Microscopy & Optics
Development Engineer (m/f/d)
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At PHIO, we develop imaging and analysis technologies for monitoring living cell cultures. Our systems combine lensfree imaging, hardware, software, and AI to help researchers observe and quantify biological processes over time.
You will build and develop a microscope for imaging 3D cell cultures, particularly organoids. The system will combine established microscopy methods with variations of PHIO’s lensfree and holographic imaging technology.
Your central challenge is to make automated time-lapse measurements reliable and practical for our biology team. This means integrating optical methods and instrument control while maintaining suitable conditions for living samples over extended experiments.
This is a hands-on development role. You will take optical concepts through assembly, testing, and iteration, working closely with colleagues in biology, hardware, software, and AI. You will collaborate with our existing innovation engineer on the integration of optical methods into experimental systems and prototypes.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, assemble, align, and test a modular microscope for live-cell and 3D organoid imaging.
- Integrate bright-field and fluorescence imaging, confocal 3D acquisition, and variations of PHIO’s lensfree and holographic methods.
- Select and integrate optical components, cameras, illumination, stages, and other motorized hardware.
- Develop and improve automated acquisition workflows, including repeated imaging of the same samples over time.
- Work with biologists to translate requirements for sample handling, environmental conditions, and ease of use into a reliable experimental setup.
- Measure and improve image quality, focus and positional stability, calibration, and reproducibility across experiments.
- Implement or adapt instrument-control and image-processing methods needed to operate and evaluate the system.
- Document the setup, acquisition settings, calibration procedures, and known limitations so that colleagues can run experiments independently and interpret the resulting data.
Profile Requirements
- An MSc or PhD in optical engineering, physics, biophysics, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Hands-on experience building, aligning, integrating, and troubleshooting microscopes or comparable optical instruments.
- A sound understanding of imaging optics, wave optics, diffraction theory, and optical measurements.
- Experience with opto-mechanical design and the integration of cameras, illumination, and motorized components.
- The ability to turn an experimental concept into a working system, assess its performance quantitatively, and improve it through testing.
- Programming skills, ideally in Python, for instrument control, automated acquisition, or data analysis.
- A careful approach to calibration, documentation, and reproducible experiments.
- The ability to work closely with biologists and engineers to make a system usable beyond its original developer.
- Experience with automated live-cell imaging, environmental control for cell cultures, confocal microscopy, digital holography, or lensfree imaging would be valuable. You do not need to bring all of these skills.
What We Offer
- The opportunity to build a microscope that our biology team will use for experiments with living cells and organoids.
- Room to develop and test optical methods, including PHIO’s lensfree and holographic imaging approaches.
- Close collaboration across optics, biology, engineering, software, and AI.
- A full-time, fixed-term position based in Martinsried / Munich.
- As the work involves building and testing hardware, a substantial part of the role takes place on site.
Apply Now
- Your current CV (highlighting relevant projects and your technical impact).
- No formal cover letter required. Instead, tell us in a few sentences about an optical instrument or experimental setup you helped build, what you personally contributed, and how you tested it.
