Senior Microfluidics Engineer - Diagnostics and Scale-Up

Platform Recruitment; Oxford; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Platform Recruitment is sourcing a Microfluidics Engineer in Oxford for a small medical devices startup focused on rapid bacterial identification from whole blood. The role covers design, prototyping and scale-up, spanning ID, AST and fungal applications, with ownership over subsystems and close collaboration with scientists and engineers.

You will work on full lifecycle from concept to regulated manufacture, implement DOE experiments, validate devices, and help translate prototypes into

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering, physics or related quantitative discipline.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics or transport phenomena.
• Hands-on experience with experimental systems or prototyping, including designing, building, and testing physical devices, fluidic systems, or experimental hardware, ideally in a commercial setting.
• Ability to work independently, prioritise in a fast moving startup environment, and communicate concepts clearly to colleagues from other disciplines.
• Confidence integrating into a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians.
• A pragmatic problem solver, open to constructive challenge, with a continuous improvement mindset.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design and optimisation of microfluidic devices and flow systems across bacterial ID, AST, and fungal applications
• Design, build, and test prototypes, including experimental validation using biological samples
• Plan and run structured experiments and characterisation studies, including design of experiments, to quantify performance and process robustness
• Analyse system performance and troubleshoot fluidic behaviour, using data to inform design decisions
• Develop and qualify cartridge sealing, bonding, and surface treatment strategies, working with internal teams and external partners
• Support improvements to the robustness, reliability, and scalability of devices
• Design for manufacture and scale up, translating prototypes into robust, high yield designs suited to volume replication routes
• Liaise with external fabrication and manufacturing partners
• Take ownership of specific subsystems or experiments from concept through to testing and iteration
• Balance engineering trade offs between performance, manufacturability, and cost
• Operate within the QMS, moving between rapid prototyping and regulated product development
• Translate overall system and product requirements into sub system requirements, and develop microfluidic systems that meet them
• Ensure engineering concepts are grounded in biological reality, working closely with the scientific team
• Plan, capture, and record design rationale, protocols, and results in clear engineering documentation to support verification, validation, and regulatory submission

Skills

Microfluidics

Fluid mechanics

Experimental prototyping

CAD (SolidWorks)

Independent / startup mindset

Education

Degree in engineering/physics or related quantitative field

Tools

SolidWorks

Job description

Platform Recruitment is sourcing a Microfluidics Engineer in Oxford for a small medical devices startup focused on rapid bacterial identification from whole blood. The role covers design, prototyping and scale-up, spanning ID, AST and fungal applications, with ownership over subsystems and close collaboration with scientists and engineers.

You will work on full lifecycle from concept to regulated manufacture, implement DOE experiments, validate devices, and help translate prototypes into