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Salary: USD 156,000 - 214,000 / annual
Lila Sciences is seeking a Principal Scientist / Associate Director to build and lead the experimental soft materials team. You will manage a group of four scientists (growing with portfolio expansion) spanning formulation, polymer processing, and physical characterization. The team develops closed-loop autonomous workflows for soft-matter research, turning experimental challenges into high-throughput, data-driven discovery pipelines.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead and grow the soft materials team; set scientific direction, develop talent, and hire as the portfolio expands
- Own experimental strategy for soft materials: measurement stack design, campaign planning, and scientific validity of internal and partner-facing work
- Deliver on partner-funded programs alongside technical program managers, setting standards for timelines, throughput, and data quality
- Build and validate high-throughput workflows spanning melt and solution rheology, scattering, thermal and mechanical analysis, microfluidics, and application-specific testing
- Define measurement strategies that enable machine learning and inverse design; partner with modeling and AI colleagues to close the loop from candidate formulation to validation
- Collaborate with automation and engineering teams to move prototype workflows into production with reliable instrument control, structured data capture, and end-to-end robotics
- Assess feasibility of new opportunities, scope projects, and engage customers on technical matters
- Manage capital equipment, vendor relationships, and chemical safety protocols for the group
- Coordinate shared characterization capabilities and cross-domain campaigns with adjacent materials and chemistry groups
Lila Sciences builds Scientific Superintelligence™ combining advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments to execute the scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery across medicine, materials, and energy.
Requirements:
- PhD in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, or Chemistry with 8+ years of post-degree R&D experience, or equivalent depth through industrial practice
- Experience leading scientific teams, either as a formal manager or as a technical lead with direct responsibility for others' work
- Deep soft-matter fundamentals: phase behavior, self-assembly, rheology, interfacial phenomena, colloid and dispersion stability, transport, cure and crosslinking
- Hands-on record formulating and characterizing multicomponent systems; ability to translate structure–property relationships into performance
- Demonstrated delivery against external milestones with industrial partners or sponsored programs
- Data-centric experimental practice: DoE, high-throughput methods, structured data capture, and peer-level collaboration with ML colleagues
- Comfort moving between strategy and bench-level troubleshooting; ability to lead teams across multiple sites
Bonus qualifications:
- Depth in adhesives, coatings, printed electronics, energy materials, or consumer/personal care
- Experience scaling formulations from lab through manufacturability review
- Background in robotic/automated formulation, automated characterization, or self-driving lab environments
- Python proficiency for analysis, instrument control, or workflow orchestration
- Familiarity with EHS and regulatory constraints on formulated products
