Probe Engineer

Company Overview

Astera Neuro is a philanthropically funded research organization within the Astera Institute working to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes underlying perception thought behavior and internal state. The tools this requires do not yet exist so we are assembling a founding team of experimental neuroscientists computational scientists and engineers to build them from recording and interface hardware to software and computational methods and to use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale with direct promise for treating neurological and psychiatric disease. We pursue high-risk high-reward science in a collaborative well-resourced environment with competitive compensation and share our tools data and discoveries openly under Asteras Open Science Policy

Position Summary

Working closely with our experimental surgical and software teams probe engineers here design and build the recording hardware: the probes insertion mechanisms and robotics that determine how much of the brain we can see and how well.

The role spans three tightly coupled problems: the probe (thin flexible high-density electrode arrays) the needle (the micro-machined tool that delivers a probe to its target without damage) and the robot (the precision system that places many probes quickly accurately and repeatedly while avoiding vasculature). You will move fluidly across mechanical design microfabrication and control and you will own hardware from initial concept through benchtop validation and into the recording rig.

We are hiring at multiple levels. As an Engineer you will lead well-defined hardware projects with regular guidance. As a Senior Engineer you will own hardware lines end-to-end drive design decisions and set fabrication and test strategy. As a Principal Engineer you will define the probe and robotics roadmap mentor engineers and shape how mechanical fabrication and control work fit together at Astera. We will calibrate scope and title to your experience.

What Youll Do

• Design flexible high-density neural probes: thin-film polymer arrays (polyimide Parylene C or comparable) patterned with hundreds to thousands of microelectrodes from layout through fabrication and encapsulation.

• Build probe-to-chip integration and the readout signal chain bonding high-density electrode arrays to amplifier and acquisition electronics and developing the low-noise front-end that amplifies digitizes and streams microvolt neural signals to the acquisition system.

• Design insertion needles and needle-pincher mechanisms: micro-machined and electrochemically etched tools that grasp insert and release flexible probes at micron-scale placement accuracy.

• Develop insertion strategies that solve the hard mechanics of placing a flexible thread into soft tissue: managing bending stiffness and buckling temporarily stiffening the probe for insertion and mitigating the forces that build up across many closely spaced insertions.

• Build a precision insertion robot: multi-axis motion servo and linear-motor drives and the real-time control that makes placement fast accurate and repeatable.

• Develop machine-vision guidance for the robot: imaging and computer vision that locate targets guide the needle to them and avoid surface vasculature during insertion.

• Build electrode characterization and process pipelines: impedance and electrochemistry (e.g. Pt PEDOT coatings) yield and reliability testing that turn a working prototype into a manufacturable part.

Who You Are

Required:

• Strong hands-on engineering across mechanical design and prototyping; you move fluently between CAD the machine shop and the benchtop.

• Experience building precision electromechanical or robotic systems (multi-axis motion servo/linear-motor control tight tolerance stacks).

• Familiarity with microfabrication and thin-film processes (photolithography deposition etching cleanroom work) or a demonstrated ability to pick them up fast.

• Comfort with real-time control and the software that drives hardware (Python plus C/C or comparable; embedded FPGA or RTOS a plus).

• Working knowledge of the signal-acquisition chain (how low-level analog signals are amplified digitized and acquired) and comfort collaborating with electronics engineers on it.

• Genuine interest in building instruments for neuroscience and in the tissue-mechanics constraints that make this problem hard.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• Flexible/thin-film electrode microfabrication (polyimide Parylene C PDMS) and electrode electrochemistry.

• Micro-machining and electrochemical etching of fine metal tooling (e.g. tungsten tungsten-rhenium).

• Low-noise analog/mixed-signal front-end design for recording microvolt-scale signals (amplification filtering multiplexing digitization).

• High-density interconnect and packaging: bonding fine-pitch electrode arrays to electronics (e.g. flip-chip wire bonding ACF or comparable).

• Precision motion control machine vision or real-time closed-loop robotics.

• Surgical or medical-device hardware including sterilization sterile workflow and design under regulatory constraints.

• Neural interfaces MEMS sensors or other implantable devices.

• Contributions to open-source hardware instrumentation or scientific-computing projects.

Additionally Expected at Senior / Principal Level

• A track record of taking hardware from concept to working validated device: owning design tradeoffs fabrication and test.

• Experience making and defending tradeoffs across precision reliability manufacturability and biocompatibility.

• Comfort working across the stack from mechanical design and fabrication to control software and system integration.

• A history of mentoring engineers or leading technical initiatives (Principal level).

Education

PhD MS or BS with 3 to 12 years of experience. Backgrounds in mechanical electrical biomedical or materials engineering mechatronics robotics applied physics MEMS/microfabrication or related fields are all welcome. Graduate research experience is a plus but not required. We value demonstrated skill and relevant experience above credentials.

Compensation

Total compensation is competitive and commensurate with the level of experience and qualifications.

Why Join Us

Astera Neuro is hiring a probe engineer to design the flexible neural probes insertion needles and precision robotics that make large-scale recording possible: devices that place thousands of electrodes with micron precision while sparing the tissue around them. If you want to build the physical instrument at the heart of a new neuroscience lets talk.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion.

Required Experience:

IC