Careers

Biotech devices, lab hardware & wearable medical-adjacent products
Full-time or part-time · Vienna / hybrid

Build hardware that survives contact with reality.

At Aspekt Development, we help deep-tech startups turn lab ideas into functional, manufacturable products. Our work sits between research, product strategy, mechanical engineering, prototyping, testing, and early production.

For this role, we are specifically looking for someone who has already built biotech, life-science, medical-adjacent, laboratory, diagnostic, or wearable hardware — not only designed concepts, but developed parts, mechanisms, assemblies, prototypes, test setups, and iterations that had to work in the real world.

You may have worked as a mechanical designer, product developer, R&D engineer, or hardware engineer in a biotech startup, medtech company, life-science supplier, engineering consultancy, or a serious research-transfer environment.

What you will work on

You will develop physical products and systems for biotech and life-science startups: lab instruments, sample-preparation devices, fluidic systems, cartridges, sensor housings, wearable devices, enclosures, fixtures, mechanisms, and prototype platforms.

Your work will include:

• turning biological, laboratory, and user requirements into mechanical concepts;
• designing precise 3D assemblies, mechanisms, enclosures, cartridges, sealing interfaces, fluid paths, fixtures, and test rigs;
• selecting materials, manufacturing processes, joining methods, seals, tolerances, and suppliers;
• building and testing prototypes quickly — then improving them based on evidence, not taste;
• collaborating closely with electronics, firmware, industrial design, biology, manufacturing partners, and founders;
• preparing documentation, drawings, BOMs, test notes, supplier packages, and design rationales;
• helping projects move from proof-of-concept to robust prototype, pilot build, or early production.

What we need from you

We are not looking for a pure CAD operator. We are looking for someone who can own technical subproblems, make trade-offs, and get hardware across the messy middle between idea and working device.

You should bring:

• several years of hands-on product-development or mechanical-design experience;
• direct experience with biotech, life-science, medtech, lab automation, diagnostics, microfluidics, wearables, or precision devices;
• strong CAD skills, ideally SolidWorks and/or Onshape;
• practical understanding of CNC, sheet metal, plastics, additive manufacturing, elastomers, adhesives, seals, tolerances, and assembly;
• experience with prototype testing, failure analysis, design iteration, and supplier communication;
• the ability to reason across mechanics, usability, manufacturability, cost, reliability, and risk;
• comfort with incomplete information, fast-moving startup projects, and technical ambiguity;
• fluency in English; German is useful, but not the main filter.

Experience with any of the following is a strong plus:

• fluidics, pumps, valves, tubing, cartridges, sample handling, contamination control;
• optical, thermal, electro-mechanical, or sensor-integrated devices;
• wearable products, skin-contact materials, housings, sealing, charging, robustness;
• EN 61010, IEC 60601, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IVDR/MDR-adjacent development;
• DFM/DFA, pilot builds, production transfer, supplier qualification.

What we offer

• Work on serious deep-tech products with real technical depth.
• Small, sharp team with short decision paths and low bureaucracy.
• Direct access to prototyping, testing, suppliers, and real product decisions.
• Projects across biotech, life sciences, medtech-adjacent hardware, wearables, energy, and compute.
• Flexible working setup, including hybrid work and part-time options.
• A light-filled office and workshop environment in Vienna near Westbahnhof.
• The chance to see your designs become physical prototypes quickly — sometimes uncomfortably quickly.

How to apply

Send your application to jobs@aspektdevelopment.com with the subject line:

Biotech Hardware Design Engineer — [Your Name]

Please include:

1. your CV or LinkedIn profile;
2. 2–4 concrete projects you personally contributed to;
3. photos, CAD screenshots, test setups, prototypes, or production parts where possible;
4. for each project: what you owned, what failed, what you changed, and what the final result was.

Applications without concrete built-and-tested project examples are unlikely to be a fit.

Salary: from €60,000 gross/year full-time, with significant overpayment depending on relevant experience. If you already bring strong biotech, medtech, lab-device, or startup hardware experience, we expect to discuss a higher package.

We are always interested in exceptional builders — but we are not a general product-design studio and we are not hiring for generic “innovation” roles.

Please only send an unsolicited application if you have a strong connection to deep-tech hardware and can show things you have actually built, tested, and improved.

That can be professional experience, startup work, research-transfer work, or a serious private project. What matters is evidence.

Good reasons to contact us:

• you have built biotech, medtech, lab, sensor, wearable, energy, compute, or precision hardware;
• you have taken hardware from rough prototype to functional demonstrator, pilot build, or production;
• you can show physical prototypes, test setups, mechanisms, enclosures, fixtures, assemblies, failures, and iterations;
• you are comfortable working across CAD, suppliers, testing, documentation, and technical decision-making.

Please do not send a generic application if your portfolio mainly consists of renderings, branding work, UI mockups, or early-stage concepts without physical testing.

To apply, send jobs@aspektdevelopment.com:

1. a short intro;
2. your CV or LinkedIn profile;
3. 2–4 built projects;
4. what you personally did;
5. what you learned from testing or failure.

If there is a strong fit, we will get in touch.