Biofoundry Automation Engineer

Also called: Lab Automation Scientist (Synthetic Biology)

Programs the robots that build and test thousands of engineered microbes at once.

A day in the life

Writes scripts that tell liquid-handling robots how to assemble DNA, debugs a plate that came out wrong, and helps scientists run 10x more experiments.

Pay over a career

Starting
$85k
Typical
$120k
High
$165k

Estimate.

Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.

Training

Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 5 years after high school. Bachelor's or master's in bioengineering, robotics, or computer science.

Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.

Majors to look at: Bioengineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering.

Outlook

Growing much faster than average. Growing with automated biology.

Will it last? Our AI estimate

Medium risk for 10 years. AI writes robot scripts faster, but more automated labs need people to integrate, debug and run the robots; demand grows.

Start now, in high school

Classes: Robotics or engineering CTE, AP Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology.

Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2031.

More Synthetic Biology & Bioengineering careers

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.