Head of Software Engineering

United StatesHybrid

Requirements

Adaptyv is building an automated lab thats let AI agents run biology experiments.
We're entering the era of agentic science where AI models can now design novel proteins, propose hypotheses, and iterate on experimental results.
We're building the infrastructure that gives AI agents access to the physical world.
We are one of the fastest growing biotech companies, trusted by leading biopharmas, frontier AI labs, and the techbio companies pushing the field forward.
We’re growing rapidly and are hiring for talented people to scale and support the massive demand for AI-driven wet lab experimentation.
You'll lead a small, technical engineering team that leverages AI to build the software infrastructure for running our automated lab.
You'll stay hands-on, especially as AI agents reshape what a small engineering team can accomplish.
You make good architectural decisions across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure, and you know when to go deep versus when to delegate. - AI-native.
It's 2026 — you already build with AI agents and coding tools as a force multiplier, and you have a real point of view on how they change team structure, tooling, and workflow. - A genuine interest in biology.

But they can't run the experiments themselves - that's still a manual, months-long process.
This is a rare chance to help advance some of the most important work happening in biotech today.
ABOUT THE ROLE You'll be a player-coach — someone who still ships code but also owns the engineering roadmap, team structure, and technical direction.
You'll translate company strategy into engineering priorities, make sure the right things get built in the right order, and help a small, high-output team scale without losing speed.
Your job is to make it the best small engineering team in biotech, and grow it thoughtfully as we scale.
This is not a management-track role where you stop building.