Product Design Engineer

Who We Are

illumicell AI is a Harvard-Pagliuca Lab based Techmed startup building AI-powered, label-free cell analysis to bring fast, objective diagnostics to the point of care. Starting with male fertility, we’re developing a new standard for how living cells are measured, understood, and acted upon, bridging hardware, software, and machine learning to unlock scalable, real-world clinical impact.

• Design, prototype, and develop mechanical components, assemblies, and subsystems from concept through manufacturing.
• Create prototypes, evaluate design tradeoffs, and rapidly iterate based on testing and feedback. Own CAD development, detailed drawings, BOMs, and related engineering documentation.
• Lead design for manufacturability (DFM), assembly (DFA), and reliability efforts.
• Support consumable selection, development, and manufacturing.
• Lead hardware manufacturing efforts, including working with outside suppliers and guiding internal builds.
• Plan and execute component and system level testing to verify device performance.
• Analyze results, identify issues, and drive design improvements.

• Collaborate with electrical, software, optics, clinical, and regulatory teams.
• Contribute to design documents and technical documentation within a quality system.

• 5+ years of experience developing and shipping complex hardware products.
• Proven track record delivering complex hardware systems.
• Experience working with suppliers and manufacturing processes for low- to mid-volume production.

• Strong CAD skills (OnShape, Solid Works).
• Strong mechanical design fundamentals, including tolerance analysis, materials selection, and manufacturing methods.
• Experience with system-level testing and performance validation.

• Enjoys designing, building, and rapidly iterating.
• Strategic, hands-on, detail-oriented. Executes fast without compromising quality.
• Based in Boston, with on-site presence and flexible remote days depending on project needs.

• Start-up or scale-up experience.
• Background in diagnostics, digital pathology, or medical imaging.

• Build at the intersection of hardware, optics, AI, and medicine — with a deeply interdisciplinary team working on one of the most under-modernized areas of diagnostics.
• See your work come to life in real time: design, prototype, test, iterate, and watch what you build move directly toward use in clinical collaborations with hospitals and physicians.
• Join a fast-moving team trying to change how living cells are analyzed — starting with fertility diagnostics, but building toward a much broader platform for point-of-care medicine.
• Take real ownership early. In a small team, your decisions will shape the device, the product, and the path from lab prototype to clinical deployment.