Senior Systems Engineer (Factory Automation)

About us

Vow is a cultured meat company on a mission to feed billions and create food that’s good for your tastebuds, your health and your planet.

We’re bringing together cutting edge innovations in science, engineering, culinary and design to create new meats that meat lovers can choose selfishly because it’s nutritious and delicious, and we’re doing so in a sustainable way.

The role:

As a Senior Systems Engineer, you'll design, build, and integrate intelligent hardware-software systems that automate mission-critical manufacturing workflows, quickly bringing low-cost cultured meat to market. You'll lead the creation of real-time, software-defined automation solutions that intelligently orchestrate bioreactors, centrifuges, CIP stations, and media mixers. Your work will eliminate bottlenecks, streamline processes, and accelerate production. Additionally, you'll contribute strategically to the long-term vision of our in-house manufacturing platform and incrementally deliver its key components.

Outstanding candidates draw on an array of engineering skills and principles, operate from first principles, thrive in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments, enthusiastically embrace new skills and ways of thinking, and can work effectively with team members from diverse, multidisciplinary backgrounds to deliver great outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in a relevant technical or engineering discipline (Electrical, Systems, Computer Science, or related)
• 3+ years experience designing & deploying controls systems. 5+ years professional experience

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Experience integrating hardware with software-based systems, bonus if you have experience with industrial communication protocols (e.g., Modbus, OPC-UA, MQTT, IO Link, EtherNet/IP).
• Comfort and willingness to write production-grade software (especially Python in Linux environments). This is not a pure software engineering role, but writing clear, maintainable code is essential.
• Experience with industrial automation - experience with more traditional OT stacks is welcome, assuming some proficiency in software development.
• Familiarity with modern software practices (version control, CI/CD, automated testing) in Unix environments.
• Solid understanding of mechanical and electrical principles relevant to automated equipment.

Soft skills that will make someone successful:

• Strong work ethic and ability to operate in a dynamic, fast paced environment.
• Interest and ability for first principles problem solving, identifying optimal solutions in an industry with few precedents.
• Genuine interest in developing highly automated manufacturing systems and AI enabled manufacturing.
• Strong user and stakeholder focus - you actively seek feedback and consider the end-user impact in every decision.
• High ownership mindset; ability to identify and execute on opportunities that ladder up to to outcomes supporting company goals
• Decision-making skills that balance perfection with pragmatism, focusing on cost-effective and impactful solutions.

Bonus if you have:

• Knowledge of multi-system orchestration challenges in bioprocessing, pharma, food production, or highly automated manufacturing.
• Experience driving architectural decisions in environments that blend physical hardware with software-defined control, including setting standards for software placement and device orchestration.
• Exposure to contemporary operational technology (OT) or software first industrial control stacks, including approaches to continuous integration & deployment to field devices.

Additional Requirements

• This is a full time on-site position at our facility in Alexandria

You will:

• Design and implement distributed control systems that intelligently orchestrate bioreactors, centrifuges, CIP stations, and media mixers, ensuring seamless multi-device integration and coordination
• Develop and deploy software-defined automation with modern real-time Linux-based Python systems
• You will lead technical projects, mentor junior engineers, and provide guidance on key engineering decisions
• Develop and deploy control systems for our bioreactors, balancing hardware, software and process constraints for optimal business outcomes
• Define hardware/software boundaries and strategy, determining where software should run (field, cloud, or hybrid) to maximize system efficiency and reliability
• Develop, test and debug low level communication interfaces & system drivers
• Develop monitoring, alerting and alarm systems to ensure high reliability manufacturing processes & easy troubleshooting
• Work to expose interfaces for artificial intelligence based systems to automatically troubleshoot and remediate low risk deviations.
• Work with mechanical and process teams to design & implement factory automation systems which are cost effective, have a short time to value, and fit in with a longer term technical strategy
• Mentor junior engineers and serve as a technical leader on the Software and Automation team
• Contribute to & develop robust integration frameworks that channel real-time operational data and key performance metrics from our automation systems into enterprise-level monitoring platforms (ERPs, MES), ensuring strategic insights drive business decisions 
• This role provides significant growth potential toward technical leadership, systems architecture, or engineering management as Vow expands

What success looks like:

Within 3 months, you will:

• Fully understand Vow's approach to cultured meat production, including the current systems and processes in place.  Understand Vow’s mission, values, and milestones we need to overcome as we move to a highly automated manufacturing process.
• Make your first contributions to our existing automation systems through improvements or new features with quantifiable improvements manufacturing efficiency, cost reduction, and product quality, directly attributable to your work.

Within 6 months, you will:

• Work with other engineers to deploy the first iteration of our multi-device automation effort, significantly improving efficiency and safety through long running complex automation workflows.
• Work closely with manufacturing teams to develop deep insights into manufacturing workflows, users, critical processes, and key metrics that drive Vow’s scaling efforts.
• Begin to identify independent project ideas or proposals which will bring Vow closer to its goals and lead the process to get these off the ground

Within 12 months, you will:

• Begin to own the technical roadmap & strategy for our factory control system architecture. You will be turned to for big challenges like deploying our system in new factories at the scale required to feed millions of people.
• Expand Vow's automation capabilities and explore new opportunities to open up new avenues for cultured meat production and distribution.

Who we are and why join:

• We are building a diverse, mission-led dream team of “Vowzers.” Our mission is to make food products for everyone. To do that well we need a workforce that’s representative of the people we serve. We celebrate multiple approaches and points of view - so we’re building a culture to match. Be yourself and come as you are.
• Work on cutting-edge technology. We’re bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineering, and food, to recreate the world’s most tantalising and unique culinary experiences. All without compromising on ethics or our planet along the way. Since our inception in 2019, we have held the title of being the first startup to cultivate meat from the cells of an undomesticated animal, been called The Spaceship of the cultured meat industry by Forbes and launched our first product under the brand Forged in some of the hottest restaurants in Singapore. 
• Work with and learn from the best. Our team includes some of the world’s top scientists, innovators, operators, and creatives with decades of industry experience. Despite our experiences though, we all strive to build, break, learn, and repeat. We see the impossible as temporary and strive to learn and support our company and fellow Vowzers' growth as much as possible.
• We’re fully funded and ready to go. We are a growing Aussie biotech start-up backed by Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Grok Ventures, Tenacious Ventures, P7 Ventures, Toyota Ventures, and PeakBridge VC.

Vow perks and benefits:

• Everyone is an owner. In addition to competitive base salaries, each and every ‘Vowzer’ owns equity in the company so we can all benefit from our hard work and future success.
• Generous paid parental leave. We offer 8 weeks of paid caregiver leave and an additional 8 weeks paid leave for the birth giver.
• Generous relocation budget & support. Support for interstate or overseas team members and their families.
• Unlimited personal leave. At Vow we recognise that sometimes sh*t happens. We don’t want you to stress about work when you need to deal with an emergency or are struggling with something truly difficult. We offer unlimited personal leave to empower you to truly bring your best self to work every single day.
• Heaps of tasty samples from our culinary centre. Our fantastic "food inventors" on the Vow team are always cooking up new product prototypes, and all Vowzers are given the opportunity to taste, give feedback, and learn from their culinary prowess.
• An awesome converted warehouse “campus” in Alexandria. Complete with a glass-walled lab, 2 factories, shower and towel service, bike rack, free snacks, a culinary centre and plenty of collaboration and chill zones. 
• Human and dog friendly office! An inclusive community and culture, in a welcoming office, complete with friendly “Vowzer” dogs!
• A variety of social clubs. We encourage all our Vowzers to build the culture with us and share what you love by creating social clubs across the business. From book clubs to hiking groups, we’re always looking for ways to learn and engage with our team.