Founding Engineer (gn) – Hardware & Bioengineering (Portfolio Opportunity)

FoodLabs; München; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cellsor

Lead Munich engineering team

Direct collaboration with founders

Lab workspace at UnternehmerTUM

Job summary

Cellsor is building a living sensor platform in Munich and Boston. We seek the first Munich engineer to take our instrument from lab setup to a field-ready prototype at a customer site within 18 months.

You will define the instrument architecture, prototype mechanics, fluidics, and housing, and ensure cell viability with automated media exchange, while collaborating with the Boston biology team and contributing to grant applications.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in mechanical, biomedical or bioengineering.
• Built a lab or medical device from concept to working prototype.
• CAD, rapid prototyping, and electronics integration.
• Hands-on and self-directed – you'd rather test an idea on the bench than discuss it for a week.
• Comfortable with uncertainty and fast decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Define the instrument architecture, then build prototypes across mechanics, fluidics and housing.
• Develop automated media exchange that keeps cells viable for weeks to months.
• Build the air path: sampling, filtration and controlled delivery of odorants to the sensor.
• Integrate sensors, pumps and controllers for monitoring and automation.
• Test and iterate with our Boston biology team.
• Contribute to grant applications.

Skills

Lab prototyping

CAD design

Electronics integration

Self-directed

Uncertainty tolerance

Education

MSc/PhD in mechanical, biomedical or bioengineering

Tools

Rapid prototyping

3D printing

Job description

Cameras digitized vision. Microphones digitized sound. Smell is the one major sense we still can't capture, measure or transmit reliably. Cellsor is building the sensor that changes that.

We replicate the mammalian olfactory epithelium outside the body – living olfactory tissue on microelectrode arrays – and read it out with machine learning. The result is a sensor that detects chemicals the way a nose does, with the breadth and sensitivity that conventional gas sensors lack. Applications span flavor and fragrance, defense and security, medical diagnostics, food quality and industrial monitoring.

We are a VC-backed Tufts University spin-out with a working proof of principle and paid industry pilots, with teams in Boston (biology) and Munich (engineering).

About the role:

As our first engineer in Munich, you develop the instrument that keeps our living sensor tissue alive and samples the air it analyzes. You take it from today's lab setup to a field-ready prototype at a customer site within 18 months.

What you will do:

• Define the instrument architecture, then build prototypes across mechanics, fluidics and housing
• Develop automated media exchange that keeps cells viable for weeks to months
• Build the air path: sampling, filtration and controlled delivery of odorants to the sensor
• Integrate sensors, pumps and controllers for monitoring and automation
• Test and iterate with our Boston biology team
• Contribute to grant applications

What you need to succeed

Must-have:

• MSc or PhD in mechanical, biomedical or bioengineering, or a related field
• Built a lab or medical device from concept to working prototype
• CAD, rapid prototyping, and electronics integration
• Comfortable with uncertainty: you make progress without a defined path and decide what to build next
• Hands-on and self-directed – you'd rather test an idea on the bench than discuss it for a week

Nice-to-have:

• Cell culture, perfusion or microfluidics
• Gas handling or air sampling
• Startup or grant-funded R&D experience

Why join Cellsor now

Cellsor is an early-stage, VC-backed deep-tech startup, funded to focus on building. Most hardware roles mean optimizing one part of an existing product. Here you build the first instrument for a new category of sensor, and your design decisions become the foundation of the platform. The technical risk has moved from "does this work?" to "how do we build it for the field?" – which is exactly where an engineer makes the difference. As the platform grows into electrode integration, machine learning and product design, so does the scope of your role.

What we offer

• Equity in Cellsor, so you share in the value you help create
• The opportunity to build and lead the Munich engineering team as we grow
• Real responsibility from day one, working directly with the founders and technical advisors
• Lab and workspace at UnternehmerTUM, with regular exchange with our Boston team