Mechatronics development engineer - pathogen (hiring immediately)

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 .

Welcome to the Pathogen Project:

Within this ecosystem, the Pathogen Mission exemplifies EIT’s commitment to transformative science. It aims to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases by leveraging whole genome sequencing (WGS)-based metagenomic and pathogen-specific analytical tools. This remit includes the development of a decentralised, sample-to-answer sequencing diagnostic platform for infectious diseases, enabling rapid and accurate analysis of patient samples without prior assumptions. Supported by Oracle Inc.’s cloud-computing scale and security infrastructure, the Pathogen Mission is progressing towards certified diagnostic products for deployment in laboratories, hospitals, and public health organisations worldwide.

Your Role:

At EIT we are seeking an experienced and detail orientated Mechatronics Development Engineer 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 developing and refining experimental rigs used to test cartridge-based modules, integrating actuators, sensors and thermal systems to manipulate fluids at the microscale. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to innovative healthcare technology with real-world impact.

This role offers scope to shape the mechanical architecture of a novel diagnostic platform and to grow within a multi-disciplinary environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, build, modify and iterate prototype rigs in the laboratory to test and validate cartridge-based modules.
• Design and implement mechanical integration of actuators, sensors, heaters and fluidic interfaces into experimental platforms.
• Develop and refine docking mechanisms between cartridge and instrument.
• Select and integrate off-the-shelf components (motors, syringe pumps, load cells, pressure sensors, heaters, drivers).
• Assemble, wire and commission prototype systems in the lab, including rapid reconfiguration as designs evolve.
• Work closely with electronics and firmware engineers to integrate hardware and control systems.
• Identify mechanical, thermal and integration failure modes through hands-on troubleshooting and testing.
• Conduct structured experimental testing of rigs and document performance improvements.
• Contribute to improving repeatability, robustness and ease-of-use of prototype systems.
• Support design reviews with practical insights from lab testing.
• Maintain clear documentation of rig configurations, changes and experimental results.

Requirements

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Experience in mechatronics, automation, robotics, scientific instrumentation or related applied engineering fields (industry or advanced academic experience considered).
• Demonstrated experience designing and building physical prototypes (not just CAD design).
• Strong CAD skills (e.g. SolidWorks, Fusion 360 or equivalent) with experience taking designs through to physical builds.
• Experience designing and mechanically integrating actuators (e.g. stepper/servo motors, linear drives, syringe systems) into working systems.
• Experience integrating sensors (pressure, force, temperature, flow).
• Practical understanding of tolerance stack-up and mechanical fit.
• Comfortable working in a lab environment (assembly, wiring, debugging).
• Experience identifying and resolving mechanical and integration issues, both independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
• Practical experience selecting, wiring and configuring