus, or similar protocols.
- Experience with custom firmware, state machines, and device orchestration.
- Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing, simulation, or digital twins.
- Experience with telemetry, observability, logging, and failure analysis.
- Experience with AWS/cloud-connected instrumentation.
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