Junior Scientist, Assay Development

Junior Scientist, Assay Development (Immunoassay)

Location: London, on-site (laboratory currently based in Stevenage; aiming to relocate to London) | Compensation: Competitive salary | Start: Immediate. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.

Our mission

At Unravel Health we're bringing the capability of a lab into the home, which is where healthcare is heading.

We're starting with endocrine health, because for women the data on their fluctuating hormones is missing – from diagnosis to drug development.

We're building the hardware and AI to capture the longitudinal picture of the endocrine system that doesn't yet exist, and with it the tools to fundamentally change how women's bodies are understood, researched and treated.

We're a small company with a very experienced leadership team:

• founding doctor with a background in biomedical engineering
• product founder previously from global brands
• commercial founder who scaled a healthtech company from our current size to IPO
• with fractional support from Royal Academy of Engineering professor and a biosensor academic whose work on Unravel's underlying IP has been published in journals including Nature.

Unravel already has research collaborators around the world. The phase ahead, getting our first product into the hands of women, will be transformative not just for this company but for healthcare. As part of the team that delivers it, you could do the most meaningful work of your career.

This is the moment to join.

What we are building

We are developing an at-home diagnostic to measure hormones and related biomarkers in saliva. Our objective is to deliver comparable analytical performance to a central lab test, at home.

The role

We are seeking a Junior Scientist to join our assay development team. Working closely with our science leads, you will be hands-on at the bench, developing, optimising and validating our hormone immunoassays, from chemistry through to characterisation.

This is a hands-on, execution-focused role for an early-career scientist who wants to put their training into practice on a product that reaches people. You will run experiments, own your data, and help build the assays at the core of what we do.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and run quantitative hormone immunoassays at the bench
• Optimise assay performance across sensitivity, reproducibility and stability
• Plan and execute experiments and validation studies
• Maintain documentation to regulatory standards, with traceable, reproducible records suitable for audit and technical-file submission
• Uphold data integrity and statistical rigour in everything you do
• Work alongside hardware and clinical colleagues, and external collaborators
• Keep on top of the scientific literature and bring new ideas and methods to the team

Who you are

You are first and foremost a scientist: analytical by nature, with close attention to detail and a natural drive to find solutions to questions. You want to be actively contributing to changing the way women are diagnosed across the world, and you see every experiment you run at the bench as a direct part of making that happen. You think about the impact on the end product, not just how it works in theory, or in lab. You are ready to roll up your sleeves and bring this to life.

• Organised - the idea of meticulously designing an SOP fills you with joy.
• Proactive - you don't wait to be told; you take initiative, you speak up with suggestion (and corrections!)
• A super nerd - aka you read scientific papers for fun.
• A natural problem solver - you're not satisfied until you've cracked it.
• Hard working - we're trying to get to the moon, so we need you firmly aboard that rocket ship.
• You know immunoassays like the back of your hand - and now you're ready to put it into practice
• You've been waiting for this - the chance to put your scientific knowledge into something that will impact millions of women. Bringing something to practice that will change the lives of millions is exactly the next stage of the journey you've been waiting for

Must-haves

• Master's degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline (biochemistry, analytical chemistry, bioengineering, biomedical science, or related)
• Hands-on experience personally designing, developing and testing immunoassays.
• Rigorous quantitative and statistical analysis skills.
• Practical experience with human biological samples (for example blood, saliva, or urine).
• Capacity to work autonomously in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent scientific communication, able to present reasoning, methods, and conclusions clearly to scientific and non-scientific audiences.
• Based in London, or willing to relocate, and able to work on-site. Right to work in the UK.
• Strong data analysis skills : you can look at imperfect experimental data, identify what it is telling you, recognise uncertainty and outliers, and use it to decide what experiment to run next

Preferred

• PhD in a relevant discipline (biochemistry, analytical chemistry, bioengineering, biomedical science, or related).
• Experience with steroid or peptide hormone assays.
• Familiarity with freeze-drying / lyophilisation for cartridge reagent stabilisation.
• Experience working with saliva samples.
• Experience with low-concentration analyte measurement or high-sensitivity detection methods.
• Experience with any, but not limited to: python, excel, quantitative assay analysis (e.g. curve fitting, calibration curves, coefficient of variation, LOD/LOQ)

Why join us

• A hands-on role at the heart of a core product, with real ownership.
• The opportunity to take diagnostic assays from concept through validation to market.
• Work on cutting-edge technology with direct, real-world impact on women's health.
• Competitive salary with EMI equity package.

How to apply

Please send your CV and a concise covering note (half a page maximum) to careers@unravel.health. In your note, we would value: A diagnostic assay you developed and the specific contribution you owned.

We read these carefully. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Unravel is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to an inclusive team in which strong scientific thinking can thrive. If you require any adjustments to the application process, please let us know. We are not able to sponsor visas, so applicants require a right to work in the UK.