Engineer II / Senior Mechanical Engineer, Sustaining Engineering

Your Impact at LILA

Lila is seeking a Mechanical Engineer II/Senior Engineer on our Sustaining Engineering team to improve the reliability, uptime, and lifecycle performance of deployed bench-scale robotics and mechanical systems. This role focuses on sustaining and improving fielded robotic workcells rather than greenfield design, with ownership across troubleshooting, root cause analysis, preventive maintenance, design fixes, and targeted reliability improvements.

You will support mechanical systems used across life science and physical science automation, partnering closely with hardware, controls, software, lab operations, and scientific teams. The role requires strong mechanical engineering fundamentals, practical problem-solving under operational pressure, and the ability to translate recurring field issues into durable design and process improvements.

This role owns rapid issue resolution and targeted design improvements that keep deployed systems reliable as Lila scales.

What You'll Be Building

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and improve deployed bench-scale robotics and mechanical systems used in scientific automation workflows.
• Diagnose failures across pneumatic, electromechanical, optical, and mechanical subsystems, then implement durable corrective actions.
• Use SolidWorks CAD and analysis to design replacement parts, retrofits, fixtures, and reliability improvements.
• Create and validate prototypes, spares, and design fixes using 3D printing, laser cutting, and other rapid fabrication methods.
• Perform structured root cause analysis using methods such as 5 Whys and fishbone diagrams.
• Manage engineering changes through ECO/ECM, PDM/PLM, and requirements management systems.
• Plan preventive maintenance, manage component obsolescence, and recommend upgrades as systems mature.
• Track reliability metrics such as uptime, MTBF, MTTR, and recurring fault rates to guide improvement priorities.
• Maintain design documentation, runbooks, technical specifications, and lessons learned from field issues.
• Coordinate with external vendors on spares, custom components, and system integration needs.
• Partner cross-functionally to keep mechanical designs aligned with software, controls, safety, quality, and scientific workflow requirements.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Experience in mechanical engineering, robotics, laboratory automation, or a related technical field.
• Bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or equivalent practical experience in mechanical engineering, robotics, or a related discipline.
• Strong SolidWorks CAD skills, including practical experience with GD&T and DFMA.
• Experience troubleshooting mechanical systems under operational pressure, including issues that span mechanical, electrical, and controls interfaces.
• Working knowledge of RCA, FMEA, CAPA, or related reliability and quality improvement methods.
• Experience with requirement management, product lifecycle management, or product data management systems.
• Ability to support deployed systems, document technical decisions, and mentor others on maintainable mechanical design.

Bonus Points For

• Experience sustaining automated systems in life science, physical science, biotech, manufacturing, or other complex technical environments.
• Experience with PDM Vault management, rapid prototyping, mechanical testing, and field reliability workflows.
• Knowledge of motion control, mechatronic systems, robotic integration, or discrete material movement.
• Experience supporting production ramp, process optimization, or fielded product reliability in automotive, battery, semiconductor, packaging, or similar environments.
• Strong attention to detail in documentation, standards adherence, equipment management, and controlled change processes.