Full-Time
Field Service Engineer
SPT Labtech
201-500 employees
Designs and manufactures liquid handling instruments
No salary listed
Remote in UK + 1 more
More locations: Cambridge, UK
Remote
The role covers the UK and mainland Europe, with approximately 10–12 overnight travel days per month and occasional travel farther afield.
Associate's
 Hardware Engineering (1) |
|---|
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- Previous experience with electro-mechanical and automated systems is essential.
- Ability to travel on short notice in the United Kingdom and Europe, at times involving at least 60% overnight travel.
- Education equivalent to an Engineering Apprenticeship and HNC, or an HND in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering.
- A valid passport and driving license are required.
- Perform field service work including on-site installation, preventative maintenance, and repair work.
- Ensure a high degree of customer satisfaction through timely, concise, clear communication and excellent service delivery.
- Travel at short notice to support other Field Service Engineers when needed.
- Complete all required documentation in a timely manner.
- Communicate product quality issues to the appropriate persons.
- Work closely with the Sales team and the Field Applications Specialists.
- Carry out core responsibilities effectively while meeting key performance indicators that measure performance and impact.
- Previous experience within the pharmaceutical or healthcare sectors.
- Previous experience working with liquid handling.
SPT Labtech designs and manufactures automated instruments for life sciences, focusing on liquid handling and sample management. Its products automate tasks such as high-throughput screening, low-volume liquid handling, and automated assay development, using robotics, precise pipetting, and software-controlled workflows to run experiments with minimal human intervention. The company differentiates itself through reliable, easy-to-use systems that integrate hardware with consumables and support services, serving pharma, academia, and research organizations worldwide. Its goal is to speed up life-science research and drug discovery by providing scalable, automated solutions that streamline experiments and improve data quality.
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Acquired
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
Melbourn, United Kingdom
Founded
2001
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Illumina launched fireflyGO on May 28, 2026, validating SPT Labtech's technology.
- SPT Labtech acquired BioMicroLab on July 1, 2026, expanding sample-management cross-sell opportunities.
- EMBL GeneCore installed firefly+ in April 2026, strengthening credibility in genomics automation.
What critics are saying
- Illumina controls critical workflow demand, compressing SPT Labtech pricing and roadmap leverage.
- EQT-backed acquisition pressure and BioMicroLab integration can distract management through 2026.
- If fireflyGO adoption stalls, SPT Labtech remains a niche hardware vendor with limited recurring revenue.
What makes SPT Labtech unique
- firefly and fireflyGO bundle pipetting, dispensing, and library prep in one platform.
- Illumina partnership embeds SPT Labtech into MiSeq i100 oncology workflows in 2026.
- BioMicroLab acquisition broadens sample-management breadth beyond liquid handling into end-to-end automation.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Performance Bonus
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↓ -2%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 14%Illumina and SPT Labtech have launched fireflyGO, a benchtop automation platform for targeted oncology research. Integrated with Illumina's MiSeq i100 Series, the system automates library preparation and liquid handling, reducing manual touchpoints and laboratory staffing needs whilst improving reproducibility. The platform supports Illumina's expanding portfolio of Pillar Biosciences oncoReveal targeted research panels, including the new Nexus 21 Gene Panel for solid tumours and haematological malignancies, and an 84-gene Lymphoid Panel for B-cell, T-cell and lymphoblastic markers. The collaboration aims to make next-generation sequencing more accessible and efficient for cancer testing workflows. Illumina showcased the fireflyGO platform at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago from 29 May through 2 June.
SPT Labtech and EMBL GeneCore collaborate to advance fully walkaway automation in genomics workflows. * firefly+ liquid handling platform installed at EMBL GeneCore * Collaboration to enable more streamlined end-to-end workflows while maintaining sample integrity Cambridge, UK, and Heidelberg, Germany, 13 April 2026: SPT Labtech, a global leader in the design and development of laboratory automation and liquid handling solutions, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's Genomics Core Facility (EMBL GeneCore), today announced a collaboration to advance fully walkaway automated genomics workflows. As part of the collaboration, SPT Labtech's firefly(R) + all-in-one liquid handling platform has been installed at EMBL GeneCore, an internationally recognized, state-of-the-art genomics service center. Through the installation of firefly+, EMBL GeneCore will expand its capacity to develop new protocols and further validate and optimize existing workflows for challenging applications such as low-input and metagenomics samples to support the broader genomics community. SPT Labtech's firefly+ all-in-one liquid handling platform is a compact and highly flexible automation solution designed to simplify complex genomics workflows, combining pipetting, dispensing, incubating, and shaking technologies into a single instrument. The automated protocols use New England Biolabs(R)(NEB) library preparation kits, NEBNext(R), to generate high-yield, high-quality libraries from a wide input range. Designed for simplicity and efficiency, the kits enable development of low bias, high-sensitivity NGS protocols, with minimal plastic waste. Installation of SPT Labtech's firefly+ platform at EMBL GeneCore, combined with the simplicity of NEB(R) kits, creates a robust foundation for fully walkaway automation, enabling more streamlined, end-to-end workflows and supporting labs to scale automation more easily. Vladimir Benes, Head of Genomics Core Facility (GeneCore) at EMBL, said: "The installation of SPT Labtech's firefly+ platform as part of our collaboration underscores our commitment to remain at the forefront of scientific innovation. Fully walkaway automation will address key bottlenecks in genomics workflows, helping us develop high-quality, scalable NGS protocols." Morten Frost, Chief Commercial Officer, SPT Labtech, commented: "Our latest collaboration with EMBL GeneCore marks a significant step towards advancing fully walkaway automation, providing end-to-end genomics workflows for a much wider range of applications, including environmental and rare species research. We are excited to expand access to our firefly+ platform in Europe through collaboration in the biotech hub of Heidelberg, where strong industry collaborations are driving ecosystem growth." Bjoern Textor PhD, Sales and Senior Applications Manager, New England Biolabs GmbH, added: "Integration of our library prep kits with SPT Labtech's firefly+ platform at EMBL GeneCore creates a compelling opportunity for faster, scalable DNA and RNA-Seq workflows, and we look forward to working together to develop novel solutions to overcome persistent challenges in genomics research."
SPT Labtech to collaborate with Illumina to develop automated platform supporting genomics in decentralized healthcare settings. * SPT Labtech to develop an automated sample preparation platform for Illumina to further optimize the efficiency and benefits of genomic workflows in decentralized healthcare settings * Builds on success of existing partnership including development of automated library preparation methods on SPT Labtech's firefly(R) platform * The novel platform will enable decentralized labs to access the same level of automation, precision and reproducibility as large core facilities Cambridge, UK, 25 February 2026: SPT Labtech, a global leader in the design and development of laboratory automation and liquid handling solutions, today announced a strategic collaboration with Illumina to develop a novel automated sample preparation platform designed to streamline and standardize genomics workflows across decentralized healthcare environments. The collaboration will focus on helping labs support improved patient care in oncology by enabling broader access to high-quality genomic characterization of disease. By bringing advanced automation to laboratories of all sizes and settings, the collaboration aims to accelerate the delivery of actionable insights from sample to result. The platform will support laboratories using Illumina's MiSeq i100 benchtop sequencing system, which makes high-quality next-generation sequencing (NGS) more accessible to labs around the world. The solution is designed to provide standardized, automated workflows that enable laboratories to achieve rapid, high-quality insights closer to where critical decisions are being made. Rob Walton, Chief Executive Officer at SPT Labtech, said: "This next phase of collaboration with Illumina reflects our shared focus on enabling efficient and accessible genomics workflows, further expanding SPT Labtech's presence in the clinical genomics market. With the rapid global adoption of Illumina's MiSeq i100 platform and the recent shipment of its 1,000th system, there is a growing demand from laboratories seeking to perform their sequencing operations in-house, thereby maximizing control and reducing turnaround times. By combining our expertise in automation and sequencing, we are well positioned to help laboratories adopt advanced genomics workflows within decentralized healthcare settings." Todd Christian, senior vice president of Services, Arrays, and Genomic Access at Illumina commented: "Labs around the world rely on Illumina for high-quality, reliable insights and end-to-end workflows that make it easier for them to unlock crucial genomic insights faster. This collaboration builds on that history and doubles down on our commitment to expand access to next-generation sequencing for labs of all sizes, ultimately enabling researchers and clinicians to drive breakthroughs that matter for the patients they serve."
SPT Labtech, Illumina to develop automated sample preparation platform for MiSeq i100. NEW YORK - SPT Labtech said on Wednesday that it will collaborate with Illumina to develop an automated sample preparation platform for the sequencing technology firm's MiSeq i100 benchtop system. To read the full story...
SPT Labtech and BellBrook Labs introduce high-throughput screening platform for cancer research. Cambridge, UK, and Madison, USA, 9 February 2026: SPT Labtech, a global leader in the design and development of automated instrumentation and consumables for life sciences, and BellBrook Labs, a pioneer in high-throughput screening (HTS) assay tools, today announced a collaboration to advance cancer research. Together, the companies have developed a miniaturized, high-throughput screening platform for the discovery and profiling of Vacuolar protein sorting associated protein 4B (VPS4B) ATPase inhibitors, addressing a critical bottleneck in early-stage oncology drug discovery. VPS4B has emerged as a high-priority therapeutic target in oncology due to its overexpression in specific tumors and its synthetic-lethal relationship with its paralog, VPS4A, but despite its potential, the industry has so far lacked robust, scalable screening approaches to identify effective inhibitors. The new miniaturized platform addresses this challenge by combining BellBrook Labs' Transcreener(R) ADP2 fluorescence polarization assay with SPT Labtech's dragonfly(R) discovery system. The Transcreener assay enables direct, homogeneous detection of ADP with high sensitivity, while SPT Labtech's dragonfly discovery system for automated reagent dispensing offers a precise and scalable solution. The combined solution is capable of operating in 384- and 1536-well formats, improving data quality over manual approaches, while significantly minimizing reagent consumption and cost. High-throughput screening on this platform enabled identification of 13 novel VPS4B inhibitors, which can be further evaluated using SPT Labtech's mosquito(R) liquid handling platform for rapid, robust follow-up testing. Data demonstrating identification of 13 novel VPS4B inhibitors will be presented at SLAS 2026, 7-11 February, 2026. Justin Brink, President of BellBrook Labs, commented: "Our collaboration with SPT Labtech is a response to the industry's need for smarter, moreresource-efficient drug discovery. Through a combination of our Transcreener technology with the precision of the dragonfly discovery platform, we have significantly lowered the barriers to VPS4B screening, allowing researchers to dramatically reduce reagent consumption while maintaining the high Z' values and data sensitivity required for reliable hit identification. It's a game-changer for any biotech or pharma team targeting these complex ATPases." "Building on 25 years of positive displacement technology, we are supporting our customers to achieve faster, more efficient liquid handling, laying the foundation for the next generation of laboratory automation," said Joby Jenkins, Chief Technology Officer at SPT Labtech. "Our latest collaboration with BellBrook Labs demonstrates the power of combining industry-leading assay chemistry with world-class liquid handling. By miniaturizing the VPS4B assay without compromising data quality, we are providing Pharma and Biotech companies with a truly scalable path toward new cancer therapeutics." SPT Labtech and BellBrook Labs will be exhibiting at SLAS 2026 (booth 616 and 2808, respectively). Media Contact: Dr Ben Rutter, Zyme Communications - [email protected]