Junior Microfluidics Engineer

Location: Slough, on-site relocating to London within a year | Compensation: Competitive salary | Start: Immediate. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

Junior Microfluidics Engineer

Location: Slough, on-site relocating to London within a year | Compensation: Competitive salary | Start: Immediate. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

Our mission

At Unravel Health we're bringing the capability of a lab into the home, which is where healthcare is heading.

We're starting with endocrine health, because for women the data on their fluctuating hormones is missing – from diagnosis to drug development.

We're building the hardware and AI to capture the longitudinal picture of the endocrine system that doesn't yet exist, and with it the tools to fundamentally change how women's bodies are understood, researched and treated.

We're a small company with a very experienced leadership team:

• founding doctor with a background in biomedical engineering
• product founder previously from global brands
• commercial founder who scaled a healthtech company from our current size to IPO
• with fractional support from Royal Academy of Engineering professor and a biosensor academic whose work on Unravel's underlying IP has been published in journals including Nature.

Unravel already has research collaborators around the world. The phase ahead, getting our first product into the hands of women, will be transformative not just for this company but for healthcare. As part of the team that delivers it, you could do the most meaningful work of your career.

This is the moment to join.

What we are building

We are developing an at-home diagnostic to measure hormones and related biomarkers in saliva.

The role

We are looking for a Junior Microfluidics Engineer to join us and work hands-on across the full development cycle of our microfluidic cartridges, from CAD design through fabrication, assembly, testing and troubleshooting. This is a bench-heavy role. You will iterate quickly, and most problems will be solved by making something, testing it and working out why it behaved the way it did.

You will start by working closely with our microfluidic lead, and we expect you to grow into owning cartridge development independently over time.

Key responsibilities

• Designing microfluidic cartridges in CAD (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Fusion 360 or equivalent)
• Fabricating prototypes using 3D printing (SLA/FDM) and other rapid-prototyping methods
• Selecting polymers, films, adhesives and substrates, and investigating how they affect fluidics, bonding, surface properties and assay compatibility
• Carrying out surface treatments to control surface behaviour
• Bonding, sealing and assembling devices, and validating bond quality
• Designing and running fluidic tests
• Designing experiments to find the root cause of fabrication and fluidic failures
• Analysing test data, documenting experiments and reporting methods, results and conclusions clearly
• Feeding practical findings back into the next design iteration

Who you are

You are an engineer who is obsessed with building. You have a track record of taking microfluidic devices through to a working prototype, and you learn fastest with something in your hands. What draws you here is where the work lands: designs that reach real patients and help transform the way healthcare is designed and patients are diagnosed. You want to see the things you make out in the world, not sitting in a report.

You bring high energy to a fast-paced bench, you focus on the details, you’re organised, you take initiative and you are excited about being part of an all-hands-on-deck startup.

Must-haves

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Microengineering, Materials Engineering or a related discipline
• Hands-on experience designing, fabricating and testing microfluidic devices or lab-on-chip systems
• Practical CAD experience (SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Fusion 360 or equivalent)
• Hands-on experience with 3D printing or other rapid-prototyping techniques
• Experience with polymer/material selection, surface treatment and bonding/sealing of microfluidic devices
• Practical understanding of microfluidic flow, channel design, fluid handling and common failure modes
• Experience troubleshooting physical prototypes and using experiments to identify root causes
• Ability to analyse experimental data and report it clearly, with strong attention to detail and documentation
• Ability to work independently while collaborating closely with a small technical team
• Right to work in the UK
• Willingness to work on-site in Slough initially, and in London after the move

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with diagnostics, point-of-care devices or biological samples
• Experience with injection moulding, laser cutting, CNC machining or other manufacturing routes
• Familiarity with design for manufacture and scaling a prototype toward production
• Experience with imaging or flow visualisation techniques
• Exposure to design controls, ISO 13485 or a regulated development environment

Why join us

• Real ownership of a core part of the product, with the room to grow into leading cartridge development independently.
• Work on cutting-edge technology with direct, real-world impact on women's health.
• A fast-paced, hands-on team where your iterations show up in the next prototype, not months later.
• The opportunity to take diagnostic assays from concept through validation to market.
• Work on cutting-edge technology with direct, real-world impact on women's health.
• Competitive salary with EMI equity package

Unravel is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to an inclusive team in which strong scientific thinking can thrive. If you require any adjustments to the application process, please let us know. We are not able to sponsor visas, so applicants require a right to work in the UK.

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