R&D Systems Engineer - Pathogen

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.

Welcome to the Pathogen Project:

Within this ecosystem, the Pathogen Project exemplifies EIT’s dedication to ground-breaking science. It seeks to transform pathogen risk management, detection and response by leveraging Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS)-based metagenomic and pathogen-specific analytical tools. The goal is to power metagenomic devices using long-read sequencing technologies by building a comprehensive database of pathogen information to inform response. Enabled by Oracle Inc.’s cloud-computing scale and security, the Pathogen Project is advancing toward certified diagnostic tools for deployment in laboratories, hospitals, and public health organisations worldwide. 

Your Role:

At EIT we are seeking an experienced and detail orientated R&D Systems Engineer – Instrumentation & Data to help develop next-generation diagnostic technology. In this role, you’ll work alongside experts in microfluidics, microbiology, electronics and firmware to design, build and iterate prototype instrumentation for a point-of-care device capable of metagenomic sequencing through a microfluidic cartridge interface.

You will take a hands-on role in designing experiments, collecting and analysing performance data from prototype systems, and supporting data-driven engineering improvements within a collaborative R&D environment with evolving challenges. This position sits at the intersection of hardware, embedded control and data analysis. You will contribute directly to the development of decentralised diagnostic systems aimed at improving infectious disease detection in hospitals and public health settings worldwide.

 Key Responsibilities:

• Design and execute structured experiments to evaluate performance of cartridge-based modules and prototype instrumentation.
• Collect, analyse and interpret experimental data to identify performance trends, variability sources and failure modes.
• Develop analysis scripts and tools (e.g. Python-based) to process, visualise and report experimental results.
• Work closely with microfluidics, electronics and firmware engineers to interpret experimental findings and support system improvements.
• Support the implementation of reliable data acquisition from sensors and embedded control systems.
• Collaborate closely with microbiologists, microfluidics engineers and data scientists to translate experimental findings into system improvements by correlating mechanical, electrical and software behaviour with performance data.
• Contribute to defining test protocols and evaluating module performance against agreed targets.
• Support efforts to improve repeatability and robustness through structured data analysis.
• Maintain clear and structured documentation of experimental setups, configurations and analysis outputs.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience in instrumentation development, experimental engineering, applied systems engineering or similar R&D environments (industry or advanced academic research experience considered).
• Demonstrated experience designing and executing structured experimental investigations.
• Proficiency in data analysis and scripting (e.g. Python, MATLAB or similar).
• Experience acquiring and interpreting data from physical systems (e.g. pressure, temperature, flow, force, motion or optical sensors).
• Ability to identify patterns and potential root causes from experimental data.
• Familiarity with retrieving and interpreting logged data from embedded or Linux-based control systems.
• Comfortable working hands-on in a laboratory environment to support test setup and troubleshooting.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Clear technical documentation and reporting skills

We recognise that candidates may not meet every listed criterion. If your experience aligns with most of the requirements and you are motivated by the mission, we encourage you to apply.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience working with laboratory instrumentation, medical devices or scientific equipment.
• Familiarity with signal processing or sensor calibration techniques.
• Exposure to actuator-based instrumentation (e.g. pumps, valves, motors).
• Basic understanding of contamination control considerations in laboratory equipment.
• Experience contributing to early-stage product development (concept → prototype → refinement).

Key Attributes:

• Curious and analytical, committed to rigorous, evidence-based decision-making.
• Comfortable working in fast-moving, experimental environments with evolving requirements.
• Detail-oriented and methodical in experimental planning and documentation.
• Comfortable translating experimental insight into practical implementation, able to bridge the gap between lab experimentation and engineering implementation.
• Clear communicator, able to explain technical findings to multidisciplinary teams.
• Takes initiative and works effectively both independently and as part of a team to highlight performance improvement opportunities.

Our Benefits:

• Salary: Competitive + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Working Together – What It Involves:

• You must have the right to work permanently in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary. In certain cases, we can consider sponsorship, and this will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
•  You will live in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford (or be willing to relocate).