I&C Technician (Electrical Engineering)

TL;DR

I&C Technician (Electrical Engineering): Building and maintaining electrical and control systems for an autonomous materials discovery laboratory with an accent on custom electrical assemblies, instrumentation integration, and CAD documentation. Focus on designing 2D engineering drawings, managing complex BOMs, and integrating fieldbus controls to accelerate scientific discovery.

Location: On-site in Menlo Park, CA

Salary: $124,000–$153,600

Company

Periodic Labs is building an autonomous laboratory for high-throughput materials discovery combining chemistry, robotics, automation, and AI.

What you will do

• Provide electrical, instrumentation, and controls technician support to lead engineers and scientific staff.
• Build and manage complex electrical CAD assemblies for custom equipment, fixtures, and enclosures.
• Produce detailed 2D engineering drawings with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.
• Generate accurate bills of materials (BOMs) and RFQ-ready documentation to support procurement.
• Maintain systems documentation, drawing archives, and revision control for CAD files.
• Interpret electrical drawings and incorporate redlines and design changes from engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Control Systems, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience with low-voltage (24VDC) wiring and controls enclosure fabrication.
• Experience integrating mass flow controllers, pressure transducers, solenoid valves, and thermocouples.
• Proficiency with AutoCAD (preferably electrical), redlining schematics, and building to print.
• Experience with digital multi-meters (DMMs) and Lock-Out-Tag-Out (LOTO) safety practices.
• Comfort wiring digital/analog I/O devices and controls fieldbuses such as EtherCAT, RS-232/-485, and Modbus.

Nice to have

• Experience with superconducting materials, cryogenic sample handling, and magnetometry.
• Experience with vacuum systems, gloveboxes, and inert atmosphere processing.
• Familiarity with NFPA70 (NEC), UL508A, or NFPA79 standards.
• Experience with Beckhoff IPCs and EtherCAT fieldbus.
• Familiarity with ASME Y14.5 standards.

Culture & Benefits

• Hands-on experience working at the cutting edge of materials discovery with superconductors and novel compounds.
• Exposure to a broad range of material characterization techniques from synthesis to cryogenic measurements.
• Opportunity to influence lab design, develop SOPs, and shape automation controls strategy.
• Collaborative environment working alongside scientists, engineers, and automation experts.