Position Summary
The Engineering Design Manager is responsible for leading the design, development, verification, and commercialization of advanced scientific instrumentation. This role manages a multidisciplinary engineering team and provides technical and organizational leadership across the entire product lifecycle, from concept development and technology evaluation through product release and sustaining engineering.
The successful candidate will combine strong engineering expertise with proven leadership skills to deliver innovative, reliable, and manufacturable products that meet customer requirements, business objectives, and regulatory standards. This position collaborates closely with Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, Quality, Applications, and Customer Support to execute strategic product roadmaps and drive technology innovation.
Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership
Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of hardware engineers, including mechanical, electrical, systems, and test engineers.
Establish team objectives, priorities, and resource plans aligned with business and product development goals.
Recruit, mentor, coach, and evaluate engineering staff to build a high-performing organization.
Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, accountability, and technical excellence.
Product Development
Direct hardware development activities for scientific and analytical instrument platforms.
Lead the execution of projects through all phases of the product lifecycle, including:
Requirements definition
Architecture development
Detailed design
Prototype development
Verification and validation
Manufacturing transfer
Product sustainment
Drive design reviews and technical decision-making to ensure robust and scalable product solutions.
Assess technical risks and implement mitigation strategies to achieve program objectives.
Technical Expertise
Guide the design and integration of complex electromechanical, electronic, optical, vacuum, thermal, fluidic, or precision motion subsystems as applicable.
Ensure engineering designs meet performance, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, safety, and cost targets.
Support technology investigations, proof-of-concept activities, and next-generation platform development.
Promote best practices in engineering analysis, modeling, simulation, testing, and documentation.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner with Product Management to translate customer and market requirements into product features and technical specifications.
Collaborate with Manufacturing and Supply Chain teams to optimize product cost, quality, and scalability.
Work closely with Quality and Regulatory teams to ensure compliance with applicable standards and requirements.
Support customer escalations, field issues, and continuous product improvement initiatives.
Process & Operational Excellence
Establish and improve engineering processes, development methodologies, and design controls.
Track project schedules, budgets, deliverables, and resource utilization.
Ensure compliance with company product development processes, documentation standards, and quality systems.
Monitor key engineering metrics and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
PhD, MSc or Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
8+ years of hardware product development experience, including 3+ years in an engineering leadership or management role.
Experience leading the development of complex scientific, analytical, medical, semiconductor, or advanced technology equipment.
Demonstrated success managing multidisciplinary engineering teams.
Strong understanding of product development processes and design-for-manufacturing principles.
Experience with engineering risk assessment, design reviews, and verification and validation activities.
Excellent communication, leadership, and organizational skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience developing precision scientific instruments such as
Microscopy systems
Metrology equipment
Analytical instrumentation
Semiconductor process or inspection tools
Laboratory automation systems
Familiarity with optical, motion control, vacuum, thermal, fluidic, or sensor-based technologies.
Experience managing global development teams and external technology partners.
Knowledge of ISO, CE, UL, EMC, or other applicable regulatory and compliance standards.
Experience with Stage-Gate or structured product lifecycle management processes.
Success Measures
Achievement of product development milestones on schedule and within budget
Delivery of products meeting performance, quality, and reliability targets
Team engagement, retention, and development
Effective execution of technology and product roadmaps
Successful transfer of products into manufacturing
Continuous improvement in engineering productivity and product quality
