Software Engineer III - Driver Developer (Autonomous Lab)
Software Engineer III at Ginkgo Bioworks builds and maintains Python/C#/.NET software drivers for the Catalyst stack that runs the company's robotic, autonomous biology labs. Day to day involves low-level hardware protocol work (RS-232, USB, TCP/IP), integration testing, hardware simulation, and Tier-2 field support, onsite in Boston.
- Compensation
- $112.2K–$159.6K / yr
- Location
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 2+ years
- Category
- Software engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- 2–4 years of professional software development experience focused on hardware integration, embedded systems, or driver development
- Extensive experience with Python
- Strong communication and collaboration skills
Nice to have
- Familiarity with laboratory automation, robotics, or scientific instrumentation
- Experience in a fast-moving, deep-tech company
- Experience or understanding of laboratory automation and lab automation user personas
- Strong understanding of OS fundamentals (threading, synchronization, memory management) and real-time constraints
- Excellent communication and ability to translate complex technical issues for non-software stakeholders
- Proficient with Git and experience with agile methodologies and CI/CD pipelines
- Advanced debugging of low-level code using protocol sniffers, logic analyzers, and remote debugging tools
- Experience with Windows, C#, COM
- Experience with OPC-UA, SiLA2
- Experience or background in a life science or chemistry laboratory
Full description
Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.
Job Description 1: Software Engineer III - Driver Developer (Autonomous Lab)
Team: Automation Systems Team
Location: Boston, MA
Hiring Manager: Yangdy Chen and Bradley Spillert
About the Role
We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Software Engineer III to join our core engineering team working on Catalyst, our software stack that runs our robotic lab systems. In this role, you will be responsible for the design, development, integration testing, and field support of software drivers for our cutting-edge autonomous labs.
The ideal candidate possesses a solid background in programming reliable physical or real-time systems. You excel at cross-functional collaboration, ensuring our drivers meet the exacting standards of the scientific community while providing rapid response to customer issues.
To learn more about automation engineering at Ginkgo, take a look at our website.
Responsibilities
This job requires occasional travel to Ginkgo's office in Boston, MA and customer sites as needed.
Driver Development & Implementation (70%)
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Design, implement, and maintain robust, high-performance software drivers using Python and/or C#/.NET for a diverse range of lab automation hardware (e.g., robotic arms, liquid handlers, plate readers).
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Deeply understand and implement various low-level hardware communication protocols, including RS-232, USB, and TCP/IP.
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Develop drivers with a focus on reliability.
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Contribute to the design of the device abstraction layer to create intuitive and robust interfaces for high-level application developers.
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Use and enable agentic software.
Integration & Validation (20%)
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Extensive testing with the rest of the Catalyst stack
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Collaborate closely with scientists and quality assurance teams to perform joint functional testing and validate driver performance against scientific requirements.
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Develop and maintain sophisticated automated unit and integration tests.
-Design and build hardware simulation environments to enable comprehensive driver testing and rapid iteration without relying on physical instrument access.