Hardware Engineer (Product / Systems)

About Becoming

Becoming is building Developmental Intelligence: AI for predicting how organisms change over time.

Most experimental systems fail when metabolic demands become too high. We are building systems that don’t — by combining engineered metabolic environments, sensing, control, and software into tightly integrated products that operate reliably over long time horizons.

Hardware is core to our platform. It must work continuously, predictably, and under real biological constraints.

The Role

We are hiring a Hardware Engineer (Product / Systems) to design, build, and own end-to-end hardware products at the core of Becoming’s platform.

This role is for a product-minded builder, not a siloed specialist. You will work across mechanical, electrical, and firmware, owning systems from first principles through prototyping, iteration, deployment, and operation. You may peak in one domain, but you must be fluent enough in the others to design and debug complete systems without handoffs.

This is a high-agency role. You will help define requirements, make tradeoffs, and take responsibility for outcomes.

What You’ll Own

• End-to-end ownership of hardware systems used in long-horizon biological platforms
• Mechanical design: CAD, materials, tolerances, assemblies, fluidic and environmental systems
• Electrical design: sensing, actuation, power, control electronics, bring-up, and debugging
• Firmware and low-level software for control, monitoring, fault handling, and reliability
• Rapid prototyping, testing, failure analysis, and iteration
• Integration of hardware with software, data systems, and biological constraints
• Build processes and documentation that enable repeatability and scaling
• Debugging real systems under continuous operation, not just bench tests

Who You Are

You are someone who

• Operates with high agency — you identify problems, define solutions, and execute
• Takes end-to-end ownership of what you build
• Brings high energy to complex, ambiguous engineering challenges
• Acts with high integrity — you are honest about tradeoffs, risks, and failure modes
• Communicates directly and clearly, especially when something won’t work
• Is self-aware about your strengths and gaps, and proactively fills them
• Thinks like a systems integrator, not a narrow specialist
• Cares deeply about understanding systems at a first-principles level

Requirements

• Degree in engineering or equivalent practical experience
• At least 1 year of industry experience building real hardware systems (startup, robotics, instrumentation, hardware, or related field)
• Demonstrated first-principles depth in at least one core domain (mechanical, electrical, or firmware)
• Functional fluency across the other domains sufficient to design, build, and debug complete systems
• Proven ability to take loosely defined problems and turn them into working, reliable products
• Comfort operating without pre-validated platforms, heavy vendor abstraction, or rigid process scaffolding

Strong Signals

• Experience with fluidic, perfusion, or environmental control systems
• Background in robotics, scientific instrumentation, or complex electromechanical products
• Experience bringing hardware from prototype to deployed, continuously operating systems
• Bias toward reliability, robustness, and simplicity over novelty

Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity
• Full benefits
• High-trust, high-ownership environment
• Rapid growth in scope and responsibility