Back to jobs
tags.new

Head of Systems Engineering

San Diego, CA

We’re a well-funded start-up. You’ll get a chance to wear many hats, be a part of a growing team, and have the potential for exciting financial and career growth.

Here’s what sets us apart. We’ve set our sights on some of the biggest challenges facing biology today. We’re amassing a world class team of engineers, scientists, team builders and problem solvers to tackle these challenges heads-on. We’re passionate about developing the next generation technologies that will unravel the complexities of biology.

This is a unique opportunity to build, be part of an exciting start-up and be surrounded by good humans who are super capable, humble and down-to- earth.

We are seeking a hands-on leader for our Head of Systems Engineering to own the system architecture, technical budgets, and system-level verification and validation for the R3200 instrument platform, from current production configurations through the next generation architecture. This role reports to the SVP of Product Development and is a member of the Product Development leadership team. The person in this seat will define how the discipline operates, expands the team that runs it, and be accountable for whether our platforms meets their specifications and whether those specifications reflect what customers actually need.

Essential Duties include but are not limited to the following: 

  • Create and own system models, define technical budgets, and use these tools to guide system and sub-system architecture decisions and manage tradeoffs. 
  • Develop and implement system and subsystem level interfaces, test strategies and plans. 
  • Drive fundamental understanding of complex systems which bring together hardware, consumables, chemistry, complex assays, analysis, bioinformatics, and cell biology. 
  • Leverage insights of system fundamentals to improve performance, and to architect next generation systems. 
  • Own system-level verification and validation strategy, including protocol definition, execution oversight, and the supporting documentation that carries the platform through phase-gate reviews. 
  • Drive design transfer to manufacturing, partnering with Operations, suppliers, and contract manufacturers to move systems from prototype through pilot builds to volume production, including process capability and yield improvement. 
  • Partner with technical leaders and executive leadership to prioritize R&D initiatives and guide product roadmaps. 
  • Hold make versus buy authority for subsystem development. Select and manage external design houses and specialty suppliers. 
  • Define statements of work, technical acceptance criteria, and milestone structures for third party development. Approve or reject deliverable acceptance. 
  • Own the bill of materials cost target from the systems side and drive the cost reduction roadmap with Operations and Supply Chain through component consolidation, tolerance relaxation where the error budget allows, and design simplification. 
  • Own the system requirements architecture: the hierarchy from user needs through system, subsystem, and component requirements, with traceability maintained from each requirement to its verification evidence. 
  • Own system-level risk management: system FMEA, hazard analysis, and the traceable link from identified risk through mitigation and verification to residual risk acceptance. 
  • Establish design review cadence and standards, and enforce them across hardware, consumables, assay, software, and analysis contributions to the system. 
  • Define and publish the systems engineering metrics that feed PDP stage gate reviews: requirement stability over time, verification coverage and first-pass rate, open system-level issues by severity, and specification margin at design freeze. 
  • Set and own reliability targets (MTBF, uptime, mean time to repair) and the reliability growth plan to reach them: accelerated life testing, HALT and HASS where warranted, duty cycle definition, and wear-out characterization of consumable-contacting components. 
  • Own the system-level failure mode catalog. Drive root cause analysis and corrective action for field failures with Service and Quality, and close the loop back into design. 
  • Own the system-level control strategy that holds performance in specification across instruments, consumable lots, and time: calibration scheme, reference standards, drift monitoring, and the acceptance criteria for instrument release and periodic requalification. 
  • Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% of working time away from work location, including overnight/weekend, and/or international travel at time.  

Minimum Qualifications: 

  • Degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, or Optical), Bio-engineering, Physics, or Biophysics. 
  • Typically requires a minimum of 20 years of progressive experience in engineering, with 12+ years of leadership experience.
  • Proven history of key contributions to successful products from early stage to product launch and support of on-market products. 
  • Advanced project management and phase gate development understanding and capability. 
  • Working knowledge of quantitative design and process tools, including (p)FMEA, tolerance analysis, design of experiments (DoE), statistical process control (SPC), GR&R, and Cpk. 
  • Demonstrated experience developing requirements and specifications and architecting complex scientific systems. 
  • Strong communication skills and excellent attention to detail. 
  • Experience with scientific computing tools (e.g. Python, R, Matlab). 
  • Demonstrated ability to perform the Essential Duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodations. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

  • PhD preferred.
  • Familiarity with optical, electrical, mechanical, and fluidics design and corresponding software.
  • Familiarity with molecular biology or cell biology.
  • Experience working under a formal design control or quality management system (ISO 13485, IEC 62304, or FDA 21 CFR 820).
  • Significant experience managing third party development and contract manufacturers. 
  • Hands on experience with design software (SolidWorks, Zemax, OnShape, ePDM) is a plus.

The estimated base salary range for this position is $230,000 - $270,000/year. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors including job related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.  

What you can expect from us:

You’ll feel the energy when you walk in our door – we work hard, we have fun and we have ambitious plans to grow. Cellanome offers a comprehensive employment package that includes a competitive salary, generous stock options, great individual, and family health plans, a 401(k) and flexibility to balance work and life.

We embrace and celebrate the diversity of our employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, national origin, gender, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or parental status, disability, veteran status, or other class protected by applicable law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Cellanome? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Cellanome’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 07/31/2029

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.