Principal Lead Development Engineer - MedTech Surgery

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and Med Tech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity.

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R&D Product Development

R&D Mechanical Engineering

Scientific/Technology

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America

About Surgery
Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we’re developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments. Are you passionate about improving and expanding the possibilities of surgery? Ready to join a team that’s reimagining how we heal? Our Surgery team will give you the chance to deliver surgical technologies and solutions to surgeons and healthcare professionals around the world.

Your contributions will help effectively treat some of the world’s most prevalent conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Patients are waiting.

Your unique talents will help patients on their journey to wellness. Learn more at

We are searching for the best talent for a Principal Lead Development Engineer to support our handheld medical devices business. This role will be located in Cincinnati, OH & work a Flex/Hybrid schedule with 3 days per week on-site. Relocation assistance is available to qualified candidates.

Our business offers a broad range of products and technologies, including surgical staplers, clip appliers, trocars and sealing devices that are used in a wide variety of minimally invasive and open surgical procedures.

Our team of engineers, designers, and technical specialists are in the forefront of technology in the medical device industry. As a key member of our group, you will be leading efforts to deliver automated assembly equipment to support our New Product Development (NPD) pipeline. You will work with leadership teams, NPD equipment suppliers and manufacturing partners to make this a reality.

This role provides an opportunity to bring exciting new assembly technology to life while also providing significant leadership and professional growth opportunities.

• Lead collaboration with NPD, equipment suppliers and our manufacturing plants to bring full-scale production solutions from concept to stable production.
• Be accountable for the technical development, debugging, and characterization of automated assembly processes ensuring successful FAT and production qualification.
• Investigate and enable new manufacturing technologies and process improvements, including automation, to drive innovation and reduce time to market.
• Encourage technical mastery, collaboration, cross‑training, critical thinking and problem solving. Coach individuals as required to drive stronger business results.
• Champion DFA concepts in product design.
• Identify and deliver equipment development process improvement initiatives.
• Ensure projects are carried out in compliance with regulatory requirements (GMP, ISO, MDD), EES policy and procedure requirements.

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent experience required.
• 12+ years of proven experience in a dynamic R&D environment with emphasis on production line development is required.
• Experience in a medical device production environment or other regulated environment is required.
• Experience developing manual, semi‑automated and automated assembly processes for small, complex components.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully lead equipment debug, characterization, FAT, and qualification activities.
• Ability to set strategy and drive assembly requirements to resolution with internal stakeholders and third‑party equipment integrators.
• Must have proven track record of achieving objectives in a team‑based environment.
• Excellent communication, networking, teamwork, problem…