Research Scientist I/II, AI for Process Engineering

Your Impact at LILA As a member of our team in the Physical Sciences division, you will design and build intelligent agent-driven systems that enable AI-accelerated and AI-orchestrated process engineering across a broad range of industrial applications. The core mission of this role is to develop methods by which AI agents can reason about, design, simulate, optimize, and operate complex physical and chemical processes using existing or ML-driven process engineering tools. You will focus on creating agentic infrastructures that allow AI systems to plan and execute multi-step process engineering workflows, ranging from process synthesis and flowsheet generation to steady-state and dynamic simulation, control strategy design, and techno-economic evaluation. Your work will directly shape how Lila’s scientific superintelligence performs closed-loop autonomous process engineering to solve real-world problems. What You'll Be Building Architect and implement agentic frameworks that support end-to-end process engineering workflows, including process setup, simulation, optimization, and analysis. Develop AI agents capable of autonomously planning, executing, and iterating on process engineering tasks using existing tools (e.g., steady-state and dynamic simulators, optimizers, and data systems). Explore agentic approaches for advanced tasks such as process intensification, control co-design, real-time optimization, and closed-loop learning from operational data. Improve robustness, interpretability, and reproducibility of agent-driven process engineering workflows; build internal tooling for debugging, observability, validation, and auditability. Work with interdisciplinary teams to apply agentic process engineering to a broad range of industrial applications What You’ll Need to Succeed PhD or equivalent experience in Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a closely related field. Research experience in method development for process engineering, a strong publication record in this area or established industry experience Hands-on experience with process simulation and optimization tools (commercial or open-source), including steady-state and dynamic modeling. Proficiency in Python and scientific/engineering computing ecosystems Experience integrating external engineering tools or simulators into automated workflows via APIs, scripting interfaces, or custom wrappers. Familiarity with distributed systems, HPC environments, cloud platforms, or scalable compute infrastructure. Bonus Points For Experience developing or integrating agentic frameworks, autonomous planners, or multi-step tool-using AI systems for engineering or scientific domains. Experience building computational pipelines, automation systems, or tool-use frameworks for complex engineering or scientific workflows. Experience with digital twins, real-time optimization, or model-predictive control frameworks. Background in techno-economic analysis (TEA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), or sustainability-driven process design. Contributions to open-source engineering software, ML infrastructure, workflow engines, or agent frameworks. Compensation We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact. U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program. International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market. Expected Base Salary Range $176,000 — $304,000 USD About LILA Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves. LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai. Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply. We’re All In Lila Sciences is