Staff Systems Design Engineer - Consumables / Microfluidics

• Lead the design of consumables, cartridges and microfluidic systems for molecular biology and sample-preparation workflows.
• Translate customer and scientific workflows into fluidic functions, consumable requirements and interface definitions.
• Develop architectures incorporating fluid transport, metering, mixing, thermal control, sealing, reagent storage and waste management.
• Lead concept generation, prototyping, modeling and trade studies across materials, mechanisms and form factors.
• Optimize interactions among consumables, assays, reagents, instruments, automation and users.
• Evaluate concepts based on scientific performance, customer experience, manufacturability, scalability and unit cost.
• Balance consumable complexity with instrument functionality to achieve the best system and business outcome.

Advance Materials and Manufacturing Innovation

• Evaluate polymers, adhesives, coatings, membranes and other materials for chemical, biological, optical and mechanical compatibility.
• Develop solutions using processes such as injection molding, thermoforming, bonding, lamination, precision assembly and reagent integration.
• Identify new materials, surface treatments and manufacturing technologies that enable differentiated capabilities.
• Apply design-for-manufacturing, assembly, automation and inspection principles from early development.
• Set design-to-cost targets and define critical-to-quality characteristics, tolerances and process requirements.
• Ensure innovative concepts can be manufactured reliably and economically at commercial scale.

Lead Commercialization and Supplier Partnerships

• Lead development from feasibility through tooling, process development, design transfer and commercial launch.
• Validate manufacturing, scale and cost assumptions before significant design or tooling commitments.
• Develop production concepts addressing tooling, equipment, cycle time, inspection, yield and quality controls.
• Identify and evaluate suppliers based on technical capability, quality, capacity, cost and supply resilience.
• Build effective relationships with contract manufacturers, tooling partners and specialized technology providers.
• Partner with Operations and suppliers to improve yield, control variation and achieve target cost.
• Make evidence-based trade-offs involving performance, COGS, capital investment and manufacturing risk.
• Resolve issues involving materials, tooling, processes, consumable lots and supplier variation.

Enable Integrated and Automated Workflows

• Design consumables as part of complete sample-to-answer systems-not standalone components.
• Partner with systems, assay, instrument and automation teams to define interfaces and operating conditions.
• Develop architectures supporting robotic handling, liquid handling and automated execution.
• Improve workflow simplicity, contamination control, sample integrity and error prevention.
• Consider the full consumable lifecycle, including loading, processing, disposal, traceability and sustainability.
• Support future connected and intelligent laboratory workflows.

Apply Modeling, Data and AI

• Use fluidic, thermal, mechanical and statistical models to guide design and manufacturing decisions.
• Apply simulation and model-based methods to reduce design cycles and prototype iterations.
• Use AI-assisted engineering for concept exploration, optimization, tolerance analysis and experiment planning.
• Apply advanced analytics to connect design and process parameters with yield, cost and scientific performance.
• Explore computer vision and intelligent inspection for defect detection and production quality.
• Ensure AI-generated recommendations receive appropriate engineering review and experimental validation.

Lead Technical Development and Build Capability

• Design experiments to characterize fluidic behavior, material interactions and system performance.
• Lead root-cause investigations involving consumables, assays, instruments and manufacturing.
• Apply design of experiments, statistics and risk-management methods to technical decisions.
• Define requirements and test methods with systems and V&V teams.
• Develop reusable design principles, models and reference architectures.
• Mentor engineers and scientists in microfluidics, manufacturability and design-to-cost.

This role requires demonstrated success taking microfluidic consumables beyond prototypes into commercially manufactured products. The successful candidate will combine creativity and hands-on engineering with practical knowledge of suppliers, tooling, manufacturing processes and unit economics., * Master’s degree or PhD in mechanical engineering, bioengineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science or a related discipline.

• Industry experience commercializing microfluidic consumables for molecular biology, diagnostics or related life-science applications.
• Proven success taking consumables from concept through tooling, manufacturing scale-up, design transfer and launch.
• Experience developing cost-effective products for repeat production-not only research prototypes or low-volume devices.
• Experience working with assay development, engineering, operations, quality, sourcing and external manufacturers.
• Experience in regulated or highly quality-controlled product-development environments.

Technical and Commercial Depth

• Strong knowledge of microfluidics, fluid transport, thermal systems and consumable architecture.
• Experience integrating consumables with molecular biology assays, reagents, instruments and workflows.
• Knowledge of polymers, adhesives, coatings, membranes, surface properties and biological compatibility.
• Direct experience with relevant high-volume manufacturing, bonding, assembly and inspection processes.
• Strong understanding of tooling, tolerances, process capability, yield and manufacturing economics.
• Ability to make design trade-offs based on COGS, capital investment and supply scalability.
• Experience with CAD, multiphysics simulation or computational fluid-dynamics tools.
• Expertise in experimental design, statistics and root-cause investigation.
• Familiarity with qPCR, dPCR or related molecular biology workflows is strongly preferred.

Leadership and Behaviors

• Creative but commercially grounded technical leader.
• Connects molecular biology, engineering, manufacturing and customer value.
• Challenges impractical concepts early and supports recommendations with evidence.
• Builds effective partnerships with internal teams, suppliers and manufacturers.
• Influences without direct authority and develops other engineers.
• Balances innovation and speed with quality, scalability and cost.

The salary range estimated for this position based in California is $135,900.00-$181,200.00.

This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:

• A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs
• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement
• At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy
• Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan
• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Genetic Sciences Division develops life-science platforms integrating instruments, consumables, assays, software and data.