ABOUT AVAILS:
Avails Medical, Inc., is a well-funded medical device start-up based in Menlo Park, California. We are a leader in the development of rapid, automated and fully electrical antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) technologies with our products eQUANT™ and eAST™ platforms based on a novel bio-sensor for rapid infectious disease detection. In 2024, we have announced 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for our groundbreaking eQUANT™ system. The eQUANT™ system is a leap forward in combating antibiotic resistance, providing a standardized inoculum (0.5 McFarland equivalent) directly from positive blood cultures.
We are dedicated in our drive to make rapid AST accessible and affordable to hospital microbiology labs, empowering them to provide actionable infectious disease treatment information with simplified laboratory workflows to save lives, reduce outcome costs and reduce the threat of global antimicrobial resistance.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
The R&D Engineer will play a key role within the R&D team, responsible for guiding new feature/product development as well as improving processes and metrics for our FDA cleared product. This role will have the opportunity to drive innovation at Avails Medical and be a part of both our first product launch and additional products which are part of our pipeline. The successful candidate will utilize experimental and analytical skills to support product development as well as root cause analysis efforts, while interfacing with an interdisciplinary team of electrical, mechanical and software engineers as well as data scientists and microbiologists.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS / RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Design and execute experiments to guide product design, optimize existing products, and develop new products & features
- Execute troubleshooting and root cause analysis for sensors and consumables, including working with contract manufacturers to resolve issues in a timely manner
- Develop new measurement procedures, test fixtures, and prototypes (including software/algorithms) as required to characterize sensor and consumable performance
- Assist in developing and transferring assembly, manufacturing, and inspection processes from R&D to production
- Regularly analyze lot characterization/release data to identify trends, improve manufacturing processes, and optimize testing procedures
- Work closely with multidisciplinary teams including microbiology, systems engineering, data science, and quality/regulatory on project planning and execution
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION:
- Master’s degree in Physics/Engineering/Bioengineering or a related field with a minimum of two years of experience
- PhD in Physics/Engineering/Bioengineering or a related field preferred
- Experience with characterizing precision electronic sensors (biosensors preferred) and executing/troubleshooting sensitive measurements
- Experience in designing and building/troubleshooting electronic measurement systems (analog circuits preferred)
- Experience characterizing and optimizing biological systems/assays and designing novel tools to study such systems
- Strong track record using statistical tools/modeling to analyze data
- Strong background in programming to automate measurement and analysis of data (Python preferred)
- Experience with CAD and rapid prototyping is a plus
- Experience with consumable development and manufacturing/assembly is a plus
- Basic wet laboratory bench skills required (microbiology experience preferred)
PERSONAL TRAITS:
- Motivated, independent, and able to handle several projects concurrently
- Excellent communication skills (written, verbal, formal presentation) at all levels of the organization
- Excellent attention to detail and record-keeping skills required
