Bioelectronics Engineer, Wetware & Biosensor Integration

About the Role

This position centers on end-to-end ownership of wetware integration and sensor experimentation to validate concepts in real-world contexts. The role requires building systems-level thinking that accounts for hardware constraints while guiding protein design from initial concept to living system testing. You will function as the foundational technical owner, merging molecular biology, electronics, and materials science within a foundry environment. The position is based in Pasadena, California, as a full-time engagement. The compensation package is $180,000 USD over a three-year term. You will architect the wet side of biosensor integration, connecting proteins, hydrogels, and membranes with hardware teams to ensure seamless function. A core task involves directing experimental mapping to isolate biosensor faults from issues such as immobilization limits or biofluid matrix effects, all while managing optical and electrochemical noise. You will drive directed evolution workflows and protein design cycles, using benchtop results and assay feedback to guide iterations in a rigorous, iterative manner.

What you'll do

Architect the integration of wetware components, ensuring that protein interfaces are compatible with electronic readouts and mechanical constraints from day one. Direct experimental mapping efforts to distinguish biosensor performance limitations arising from protein behavior versus immobilization boundaries or biofluid complexity. Drive the execution of directed evolution campaigns, designing protein variants and using assay data to steer iterative improvements in binding and signal fidelity. Customize or construct instrumentation platforms dedicated to protein biophysics, electrochemistry, and optical measurements, optimizing them for compact, high-throughput foundry workflows. Automate fabrication and wet chemistry protocols using robotics to increase experimental throughput and reduce variability from manual handling steps. Synthesize and formulate hydrogels and surface chemistries that support stable protein immobilization and robust signal detection across diverse biofluid conditions. Coordinate cross-functionally with hardware, software, and vendor partners to align device prototypes with manufacturability, reliability, and scalability expectations. Define and own milestone-driven experiment plans in three-month cycles, creating tight feedback loops that inform protein engineering and device design decisions. Design and execute a novel biosensing scheme, such as highly multiplexed readout, and validate it on benchtop platforms within the first six months. Refine wet-facing components over a fifteen-month horizon to support initial in vivo studies, preparing documentation and iteration plans based on empirical performance data.

Requirements

A doctorate is required in a field involving science and engineering, with demonstrated strong independent ideation and execution capabilities. Alternatively, a Bachelor of Science or Master of Science is acceptable if accompanied by more than five years of extensive industry experience. You must possess deep expertise in at least two of the following domains, with working competence across them: protein engineering, protein expression and purification, bioconjugation, surface chemistry, hydrogels or biomaterials, optical biosensing, electrochemical biosensing, microfluidics, assay automation, biofluid assay development, and biofouling characterization and mitigation. You must be able to build or customize instrumentation for protein biophysics, optics, and electrochemistry, demonstrating hands-on capability with physical prototypes and experimental platforms. Quantitative judgment is required to design experiments under real-world constraints, aligning roadmap goals with instrument capabilities and lab throughput limitations. Demonstrated precision in experimental work and scientific project management is mandatory to ensure reliable, reproducible outcomes in a fast-paced environment. Strong technical communication skills across relevant scientific fields and cross-functional teams are essential for translating complex concepts into actionable plans. A commitment to following scope and meeting the bar for performance, documentation, and collaboration is explicitly required for success in this role.

Nice to have

Three or more years of industry experience in device engineering, particularly in molecular sensing and medical device design, is preferred. Two or more years of industry experience in medical device manufacturing is also valued for understanding scale-up and quality considerations. The ideal candidate can write custom scripts for data analysis and instrument interfacing, reducing manual overhead and accelerating iteration cycles. Conceptual command of the electronic nose field is an advantage, especially regarding sensor array design and pattern recognition approaches. Two or more years of team management and mentoring experience, with a track record of coordinating across chemists, materials scientists, hardware engineers, software and data scientists, vendors, and academic collaborators, is strongly preferred.

Practical notes

Please What you'll do

• Meet the bar