Sr. Principal R&D Engineer - Spine - Memphis (Finance)

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 2 May 2025

At Medtronic you can begin a life-long career of exploration and innovation, while helping champion healthcare access and equity for all. You'll lead with purpose, breaking down barriers to innovation in a more connected, compassionate world.

A Day in the Life
Careers that Change Lives
Impact patient outcomes. Come for a job, stay for a career.

As a Senior Principal R&D Engineer, you will develop life-saving medical device products for spine surgery. Key responsibilities include collaborating with a team to lead new product development; developing and designing implants, instruments, and systems; conducting product and use testing; and managing system interfaces. You will actively seek out Voice of the Customer (VOC) input and translate that into product requirements, design specifications, and mechanical concepts. You will work under general direction and may serve as key functional core team member or as an engineer on an extended team. The product focus will be on spinal implants and instrumentation to treat degenerative, deformity, and tumor/trauma conditions.

A career at Medtronic is like no other. We're purposeful. We're committed. And we're driven by our Mission to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for millions of people worldwide. We seek out and hire a diverse workforce at every level: We need fresh ideas and inclusive insights to continue to be an innovative industry leader - that's why we make it a point to seek out, attract and develop employees who are patient-centric, passionate, and who represent the same wide variety of life experiences as our patients.
Medtronic's Cranial and Spinal Technologies (CST) Operating Unit is committed to transforming patient care through groundbreaking innovations in neurosurgery and spinal procedures. Our comprehensive portfolio includes spinal implants, robotics-assisted surgical solutions like the Mazor™ Robotic Guidance System, StealthStation™ surgical navigation, and biologics for bone healing, all designed to enhance surgical precision, efficiency, and patient outcomes. Beyond technology, we support surgeons through education, training, and clinical research, ensuring they have the tools and knowledge to achieve the best possible results. By continuously driving innovation and collaboration, Medtronic is redefining cranial and spinal care, improving lives worldwide.

Join a diverse team of innovators who bring their worldview, their unique backgrounds and their individual life experiences to work every day. It's no accident - we work hard to cultivate a workforce that reflects our patients and partners. We believe it's the only way to drive healthcare forward and remain a global leader in medical technology and solutions.

#Neuroscience

Day in the life:

Plans and implements all aspects of multiple simultaneous designs and development of new medical device products from initial design to market release in accordance with agreed project timelines and NPI Development processes.

Defines medium to high complexity spinal systems and conceptualizes designs that meet the needs and uses of the customer, regulatory agencies, and the business under the guidance of the NPI Engineering Program manager and the Therapy Technical Leader.

Provides technical leadership in the definition, evaluation, and mitigation of risk of system designs. This includes understanding system interfaces, use cases and conditions, investigating and resolving system and design issues, making improvements to address customer feedback and requests, and leading testing activities.

Engages with customers (internal and external) to understand and prioritize their needs and apply feedback to improve designs

Translates customer needs into stakeholder and system requirements

Optimizes designs by designing and conducting relevant tests, experiments, and evaluations, including numerical verification

Defines and performs verification and validation activities ensuring products meet user needs, system requirements, and intended use

Writes engineering reports and creates presentations as required to document and communicate results

Contributes and builds domain knowledge around spinal systems, their clinical use and application via customer and field visits, pre-clinical in vivo labs, literature searches and training

Documents tradeoffs, rationales, and potential solutions

Supports documentation throughout all phases of research and development

Participate in with outside suppliers and consultants to ensure timely delivery

Investigates and evaluates existing technologies

Contributes inventions, new designs, and techniques regarded as advances in the medical and technical/scientific community

Provides training, and mentorship to less experienced team members and learn from more experienced team members

Maintains training and ensures personal understanding of all quality policy/system items that are applicable. Follow all work/quality procedures to ensure quality system compliance and high-quality work

As a Senior Principal R&D Engineer:

• Demonstrated strong performance in both what and how over time, and career aspirations to advance
• Values knowledge transfer, development, and actively mentor others
• Deep domain technology expert
• Ability to establish link between technology and business/patient application
• Strong internal influence, collaboration & results within the organization and or locations

Must Have: Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or technical related degree - Mechanical Engineering preferred
• 10+ years of relevant engineering design and development experience

Nice to Have:

• Skills needed to be successful in the role:
• Proven proficiency with CREO, SolidWorks, or similar 3D CAD program
• Mastery of engineering drawing standards, including GD&T and tolerance stacks
• Demonstrated track record of successful designs of surgical instruments (Spinal instruments is plus)
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative in keeping current with technology developments in specialized area
• Experience working in an FDA-regulated and/or medical device environment with ISO and Quality System Regulation requirements
• Design and project execution agility in a fast-paced environment with a quality and customer service mindset, along with a sense of urgency and ownership
• Creativity in design, documentation and problem solving with speed as a priority
• Capability to define and follow priority with multiple simultaneous projects
• Knowledge of surgical instruments' use conditions and OR setup (Spine is a plus)
• Strong collaborator in a cross-functional and multi-cultural team environment
• Strong team player with a goal to win as a team
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience training and mentoring less experienced engineers
• Has a learning and listening mindset and seeks guidance from more experienced team members
• Ability to collaborate with culturally and functionally diverse teams, where each team may have different operating norms
• Excellent written and communication skills
• Engineering MS degree preferred
• Clinical knowledge for uses of products
• Knowledge of spinal anatomy relative to surgical procedures
• Experience in the use of systems engineering methodologies including requirements development, analysis, allocation, review, tracing, and verification/validation
• Ability to effectively communicate and work collaboratively with others as member of a team
• In-depth knowledge and wide application of technical principles, theories, and concepts in related field of expertise to develop innovative approaches to work
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes including machining and 3D printing
• Understanding of spinal medical device industry and competitor products. Working knowledge of other disciplines.
• Knowledge of Agile and Windchill PLM Systems

Travel Expectation: less than 10% - Travel domestically 1 to 2 days a month.

Physical Job Requirements

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position.

The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role.

Benefits & Compensation

Medtronic offers a competitive Salary and flexible Benefits Package
A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create. We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage.

Salary ranges for U.S (excl. PR) locations (USD):$152,000.00 - $228,000.00

This position is eligible for a short-term incentive called the Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP).

The base salary range is applicable across the United States, excluding Puerto Rico and specific locations in California. The offered rate complies with federal and local regulations and may vary based on factors such as experience, certification/education, market conditions, and location. Compensation and benefits information pertains solely to candidates hired within the United States (local market compensation and benefits will apply for others).

The following benefits and additional compensation are available to those regular employees who work 20+ hours per week: Health, Dental and vision insurance , Health Savings Account , Healthcare Flexible Spending Account , Life insurance, Long-term disability leave , Dependent daycare spending account , Tuition assistance/reimbursement , and Simple Steps (global well-being program).

The following benefits and additional compensation are available to all regular employees: Incentive plans, 401(k) plan plus employer contribution and match , Short-term disability , Paid time off , Paid holidays , Employee Stock Purchase Plan , Employee Assistance Program , Non-qualified Retirement Plan Supplement (subject to IRS earning minimums) , and Capital Accumulation Plan (available to Vice Presidents and above, or subject to IRS earning minimums).

Regular employees are those who are not temporary, such as interns. Temporary employees are eligible for paid sick time, as required under applicable state law, and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Please note some of the above benefits may not apply to workers in Puerto Rico.

Further details are available at the link below:

Medtronic benefits and compensation plans

About Medtronic

We lead global healthcare technology and boldly attack the most challenging health problems facing humanity by searching out and finding solutions.
Our Mission - to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life - unites a global team of 95,000+ passionate people.
We are engineers at heart- putting ambitious ideas to work to generate real solutions for real people. From the R&D lab, to the factory floor, to the conference room, every one of us experiments, creates, builds, improves and solves. We have the talent, diverse perspectives, and guts to engineer the extraordinary.

Learn more about our business, mission, and our commitment to diversity here .

It is the policy of Medtronic to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Medtronic will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

If you are applying to perform work for Medtronic, Inc. ("Medtronic") in any position which will involve performing at least two (2) hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, you can find here a list of all material job duties of the specific job position which Medtronic reasonably believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. Medtronic will consider for employment qualified job applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.