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Salary: USD 108,000 - 170,000 / annual
Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence to accelerate discovery across medicine, materials, and energy. As a Microfabrication Scientist on the Vacuum Synthesis team, you will be the primary hands-on contributor to fabricating prototype devices that probe and characterize novel materials. Your work directly supports Lila's materials science programs focused on predictive design of new material families and functional thin-film systems.
You will design and build prototype test structures and devices enabling rapid assessment of material properties. Development of fabrication process flows may include non-standard approaches that shape how the platform builds and interrogates new material systems. Experimental outputs feed directly into closed-loop discovery campaigns.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design and fabricate prototype devices and test structures for evaluating novel materials
- Develop, optimize, and troubleshoot thin-film deposition recipes across diverse material systems
- Execute cleanroom processes including lithography, wet/dry etching, and thin-film deposition
- Characterize films and devices using profilometry, ellipsometry, SEM, and electrical probing
- Integrate fabrication processes into automated and high-throughput workflows
- Translate experimental goals into manufacturable process steps with materials scientists and engineers
You will partner with materials scientists, device physicists, systems engineers, and machine learning scientists to develop and execute fabrication campaigns with high scientific rigor and velocity.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Physics, or closely related field; advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) preferred
- 5+ years of hands-on cleanroom experience in research, development, or manufacturing
- Deep expertise in thin-film deposition, including recipe development and troubleshooting
- Proficiency across photolithography, wet/dry etching, and thin-film deposition
- Hands-on experience with metrology and characterization tools as part of process development
- Track record implementing novel fabrication process flows when established recipes do not fit
BONUS QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience with epitaxial deposition techniques
- Experience with device fabrication for electronic, photonic, MEMS, spintronic, or quantum applications
- Proficiency in lift-off patterning and process selection for device and material requirements
- Familiarity with high-throughput or combinatorial fabrication process integration
- Proficiency in Python for scientific data analysis
