Senior Product Development Engineer

at Permobil in Belleville, Illinois, United States

Job Description

Senior Product Development Engineer

This position is for someone who is goal driven, self-motivated, and possesses the ability to take on the position as the technical lead responsible for development of an entire manual wheelchair system, leveraging support of the team surrounding them to do so.

Key Duties:

Senior engineer accountable for the translation of business and customer needs into functional mechanical designs, assuming responsibility for the mechanical system in its entirety for new Manual Wheelchairs developed under the Permobil Seating and Positioning brand of products.

Develop product designs by using engineering principles and techniques to research, design, analyze, and test new product designs, technologies, materials, and prototypes.

Work with key stakeholders within engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers to ensure timely and high-quality product development.

Responsible for leading and/or supporting the completion of several complex NPD projects.

Prioritize and handle multiple project deliverables in a fast paced and result oriented environment.

Provide lead oversight to supporting development engineers, ensuring mechanical designs meet the system level requirements, collaborating closely with Systems Engineering, Quality, Product Management, Operations, and Project Management team members in doing so.

Coach and/or mentor junior level engineers, overseeing work performed to ensure adequacy.

Design and build prototypes and functional models, leveraging internal prototyping, fabrication, and welding capabilities or external job shops.

Develop technical requirement specifications, functional & performance requirements, and test requirements.

Support in testing strategy generation for products (V&V Plan, protocol generation, test execution, and reporting).

Design and build test fixtures/equipment, as needed.

Support and/or lead Sustaining Engineering projects for maintenance of on-market products, as needed.

Generate and/or review/release Engineering Change Orders initiated for Sustaining Engineering projects, as needed.

Support in First Article Inspection, as needed.

Execute design and development activities in accordance with the defined QMS.

Support continuous improvement initiatives, such as the refinement of the Product Development Process and corresponding tools/templates.

Support design team in creating Medical Device Documentation (technical documentation, process qualification documentation, DHF artifacts, etc.).

Utilize SolidWorks to create drawings, models, assemblies and BOMs.

Support Design for Manufacture activities led by Manufacturing.

Authority & Responsibilities:

Responsible for providing mechanical engineering technical leadership to multi-disciplinary NPD design team, ensuring that mechanical solutions meet the needs of end users and business stakeholders.

This position does not have direct reports, however, the ability to lead a technical team through the various stages of development via influence, indirect leadership, and mentorship is required.

Education/Certification:

BS Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or related technical degree required

Knowledge & Experience Required:

Minimum 10+ years of relevant new product development experience.

Strong indirect leadership skills – demonstrated ability to define a plan, drive execution, and facilitate the design and development as a lead member of a technical team.

Ability to coach and/or mentor junior level engineers.

Proven experience with new product launches from pre-study and concept phase through development and commercialization and familiarity with product lifecycle management practices.

Experience with phased product development processes, stage-gate project management, and making project tradeoff decisions due to constraints.

Experience with understanding/defining customer needs and translating them into functional/performance requirements.

Advanced knowledge of and experience in product development methods (i.e., FEA, DFM, DOE, DFMEA, Six Sigma, statistical analysis, etc.).

Working knowledge of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) practices and CAD systems. SolidWorks experience preferred.

Proficiency with structured, creative, and practical problem-solving.

Relevant knowledge of new product development processes applied to the medical device industry is preferred.

Design experience with materials such as titanium, aluminum, steel, plastic, and composites. Working knowledge of associated manufacturing processes.

Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to lead and work collaboratively with others in a team environment.

Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and to develop effective working relationships with cross functional personnel, both internally and externally.

Organized and able to progress on many different tasks in parallel.

Able to plan, estimate, and accurately track technical project deliverables.

Adaptive, autonomous, open to change, and continuously looking for ways to improve and simplify complex work.

You are passionate, innovative, and ambitious. You want to make a difference for others and feel fulfilled when you can see the link between the work you do and positive improvements in the lives of others. You search out opportunities and are prepared to go off the beaten track to chase your dreams. You don’t follow the herd – you find new ways of working and go where you see potential to make your mark. You are a pioneer, a revolutionary, a game-changer and you are who we’re looking for.

Please apply via our career page. We will conduct selection continuously so send us your application today!