Staff/ Senior/ Principal Systems Engineer - R&D

<div class="bb-jobs-posting__content"> <div class="bb-rich-text-editor__content ptor-job-view-description public-job-description"> <p><strong>About Us:</strong></p> <p>Culture’s mission is to simplify and accelerate bioprocess development to enable our customers to bring their biopharmaceutical products to market faster.</p> <p>With a focus on upstream cell culture process development, Culture has developed a unique platform that merges products, services and data management that can be applied to mammalian, microbial and viral vector production processes. This platform enables high-throughput process development projects to be rapidly and seamlessly executed directly by our customers in their own facilities, in our service laboratories, or both, all driven by our cloud-connected web application, accessible from anywhere, for designing, managing and analyzing experiments.</p> <p>At Culture, we combine our passions for biomanufacturing, engineering, and operations to build new solutions that make bioprocess development faster. We value curiosity, communication, collaboration, a customer focused mindset and a drive for results.</p> <h3><strong>The Opportunity:&nbsp;</strong></h3> <p>Culture Biosciences is looking for a Staff/ Senior Staff/ Principal Systems Engineer in R&amp;D as the technical authority for end-to-end system design and integration of complex, cross-disciplinary platforms. The candidate will translate Business Needs into R&amp;D objectives and system architectures.&nbsp; They define interfaces and requirements, and lead integration and verification strategy from prototype through pre-production readiness. This role resolves the hardest technical tradeoffs, drives technical alignment across teams, and raises the organization’s systems engineering bar through mentorship and standards.&nbsp; The candidate must have a strong and experienced background in Bioprocessing, Bioreactor design, and applications and have a breadth of understanding of Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Embedded, and Software).</p> <p><strong>What You’ll Do:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Requirements &amp; interface leadership: Establish User Needs, System Requirements, and traceability to verification and validation (clear, testable, version-controlled).</li> <li>System architecture ownership: Define the end-to-end architecture, subsystem boundaries, and interfaces across mechanical, electrical, firmware/software, controls, and test.</li> <li>Integration strategy: Build the integration plan (bring-up sequencing, dependency mapping, integration test strategy) and lead cross-functional execution through integration milestones.</li> <li>Technical tradeoff studies: Lead tradeoffs of performance, reliability, safety, cost, manufacturability, and document decisions, assumptions, and risks.</li> <li>Verification strategy in R&amp;D: Define verification intent early (what “works” means), build coverage plans, and ensure prototypes generate evidence—not just demos.</li> <li>Validation strategy for end use: Assist with Validation development and help establish plans that relate to User Needs.&nbsp; Interface with Application teams and Early Adopters in validating their workflows.</li> <li>Complex debugging &amp; Root Cause Analysis: Drive root-cause across subsystems; implement corrective actions and regression prevention (design changes, test additions, process updates).</li> <li>Design review leadership: Lead system-level design reviews and readiness gates around architecture, integration readiness and verification readiness.</li> <li>Standards &amp; mentorship: Create templates/best practices and mentor other systems engineers and tech leads.</li> <li>Partner with operations early: Influence DFM/DFT and serviceability decisions early enough to avoid late redesign.&nbsp; Assist with production test plans and production workflows.</li> <li>Vendor management: Work directly with vendors to drive technology, understand design needs, and verify 3rd party integrated technology.</li> <li>Partner with Commercial/Sales: Stay abreast of competitive technologies, Win/Loss reports and overall customer needs to help define future developments for the business.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Education and Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Advanced degree (Masters or PhD preferred) in Bioengineering, Chemistry, Biology, or a related field.</li> <li>15+ years of Industry experience with 10+ years in the biopharma, biotech, or life science field.</li> <li>Significant experience architecting and integrating complex R&amp;D systems (multi-disciplinary: hardware + software/controls + test).</li> <li>Strong track record of leading cross-functional technical decisions and delivering integrated prototypes that meet defined acceptance criteria.</li> <li>Expert ability to write concise system requirements and define interfaces that reduce integration churn.</li> <li>Deep hands-on troubleshooting capability in lab environments with instrumentation, data-driven debugging, and structured RCA.</li> <li>Broad experience with software, writing scripts (Python) and using CAD tools to evaluate mechanical and electrical designs.</li> <li>Involved or leading multiple products and design releases to Manufacturing using both internal and external Contract Manufacturers.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience with ambiguity-heavy programs: rapid prototyping, evolving requirements, and parallel exploration.</li> <li>Comfort with requirements/configuration discipline without over-bureaucratizing early-stage R&amp;D.</li> <li>You’re excited to work in a small, cross-functional team in a fast-paced environment; rolling up your sleeves and doing whatever it takes to get the job done.</li> <li>You consider your ability to organize and plan as one of your greatest strengths.</li> <li>You have strong analytical skills with the ability to create data-driven technical solutions and proposals.</li> <li>You are an excellent communicator, self-motivating, work well independently and with others, and have strong emotional intelligence.</li> <li>You’re an adept collaborator and able to build relationships with external and internal stakeholders that enable productive relationships.</li> </ul> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Location &amp; Schedule:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>This position based in our office located in South San Francisco and is required to be onsite 5 days a week.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>Base Salary Range</strong>:</p> <ul> <li>Culture Biosciences's compensation package includes market competitive salary, equity for all full time roles, and great benefits. Our expected base salary range for this role is: $165,000 to 260,000. We are hiring for multiple levels and backgrounds so final offers may vary within the range provided based on experience, expertise, and other factors.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Benefits</strong>:</p> <ul> <li>Competitive salary and equity compensation</li> <li>Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance</li> <li>Medical and Dependent Care FSA (prorated based on start-date)</li> <li>401(k) plan with company match</li> <li>Responsible Time Off (non-accrual based) policy, 11 paid company holidays and a week-long winter break</li> <li>12 weeks of parental leave at full salary</li> </ul> <p>Culture Biosciences provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. We seek to build a company that promotes inclusion and expands the diversity of our industry as a whole. We encourage people with identities underrepresented in biotech and technology to apply.</p> </div> </div>