About the RoleYou will help build the physical systems behind Capable's drug-development platform. Depending on your background and the company's priorities, your work may span automated peptide synthesis, fluid handling, laboratory instrumentation, or subcutaneous drug delivery. You will take defined subsystems from concept through prototype, test, and iteration while working closely with chemists, biologists, and software collaborators.
Responsibilities- Design and prototype electromechanical and fluidic subsystems for laboratory automation or drug-delivery hardware.
- Select and integrate components such as pumps, valves, manifolds, tubing, reactors, seals, sensors, heaters, motors, transducers, controllers, batteries, or wireless modules as the application requires.
- Build and debug prototypes, investigate failures systematically, and turn test results into practical design changes.
- Develop controls for timing, flow, pressure, temperature, mixing, sensing, fault detection, and recovery.
- Work with scientists to connect hardware performance to chemical or biological outputs such as purity, yield, reproducibility, dose delivery, safety, and sample quality.
- Write clear test procedures, record results, and define acceptance criteria for the systems you own.
- Contribute to the integration of instruments, analytical systems, sample tracking, and quality-control workflows.
Ideal Qualifications- Hands-on experience building, testing, or maintaining physical systems such as laboratory instrumentation, automation systems, fluidic or microfluidic devices, electromechanical hardware, medical devices, wearables, or implantables.
- You may have a background in mechanical, electrical, chemical, biomedical, or bioengineering; robotics, automation, medical devices, wearables, implantables, or equivalent hands-on experience can also fit, including nontraditional paths.
- Practical comfort with some combination of electromechanical systems, fluidics, sensing, controls, laboratory instruments, or automation.
- A systematic approach to root-cause analysis when a device, instrument, or experiment does not behave as expected.
- The ability to own a defined subsystem, communicate tradeoffs clearly, and collaborate closely with scientists and other engineers.
- Curiosity and willingness to learn across disciplines; we do not expect experience in every area listed above.
Pay & Benefits- In addition to the posted salary range, we offer generous equity options.
- Compensation will depend on the skills, experience, and scope of impact you bring. If your background, experience, or compensation needs fall outside this range, we are still open to a conversation based on the scope and impact you could bring.
- $500+ monthly wellness budget for training, supplements, coaching, recovery, or other tools that help you perform at your best.
- Healthcare: We offer a broad range of medical, dental, and vision coverage options, with Capable covering 100% of the base policy.
- You will also have access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans.
- Healthy dinners with the team are provided daily.
- We support visa sponsorship where appropriate, including O-1, H-1B, J-1, TN, and other employment-based pathways. Our team is already international, with members from Canada, Pakistan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, India, and the United States.
Application ProcessOur process is fast, transparent, and personal. We care about getting to know the person behind the application.
- Initial application
- First phone screen
- Second phone screen
- In-person work trial in San Francisco: designed to give both sides a realistic sense of working together. Get to know the founding team!
Apply TodayCurious but not sure? Apply anyway. It takes 5 minutes, and you do not need to be actively job searching to start a conversation.
Some of the best people do not map perfectly to a job description. If this sounds like a place where you could do important work, we would like to hear from you.
And if someone exceptional comes to mind, send them our way here. We read every referral carefully, and if your referral joins Capable, we'll send you a thank-you bonus.
