Scientist II/Senior Operations Research, Robotics

Your Impact at Lila

You will build and lead the algorithm development team responsible for orchestrating the autonomous laboratories that serve as the intelligent physical infrastructure of our scientific superintelligence platform. You will deliver the logic that translates scientific priorities into schedulable, dispatchable plans that adapt dynamically to real-time execution constraints. Beyond individual contribution, you will guide technical strategy and work cross-functionally with robotics, software, and leadership to deploy these solutions. Your work will accelerate our mission by enabling fully autonomous workflows for scientific discovery.

What You'll Be Building

• Formulate the strategies for inter-connected optimization problems, defining how task allocation, scheduling, and dynamic routing interact under uncertainty in high-throughput automated laboratories.
• Lead the hiring, mentorship, and technical direction for the orchestration algorithms team.
• Design custom heuristics, policies, and meta-heuristics to handle NP-hard challenges in real-time.
• Create simulations and standards used to model diverse lab scenarios, benchmark approaches, and identify bottlenecks before deployment.
• Partner with robotics and software teams to ensure optimization models are successfully integrated into the real-world autonomous stack.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• Ph.D. or M.S. in Operations Research, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Industrial Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience
• Proven track record of developing and implementing algorithms that schedule/plan/route for real physical systems
• Deep expertise in discrete optimization, for example in mixed-integer programming (MIP), constraint programming (CP), network flow, etc.
• Ability to model complex temporal constraints and dependencies in dynamic environments
• Ability to work, communicate, and deliver cross-functionally on projects with evolving scope
• Strong software development skills, with experience deploying optimization logic into production environments
• Familiarity using a variety of commercial or open-source MILP/CP/hueristic solvers (e.g., Gurobi, CPLEX, Google OR-Tools, Hexaly, cuOpt, etc..)

Bonus Points For

• Management experience leading small teams of scientists and managing complex technical projects.
• Experience hiring into technical roles and establishing culture
• Experience developing solvers or benchmarking algorithms
• Strong publication record in optimization algorithms

About Lila

Lila Sciences is the world’s first scientific superintelligence platform and autonomous lab for life, chemistry, and materials science.  We are pioneering a new age of boundless discovery by building the capabilities to apply AI to every aspect of the scientific method.  We are introducing scientific superintelligence to solve humankind's greatest challenges, enabling scientists to bring forth solutions in human health, climate, and sustainability at a pace and scale never experienced before. Learn more about this mission at  www.lila.ai

If this sounds like an environment you’d love to work in, even if you only have some of the experience listed below, we encourage you to apply.

Compensation

We expect the base salary for this role to fall between $228,000–$358,000 USD per year, along with bonus potential and generous early equity. The final offer will reflect your unique background, expertise, and impact.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.