Career Opportunities in the Foresite Capital Network

The Company

Evonetix is a start-up company which is set to revolutionize de novo gene synthesis as needed to facilitate the fast-growing and incredibly exciting field of synthetic biology. Our technology is based upon a novel silicon array, manufactured with semiconductor microfabrication techniques and capable of independent control of many thousands of miniaturized reaction sites, allowing massive parallelism of the DNA synthesis process.

Our community is a closely-knit multidisciplinary team of mechanical, electronic and software engineers, synthetic and surface chemists, physicists and biologists.

The Position

Evonetix is looking for an engineer to work across our different disciplines to maintain and support the development of instrumentation, investigate issues and to inform our product development and manufacturing activities. These activities may be conducted in support of:

• On-going instrument operation and maintenance.
• Key research and de-risking activities.
• Life testing on key systems and sub-systems within the instrument
• Design of specialist test procedures and equipment to enable the scientific team to conduct their research

The instruments at Evonetix have a range of functions and an ideal candidate would have some familiarity across areas that include:

• Thermal management – managing the heat generated from the silicon chip
• Microfluidics – ensuring stable and consistent reagent delivery
• Mechatronics – delivery of DNA to a pre-defined location
• Electronics – troubleshooting PCB issues
• Embedded software – identifying software bugs and providing simple fixes
• Mechanism design – design of robust and intuitive interfaces that will require mechanical loading

You will be expected to take ownership for a number of discrete tasks that will run in parallel. This will include:

• Working with different parts of the business to troubleshoot instrument failures
• Working with the lead engineer/scientist on the requirements of experimental set-ups
• Implementing actuation mechanisms and data-logging solutions, working with other members of the engineering teams
• Procurement of the standard and bespoke components
• Conducting the relevant risk assessments

This role requires someone who has a critical eye for detail and process.

Skills and experience

You will be degree qualified, or equivalent, in an Engineering discipline, with industrial experience focused in the area of instrument support.

Essential experience

• 3+ years of experience in the maintenance and development of scientific equipment
• Experience of having taken ownership for the design and development of test rigs and the diligent execution of robust test protocols
• Knowledge of standard data logging platforms and data analysis tools
• Knowledge of a range of prototyping and low-volume manufacturing methods
• Experience of troubleshooting Python or other coding languages

Desirable skills

• Experience of working within a quality management system, for example ISO9001
• Background of working within life sciences or scientific instrument design
• Experience of developing jigs and fixtures for manufacturing and assembly purposes

Benefits

This opportunity comes with an attractive benefits package which includes a contributory pension, private medical care, life assurance as well as the opportunity to partake in the staff equity scheme.