(Senior / Principal) Hardware Engineer

About the Role

Responsibilities

• Own system architecture and technical direction for laboratory-automation or drug-delivery hardware, from requirements through validated prototypes.
• Design and integrate fluidic, electromechanical, sensing, control, and user-interface subsystems, balancing performance, reliability, safety, and speed of iteration.
• Resolve difficult design and integration problems involving flow paths, pressure, sealing, materials compatibility, actuation, thermal control, sensing, dose accuracy, carryover, priming, draining, or fault recovery.
• Define test strategies, acceptance criteria, and failure-analysis methods that connect engineering performance to chemical or biological outcomes.
• Build and debug critical prototypes personally while guiding the work of collaborators, vendors, and future hardware teammates.
• Partner closely with chemists, biologists, and software collaborators to decide what to automate, instrument, or redesign next.
• Establish practical engineering standards, documentation, component choices, and development workflows for Capable’s growing hardware function.

Ideal Qualifications

• A strong record of owning complex physical systems from ambiguous requirements through working, tested hardware.
• Deep expertise in at least one relevant area—mechanical design, electrical systems, fluidics, controls, automation, medical devices, wearables, implantables, or laboratory instrumentation—and the judgment to work across the others.
• Exceptional hands-on debugging and root-cause analysis across hardware, controls, process conditions, and experimental outputs.
• The ability to make sound architectural tradeoffs, identify the highest-risk assumptions, and design fast tests that resolve them.
• Clear technical communication and the ability to lead cross-functional work without becoming removed from the hardware.
• We do not expect one person to have prior experience in every subsystem or application 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 Process

• Our 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 Today

Equal Opportunity