Location: London, UK (in-lab)
Type: Full-time
Level: Senior Individual Contributor (work package owner) with direct pathway to team leadership
Compensation: Competitive salary + meaningful early-stage equity options
We’re seeking a Senior BioMEMS / Microfluidics Engineer to join our growing team and help build the future of wearable biochemical monitoring. You will lead the design, prototyping, and manufacturing of microneedle-based interstitial fluid sampling and microfluidic subsystem – a core part of our wearable molecular sensing platform.
About us (Stealth mode)
We’re a stealth, venture-backed healthtech building a next-generation wearable molecular sensing platform, leveraging novel light-based sensing in a wearable form factor. We’ve raised $4million from leading European investors.
Our mission is to turn the body’s molecular signals into a continuous source of truth – unlocking real-time biochemical clarity for areas like fertility, inflammation, metabolic health, and recovery. Today’s wearables track proxies (heart rate, sleep, movement), but the biology that drives health still lives in episodic, invasive lab tests. We’re closing that gap.
The role
We’re hiring a BioMEMS / Microfluidics Engineer as a foundational technical hire to lead the design, prototyping, and translation of our microneedle ISF sampling and microfluidic subsystem. You’ll own the full fluidic path – from skin interface and sampling through transport, priming/venting and bubble management, to the flow-cell where sensing occurs.
This role is central to platform reliability: your work directly impacts sample quality, yield, lag time, robustness during wear, and ultimately the user experience. As we scale, there’s a clear pathway to technical leadership – owning this subsystem end-to-end and building a small team around you.
You will own:
- Own the dermal interstitial fluid sampling & microfluidic cartridge architecture end-to-end.
- Lead microneedle strategy and integration: define requirements, support design/selection, and manage external manufacturing partners (DfM feedback loops, tolerance, QC, sterilisation compatibility).
- Design and prototype wearable microfluidic architectures that perform under real-world conditions (motion, temperature changes, multi-hour wear).
- Develop reliable initial wetting / priming strategies (e.g., passive capillary and/or prime-then-passive concepts) to ensure repeatable start-up.
- Engineer sustained sampling using capillary-microfluidic design principles – prioritising stability and simplicity.
- Build robust solutions for sealing, venting, leakage prevention, and bubble/occlusion control.
- Define materials and surface treatments for wettability, low sample loss, anti-fouling, and biocompatibility.
- Design interfaces and packaging concepts that connect the cartridge to the core sensing module/electronics (under NDA), with manufacturable assembly in mind.
- Create test methods/rigs to quantify priming success, flow stability, leakage, clogging risk, and multi-hour performance.
- Drive early DfM and scale-up thinking: assembly steps, tolerance stack-ups, supplier readiness, and path to pilot builds.
You’ll collaborate closely with leaders across photonics, chemistry, clinical, and product and play a key role in bringing a genuinely cutting-edge wearable technology from first prototypes to pilot-ready systems.
The Person
Ideal requirements
- PhD (or MSc + 3+ years) in BioMEMS, Microfluidics, Biomedical/Mechanical Engineering or related.
- Proven hands-on experience designing capillary-driven / passive microfluidics (wicking, hydrophilic treatments, flow control features like valves).
- Built and owned end-to-end microfluidic systems from at least concept to prototype to repeatable build (and early manufacturability thinking).
- Experience with wearable / skin-interfacing fluidics and the realities of real-world operation (motion, temperature, sweat, long wear).
- Strong familiarity with microneedle-based sampling or adjacent minimally invasive sampling approaches including vendor integration if applicable.
- Strong experimental mindset: able to design rigorous flow/pressure/volume/reliability tests, analyse data, and iterate quickly.
- Comfortable operating in a high-ambiguity, fast-moving early-stage environment.
Nice to have (strong signals, not required)
- Experience with ISF extraction, priming/first-wet strategies, bubble traps/venting, and anti-fouling / low-loss surface treatments.
- Microfluidics that interfaces with optical sensing or biosensing assays (immuno/aptamer/enzymatic).
- Experience with rapid microfluidic fabrication and/or high-precision low-flow systems (µL/min → nL/min).
- Exposure to medical device development standards (e.g., ISO 13485 / ISO 10993) and design controls.
Why work for us?
- Foundational ownership + real influence: you’ll own a core subsystem end-to-end and directly shape the product roadmap. As we scale, there’s a clear path to technical leadership and building a team around you.
- Deep-tech, real-world impact: work at the intersection of BioMEMS, microfluidics, and next-gen sensing to build a platform that can fundamentally change how health is monitored - moving biochemical insight from occasional lab tests to everyday life.
- Work with exceptional people: collaborate with top-tier talent from Cambridge and Imperial College and leaders across sensing, chemistry, and product in a highly ambitious environment.
- High-pace, high-support culture: a flat structure, fast iteration, and genuine room to experiment - with regular check-ins and feedback to support your growth and development.
- Competitive compensation & meaningful equity: we offer competitive salary and significant early-stage share options, so you’ll own a real stake in what you’re building
Apply / get in touch
If you’re excited by wearable fluidics and want to build something genuinely new, please apply here
