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# Staff Systems Design Engineer - Consumables / Microfluidics

- **Company:** Thermofisher Scientific
- **Location:** Pleasanton, CA, United States
- **Salary:** $135,900 - $181,200
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Computer-Aided Design, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision
- **Published:** November 2, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.techcareers.com/job.asp?id=3487409070&tx=TT3734TYZ&pt=1&aff=0B19D771-A501-4A5E-8338-2A822B784D54&utm_source=Job%20Feed&utm_medium=textkernel&utm_campaign=DE&utm_term=0B19D771-A501-4A5E-8338-2A822B784D54

## About the Role

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.

## Description

* 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.