About the role
Lab Manager
Location: San Francisco (In-person)
Who We Are
Omen is miniaturizing lab-grade spectroscopy into field-deployable embedded
sensors. Our systems deliver PPM-level trace analysis reports on the fluids in
industrial machines and datacenters, allowing us to detect complex wear trends
like hydraulic cylinder failures or coolant contamination in real-time. With this
data we can automatically match anomalies with failure modes weeks to months
before catastrophic failure occurs.
Our team is a tightly knit group of ~20 builders, dropouts, and industry veterans.
We don’t build things that are good enough, we build things that are 100x better.
The Challenge
We are currently developing two primary systems:
Omen Scout: for closed-loop hydraulic and lubricating oils.
Omen Sentry: for direct-to-chip liquid cooling loops (typ. water/glycol
mixtures).
To validate our portable hardware and train our predictive machine learning
models, we need a high volume of ground-truth data. We are in the process of
building our lab; we need a tech-forward expert to own it and bring professional
analytical chemistry standards into our fast moving startup environment.
What You Will Do
Establish Lab Standards: Bring the rigor of a professional analytical
chemistry lab to our R&D facility. Our machine learning and hardware
teams rely entirely on your results as their ground truth. You must
implement rigorous QA/QC practices, including running blanks, calibration
curves, spike recoveries, and monitoring for instrument drift.
Integrate: Develop robust sample preparation methodologies for
challenging fluids (industrial oils and liquid cooling mixtures). You will
handle the day-to-day processing and testing of these samples while we
build out the automated pipeline.
Automate: Collaborate closely with the R&D team to transition manual
sample prep and testing into a software-defined automated pipeline. You
will help define the analytical workflows and test plans that our SCARA
robots will execute.
Supply Chain & Inventory: Manage procurement for all lab consumables,
reagents, specialty gases, and calibration standards. Assist in
management/procurement for adjacent equipment like resin 3d printers.
Safety & Compliance: Establish and enforce safety protocols. You will
independently set up our hazardous waste management streams (acid
waste, solvent waste, oil disposal) and ensure compliance with local
environmental regulations.
What We Are Looking For
A professional background in chemistry or analytical chem is strongly
preferred, with bio experience as a plus. We are open to candidates from a
primarily biology-oriented background provided you have some
experience with organic and/or physical chemistry.
Why Omen?
We take the physics seriously, but we don’t let red tape slow us down. If you want
to own a fascinating chemistry problem from the ground up and build something
that protects the most expensive infrastructure on the planet, we want to talk to
you.