Engineering Director Artificial Intelligence Jobs

Job Title: Director of AI

Department: Software 

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Reports to: VP of Engineering

Direct Reports: Yes

Location:  Onsite at Innolabs - Long Island City, NY 
*Must reside in a commutable distance to NYC

About Us
Opentrons Labworks, Inc. is a disruptive life science company leveraging its integrated lab platform to supercharge the pace of innovation in research and healthcare. Through Opentrons Robotics, thousands of institutions are automating lab operations with flexible, easy-to-use liquid handling lab robots. With our own cutting-edge R&D team, biopharma and biotech at large can also benefit from our world-class genome-scale cell engineering solutions.

If you are looking for your next great role, come join us! We provide excellent benefits, competitive compensation, equity packages, and opportunities for growth. Learn more on our Careers Website.

About the Role

We are seeking a Director of AI to lead the next phase of OpentronsAI strategy and platform capabilities. This role will focus on advancing AI-powered experiences across our robotics and software ecosystem, with particular emphasis on generative AI, intelligent workflow design, and production-grade AI systems for laboratory automation.

The role operates at the intersection of AI research, product strategy, and engineering execution, translating emerging AI capabilities into reliable tools used by scientists in real-world laboratory environments. This is a highly cross-functional role centered on technical vision, roadmap development, hands-on collaboration, and long-term platform strategy. The right candidate will not only set the direction but also expect to roll up their sleeves and execute work personally.

The Director of AI will report into the VP of Engineering. 

What You Would Do

Lead AI Product & Platform Strategy:

●        Define and execute Opentrons’ AI roadmap in partnership with software, product management, and engineering leadership

●        Drive the evolution of AI-powered workflow and protocol generation capabilities across the Opentrons platform

●        Balance near-term product delivery with longer-term research and platform investments

●        Identify opportunities to apply generative AI, ML infrastructure, and intelligent automation to improve the scientist experience

Build Production-Grade AI Systems:

●        Lead development of reliable, scalable AI systems that translate natural language inputs into validated laboratory workflows and protocols

●        Establish best practices for evaluation, validation, trust, and performance of AI systems in production environments

●        Partner closely with engineering teams to operationalize AI capabilities across software and robotics products

●        Help shape the technical architecture and infrastructure required to support future AI initiatives

Drive External Innovation & Thought Leadership:

●        Build strategic relationships with academic institutions, industry partners, and the broader AI ecosystem

●        Support collaborative research, technical partnerships, and recruiting pipelines for top AI talent

●        Represent Opentrons externally through conferences, publications, panels, and industry engagement

●        Help position Opentrons as a leader in AI-enabled laboratory automation and intelligent scientific systems

Management

●        Lead & work with a small team of engineers and developers to build Opentrons’ AI- and ML-based product portfolio

●        Structure processes and interaction models with other departments and stakeholders

●        Build and expand the team as needed and funded by company goals

• • Potential expansion into AI driven cyberphysical system

  • Experience building Physical AI team

Who We Are Looking For

Experience:

●        Proven professional experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or applied research and engineering environments

●        Experience designing AI systems with a strong focus on reliability, validation, usability, and operational performance

●        Proven track record of delivering AI-powered products from concept through production deployment and ongoing iteration

●        Experience working across multidisciplinary organizations spanning software, hardware, and product development

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

●        Strong expertise in generative AI, foundation models, and modern AI/ML infrastructure

●        Deep familiarity with Python-based AI development ecosystems and production AI workflows

●        Ability to define technical strategy and execute effectively in fast-moving, resource-constrained environments

●        Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to varied audiences

●        Comfortable operating as both a strategic leader and hands-on technical contributor

Nice to Have:

●        Experience within life sciences, laboratory automation, robotics, or scientific software platforms