Full-Time
Laboratory Operations & Maintenance Technician
Periodic Labs
51-200 employees
AI-driven materials discovery and design
Compensation Overview
$100k - $140k/yr
No H1B Sponsorship
Menlo Park, CA, USA
In Person
Bachelor's
 General Maintenance & Repair (1) |
|---|
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- The candidate must have 5+ years of experience in laboratory operations, manufacturing, semiconductor, chemical processing, pilot plant, industrial maintenance, or a related environment.
- The candidate must be able to read and interpret P&IDs, mechanical drawings, electrical wiring diagrams, and equipment manuals.
- The candidate must have strong hands-on experience with hand tools, power tools, and mechanical assembly, along with troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
- The candidate must have a Bachelor's degree or similar experience.
- The candidate must be comfortable operating in a fast-paced, dynamic startup environment with shifting priorities.
- Execute preventive maintenance programs for laboratory equipment using MaintainX CMMS, and develop and improve maintenance procedures, inspection checklists, and work order templates.
- Perform routine inspections, cleaning, calibration checks, and equipment upkeep across mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, gas, vacuum, and fluid-handling systems.
- Troubleshoot equipment to the component level, repair equipment, identify recurring failure modes, and implement corrective actions to improve uptime.
- Coordinate service visits and maintenance activities with equipment vendors.
- Service vacuum pumps, cooling water systems, chillers, and associated infrastructure, and verify that equipment meets original equipment manufacturer specifications after maintenance or repairs.
- Maintain an accurate asset registry within MaintainX, including equipment records, manuals, schematics, service histories, serial numbers, and manufacturer contacts.
- Label equipment with asset numbers and QR codes, and update equipment layouts, utility matrices, and infrastructure documentation.
- Track maintenance history and equipment performance metrics.
- Maintain laboratory utility systems, including compressed gases, vacuum systems, process cooling water, exhaust systems, gas detection, and general laboratory infrastructure.
- Build and modify gas and fluid-handling systems from P&IDs and engineering drawings, and assemble and install tubing, regulators, valves, gauges, sensors, and associated hardware.
- Support utility capacity planning and identify infrastructure constraints.
- Support installation and startup of new laboratory equipment, and coordinate utility hookups for power, water, gas, vacuum, and networking.
- Procure and install supporting infrastructure, including tubing, fittings, pumps, sensors, regulators, and instrumentation.
- Perform installation verification and commissioning activities, and document as-built configurations and equipment changes.
- Support Controls and Automation Engineers with equipment integration projects.
- Install and maintain thermocouples, RTDs, pressure transducers, flow meters, solenoid valves, gas sensors, and safety interlocks.
- Route, terminate, and label instrumentation and communication wiring, and assist with sensor replacement, control panel modifications, and field troubleshooting.
- Fabricate fixtures, brackets, guards, adapters, and experimental hardware using a drill press, band saw, chop saw, belt sander, bench grinder, manual mill, and manual lathe.
- Modify commercial components, support custom equipment builds, and maintain machine shop organization and tooling.
- Maintain inventories of spare parts, maintenance consumables, personal protective equipment, and laboratory supplies; identify critical spare parts and establish appropriate stock levels.
- Receive and organize incoming equipment, chemicals, gases, and supplies, and register chemicals and gas cylinders within laboratory inventory systems.
- Coordinate gas cylinder replacement and deliveries, and support hazardous waste staging and disposal activities.
- Assist with laboratory organization, equipment moves, and expansion projects.
- Perform all work in accordance with laboratory safety procedures and lockout/tagout requirements, participate in routine safety inspections, and identify unsafe conditions.
- Support safe installation and modification of laboratory equipment and infrastructure.
- Maintain clean, organized, and professional workspaces and use appropriate personal protective equipment.
- Swagelok tubing, fitting, and tube-bending experience, including gas manifold assembly from P&IDs.
- Vacuum systems and/or compressed gas systems experience.
- Semiconductor equipment maintenance experience.
- Electrical troubleshooting down to the printed circuit board/component level using multimeters.
- MaintainX or other computerized maintenance management system experience.
- Forklift or material-handling equipment experience.
- Hazardous chemical handling and laboratory operations experience.
- Process piping and instrumentation experience.
Periodic Labs uses AI to model, predict, analyze, and design new materials. Its platform studies material properties and high-throughput data to propose viable compositions, structures, and processing methods that meet performance targets. By training models on large scientific datasets and running simulations, the company speeds up discovery and lowers costs compared with traditional lab work, drawing on founders’ experience from OpenAI and DeepMind. The goal is to accelerate the discovery of materials for clean energy, better semiconductors, and resilient manufacturing, differentiating itself through deep AI expertise applied specifically to materials science and potential collaboration with major AI groups.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Seed
Total Funding
$300M
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Founded
2025
Get referred to Periodic Labs
See people who can refer or advise you
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- September 2025 seed hit $300 million from a16z, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and Jeff Dean.
- By August 2026, Periodic Labs posted 28 jobs, including lab automation and semiconductor roles.
- Periodic.com listed a16z, Felicis, DST, Accel, and NVentures as backers in August 2026.
What critics are saying
- Bloomberg on March 25, 2026 said the $7 billion round stayed unfinished.
- AMP-led financing cannot offset a lab-heavy burn if experiments fail.
- If superconductors and semiconductors miss milestones by 2027, customers buy incumbents' tools.
What makes Periodic Labs unique
- Liam Fedus and Ekin Doğuş Çubuk fuse OpenAI scale with DeepMind materials expertise.
- Periodic Labs pairs frontier models with autonomous labs, not software-only discovery.
- Its superconductors-first thesis and semiconductor focus target high-value physical-science bottlenecks.
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Benefits
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -4%1 year growth
↓ -10%2 year growth
↓ -10%Former OpenAI researcher's startup Periodic Labs seeks $500 million for ai-driven scientific discovery. May 25, 2026 Periodic Labs is reportedly in advanced talks to raise at least $500 million in a new funding round that could value the company at $7.5 billion. The fundraising effort marks a sharp rise for the San Francisco-based startup, which was founded less than a year ago and focuses on using artificial intelligence and automated laboratories to accelerate scientific discovery in physics and chemistry. According to reports, the funding round is expected to be led by AMP, an investment vehicle created by former Andreessen Horowitz general partner Anjney Midha. Sources familiar with the deal said investor demand has been extremely strong, with the round reportedly oversubscribed and discussions already taking place around an additional funding round at an even higher valuation. If completed at the reported valuation, Periodic Labs' value would rise nearly six times from the $1.3 billion valuation it received during its $300 million seed round announced in September 2025. The company was founded by Liam Fedus, previously vice president of research at OpenAI, alongside Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a former research scientist at Google DeepMind. Periodic Labs is developing what it describes as an AI scientist capable of conducting scientific experiments through autonomous robotic laboratories. The company's technology combines artificial intelligence models with automated lab systems designed to run thousands of experiments in areas such as chemistry and physics. The goal is to generate new scientific data and speed up the discovery of advanced materials. One of the company's current research areas involves searching for new superconductors capable of operating at higher temperatures. Such materials could eventually improve energy systems, electronics, and industrial technologies. Periodic Labs is also working with companies in the semiconductor industry, where its AI-driven research tools are being used to support product development and scientific testing. The startup has already attracted high-profile talent from major AI companies. Reports indicate the company has hired more than 20 researchers from firms including Meta, OpenAI, and DeepMind, with some employees reportedly leaving large compensation packages to join the venture. The rise of Periodic Labs reflects a growing trend in the global artificial intelligence industry, where researchers are increasingly focusing on AI systems capable of scientific reasoning and autonomous discovery rather than only consumer chatbots. Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, has repeatedly described scientific discovery as one of AI's most important long-term uses. Similarly, Demis Hassabis has argued that solving intelligence through AI could help solve major scientific and societal challenges, pointing to breakthroughs such as AlphaFold's protein-folding research, which contributed to his Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024. As investment in AI infrastructure and research accelerates globally, startups like Periodic Labs are attracting increasing attention from investors seeking to back technologies capable of transforming scientific research and industrial innovation. Don't miss an update. Be the first to know when Techwithafrica publish something new May 21, 2026 In "Opportunities" Algeria has launched its first startup cluster focused on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, as part of a wider plan to turn its strong pool of technical talent into real economic growth. The new cluster is based at the Scientific and Technological Pole Chahid Abdelhafid-Ihaddaden in Sidi Abdellah. It was introduced... April 21, 2026 In "Artificial Intelligence" April 21, 2026 In "Artificial Intelligence"
Periodic Labs has raised from a tech industry who's who, including Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos.
Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has agreed to lead a $200 million investment in Periodic Labs, a new startup building artificial intelligence for material science, according to people familiar with the matter.