Whelix Electrical Engineer Boston, MA · Full time Company website

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Whelix builds intelligent robots that automate wet lab work, starting with cell culture, for biotech and pharmaceutical research. By integrating AI agents with proprietary engineered robotics, our systems eliminate repetitive, error-prone workflows, freeing scientists to focus on discovery while increasing experimental throughput, reproducibility, and scientific impact. Based in Boston, Whelix is deploying systems into pharmaceutical, biotech and academic labs today and actively scaling up production to serve more customers.

Role Overview

We are seeking an Electrical Engineer to design, build and maintain the electrical system of our robots, from AC power entry and the electrical enclosure to motor drives, sensors, custom circuit boards and the wiring that ties them together. You will help take our designs from engineering builds to safe, documented, production-ready systems that pass certification and run reliably in customer labs.

This is a deeply hands-on role. You will not only design the system on paper; you will wire it, build it, power it up and debug it yourself, at the bench and on the robot. We are looking for someone who is happiest with a multimeter in one hand and a schematic in the other.

The role is full-time and on-site in Boston, reporting to the CTO. You will work with our mechanical and robotics software engineers, outside electrical and fabrication partners, and the scientists who use the machine.

What You Will Work On

• Spend much of your week hands-on: wiring enclosures, building harnesses, bringing up boards and chasing faults on the robot
• Develop and document the electrical architecture across hardware generations: power distribution, circuit protection, grounding, enclosure layout and the block diagram
• Design the electrical enclosure and robot wiring: DIN-rail layout, breakers and fusing, cable entry, harnesses, cable carriers for moving axes and labeling, with AC and DC kept apart
• Define site power for customer installs, from power spec sheets to circuit and outlet requirements, including high-draw equipment such as CO2 incubators
• Design and bring up custom circuit boards for fluidics, thermal control and power distribution, working with firmware engineers on bring-up and test
• Make our motor and communication buses reliable (CAN, EtherCAT, Modbus, USB), from driver selection to root-causing failed boards and dropouts
• Contribute to the electrical safety design (E-stop chain, door interlocks) and prepare the system for UL 61010-1 and 61010-2-081 certification

Responsibilities

Design & Documentation

• Schematics, wiring diagrams, cable schedules and an electrical BOM a harness shop or contract manufacturer can build from
• Wire sizing, fuse and breaker selection, power budgets and thermal checks for every enclosure
• Board design and layout for custom circuit boards, including review with fabrication and assembly vendors

Build, Test & Reliability

• Build, wire and commission prototypes yourself; write the wiring and test procedures the team follows
• Root-cause electrical failures in the lab and field (burnt drivers, noisy buses, connector and cable fatigue) and fix them in the design
• Bench and in-system testing of power, grounding, EMC basics and safety circuits

Production & Field

• Standardize the electrical build so units are consistent and easy to service
• Help qualify harness and panel suppliers for the first production batch
• Support customer installs with site power checks, commissioning and troubleshooting

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or a related field
• 1 to 2+ years of hands-on experience designing or building electrical systems for machines, robots or instruments (internships and co-ops count)
• Familiarity with control panel and enclosure work: AC/DC power distribution, circuit protection, grounding and DIN-rail components
• Schematic capture and circuit board design (Altium, KiCad or similar), plus board bring-up with a scope, meter and logic analyzer
• Experience with motor drives or industrial communication (CAN, EtherCAT or Modbus)
• Interest in product and machine safety (UL 61010, E-stop design)
• A hands-on builder: you wire, crimp, solder, measure and fix your own designs, and you prove a fix on the robot, not just on paper
• Able to work on-site in Boston, MA

Nice-to-Haves

• Lab automation, laboratory or medical instruments
• Embedded firmware (C/C++ or Rust on STM32 or RP2040) and Python test scripts
• Thermal control electronics: heaters, temperature sensing, fans and enclosure airflow
• Fluidics electronics: pumps, solenoid and pinch valves, low-side drivers
• Exposure to UL or CE certification, or to contract harness and panel builders

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $85,000 to $120,000 per year
• Early-stage equity
• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Paid time off and paid sick leave

Perks & Growth Opportunities

• Ownership of real hardware, from the first customer unit to the production design
• A front-row seat to building a startup, with exposure to product, strategy, fundraising and operations
• Work at the intersection of AI, robotics and life sciences
• Close collaboration with engineers, scientists and industry partners
• Access to Boston's robotics and deep-tech community through MassRobotics and The Engine