Founding Scientist

What We're Building:

We have been quietly building the foundational layers of our Physical AI Scientist platform:

🤖 Physical AI that can operate scientific instruments with human-level dexterity.

🧪 Scientific AI that can analyze results, reason about next steps, and close the loop autonomously.

This is an incredibly ambitious mission, but we believe that a team of ambitious people with high ownership can accomplish incredible things.

The Team:

• We’re a team of passionate, mission-driven engineers from companies like Tesla, Amazon, SpaceX, and Neuralink. We’re collaborative and love moving fast, both with our product and on team trips skiing or go-karting!
• As a team, we love nerding out about engineering and robotics — plus other topics like race cars or cooking. We like learning new things and then sharing our new knowledge with each other.
• Our team is opinionated and straightforward. We don’t mind intense discussions about design tradeoffs. If we have arguments or miscommunication, we resolve conflicts quickly and empathetically.

In this role, you will:

• Partner with diverse scientific groups to design and launch Medra Labs 1
• Work with our customers to understand their science and help accelerate their pace of discovery
• Drive the creative process to uncover novel opportunities in instrumentation, workflow design, and system integrations.
• Build and test early hardware and software prototypes that translate ideas into working solutions.
• Evolve validated prototypes into robust, production-grade systems that enable fully autonomous experimentation.
• Clearly document and share progress at every stage—from initial concepts to detailed design, testing, and final integration.
• This position is in-person, you must be able to come on-site to our San Francisco office. We do not offer hybrid roles. We do offer relocation benefits for applicants who need to relocate.

Let's talk if you have:

• Proven ability to think strategically, solve complex problems creatively, and communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, including scientists and senior executives
• A willingness to wear many hats / a flexible attitude towards responsibilities and scope
• Entrepreneurial drive and a desire to have broad ownership, operating with significant autonomy akin to a startup CSO
• MS or PhD in Materials Science, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, or related field

What we offer

• 401k
• Medical insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Relocation benefits
• Unlimited PTO
• Weekday dinners

Medra is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state, federal or local law or our other policies. We value diversity at Medra and welcome applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in tech. If you like the sound of this position but are not sure if you are the perfect fit, please apply!