Co-Op, IT/OT Security Analyst

Location: Cambridge, MA USA Department: Business Operations

Your Impact at LILA

Lila runs autonomous science facilities — labs full of instruments, robotics, and controllers that produce the experimental data that is the company's core IP. Securing that environment is a different problem from securing laptops and SaaS, and we are building the program from the ground up. This co-op works on that build, not on the side of it.

The role sits at the seam between IT, Lab IT, and OT, spanning four workstreams: OT asset visibility and tooling, vulnerability and patch management across IT/OT, SOC integration and threat intelligence, and program build. The work product outlives the term.

What we are looking for is someone curious enough to trace a problem end to end without being handed the answer, and persistent enough to stay with it when the architecture is not documented anywhere. We will teach the OT domain. We cannot teach that.

What You'll Be Building

Own day-to-day OT asset discovery and reconciliation, closing the gap between device detection and documented ownership

Prioritize vulnerabilities across IT/OT environments by real consequence (safety, experiment integrity, IP exposure, throughput) rather than raw CVSS scores

Coordinate remediation with automation engineering within established maintenance windows

Integrate OT and network telemetry into the SIEM, triage alerts, and supply OT context the SOC team lacks

Track threat intelligence relevant to lab automation and biotech; convert findings into detections and written briefings

Build program artifacts (asset intake process, connectivity risk reviews, segmentation documentation) that remain operational after the term ends

What You'll Need to Succeed

Pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, computer science, information technology, network engineering, or a related field

Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking: VLANs, subnetting, routing and switching basics, firewall concepts (the single most important prerequisite — OT security is a networking job before it is a security job)

Comfort on the command line (Windows and Linux) and basic scripting in Python or PowerShell for data reconciliation and reporting

Strong written communication skills, including the ability to explain technical changes to non-technical audiences and security constraints to operational teams

Availability to work onsite at Alewife on a hybrid schedule, including hands-on work with physical hardware

Bonus Points For

Exposure to vulnerability management concepts: CVE/CVSS, scanning, remediation workflow

Familiarity with SIEM or log analysis on any platform (Splunk, Sentinel, Elastic, Chronicle); coursework, CTF, or homelab experience counts

Cloud fundamentals, AWS preferred

Any exposure to ICS/OT, SCADA, lab instrumentation, or robotics environments

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 committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.