Senior Product Development Engineer

We are looking for a talented and driven engineer to help maintain state-of-the-art world-leading laboratory systems. In this pivotal role, you will be the engineer others look to when a problem is hard, when a design decision has downstream consequences, or when someone needs to hold the thread across mechanical, electronic, and software domains. The role is primarily office and lab-based at our Melbourn site.

What you will be doing:

• Investigating and resolving field and manufacturing issues across the sample management product range, taking technical ownership from root cause through to implemented solution.
• Leading design changes and product improvements, managing the process from concept and feasibility through to design verification and production handover.
• Working collaboratively with electronics, firmware, software, manufacturing, and quality engineers, acting as the mechanical lead and systems integrator across those disciplines.
• Contributing to design reviews, risk assessments, and design for manufacturability activities.
• Supporting the service and applications teams with technical guidance on complex field issues.
• Identifying and championing longer-term improvement opportunities within the product portfolio.

About us:

Based in Melbourn, near Cambridge, UK, SPT Labtech creates innovative products that transform how scientists work. For nearly two decades, our multidisciplinary teams of engineers, scientists, and innovators have delivered industry-leading solutions in liquid handling, sample preparation, and sample management, accelerating scientific discovery and improving human health outcomes. Our strength lies in collaboration: we work closely with our customers to understand real‑world lab challenges, creating personalised, cutting‑edge tools that truly make a difference.

About you:

You’ll ideally be a mechanically-focused engineer with the technical breadth and intellectual curiosity to work fluently across disciplines. You don't need to be an electronics engineer or a software developer — but you should be comfortable reading a schematic, interrogating a sensor integration, or challenging a firmware approach when the system requires it. What matters is genuine mechanical depth combined with the systems thinking to understand how your decisions propagate into other domains.

Essential Requirements:

• A degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline; a Master's qualification is advantageous, but equivalent industry experience is equally valued.
• Significant experience in product development, ideally in scientific instrumentation, laboratory automation, medical devices, or a comparably demanding hardware environment.
• A strong mechanical engineering foundation: mechanism design, thermal management, tolerancing, DFM/DFS, with demonstrable experience delivering products through to manufacture.
• Proven ability to work across multidisciplinary teams, with sufficient understanding of electronics and software to engage confidently with specialists, interrogate technical trade-offs, and make informed decisions at a system level.
• Experience leading technical work packages or project teams, with the ability to plan, manage risk, and deliver to milestones.
• Proficiency in SolidWorks or comparable parametric 3D CAD, including use within a managed PDM environment.
• Strong analytical and fault-finding skills, with a methodical approach to root cause investigation.
• Clear and effective communicator, able to translate technical complexity for different audiences.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience with mechanical refrigeration systems, particularly in the -20°C to -80°C range, this is directly relevant to our cold storage portfolio and would be a significant advantage.
• Experience with thermal analysis or simulation, such as FEA-based thermal modelling, particularly in the context of managing heat transfer, condensation, or insulation performance in complex enclosures.
• Exposure to motion control, embedded sensors, or fluidics in a product context.
• Working knowledge of relevant safety standards, including IEC 61010 and the Machinery Directive/Regulation.
• Any familiarity with automated liquid handling systems operating in the µl to nl regime would be a welcome bonus.

Our commitment to you:

You’ll be working with talented professionals in a motivated and driven team. We offer a competitive salary package and comprehensive, valued benefits, including private medical insurance, a generous pension plan, and an annual discretionary bonus. We embrace diversity and inclusivity, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical ability, or family status. We prioritise supporting our employees' diverse needs as we strive for excellence together.