NPI Engineering Manager

Forj Medical; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 130,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Forj Medical in Vadnais Heights, MN, seeks an Engineering Manager / NPI Lead to provide technical and people leadership for new-product introduction at the site. You will own the NPI engineering system from feasibility through tooling, process development, validation, launch, and transfer to sustaining operations.

Build capability, set priorities, and partner with customers and cross-functional leaders to deliver high-quality medical-device manufacturing solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related technical field required.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or related field preferred.
• Eight+ years of progressive engineering experience with NPI, product development, tooling, or MES preferred.
• Three+ years of formal people-leadership or significant technical-team leadership experience preferred.
• Experience launching injection-molded products and processes from concept through validated production required.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate the NPI engineering team with clear roles and goals.
• Own the VH site NPI operating model from intake to handoff to sustaining operations.
• Provide technical direction for injection-molded products, molds, processes, and validation strategies.
• Collaborate with Commercial and Cost Estimating during quoting to ensure feasibility and risks are understood.
• Build strong customer relationships and serve as escalation point for technical decisions and risks.
• Align capacity, priorities, and execution with site leadership and cross-functional partners.
• Ensure compliance with quality system, design-transfer, and regulatory standards.
• Establish and monitor performance measures for safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
• Drive problem-solving, design-for-manufacturability, and production-readiness discipline.
• Manage engineering resources, OPEX, capital needs, and external suppliers.

Skills

NPI leadership

Injection molding

Process development

Validation

Production transfer

Risk management

Cross-functional influence

Customer-facing communication

Budgeting / capital planning

Program management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing/Plastics/Biomedical/Industrial Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Job description

Exceptional People. Hard Problems. Meaningful Careers. Big Impact.

Nowhere else can you touch as many life-changing medical technologies. At Forj Medical, we work side by side with more than 100 medical device companies from startups to global giants to bring life-enhancing technologies to market. Working with us means solving hard problems with extraordinary people in a collaborative work environment. Join us.

Job Summary

The Engineering Manager / NPI Lead provides technical and people leadership for new-product introduction at Forj Medical's Vadnais Heights injection-molding site. This role owns the site NPI engineering system from feasibility and quoting through tooling, process development, validation, launch, and transfer to sustaining operations. The leader builds team capability, establishes clear priorities and accountability, and partners with customers and cross-functional leaders to deliver high-quality, scalable medical-device manufacturing solutions.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate the NPI engineering team; establish clear roles, priorities, goals, accountability, and development plans.
• Own the VH site NPI operating model, including project intake, technical feasibility, resource planning, stage-gate execution, risk escalation, launch readiness, and handoff to sustaining operations.
• Provide technical direction for injection-molded products, molds, processes, fixtures, automation, equipment, secondary operations, and validation strategies.
• Partner with Commercial and Cost Estimating during quoting to ensure technical concepts, timing, capital, resource needs, assumptions, and risks are understood and support sound business decisions.
• Build strong customer relationships and serve as an escalation point for technical decisions, project risks, priorities, and recovery plans.
• Collaborate with Site Leadership, Operations, Quality, Tooling, Supply Chain, Program Management, and sustaining engineering to align capacity, priorities, and execution.
• Ensure projects comply with Forj Medical's quality system, design-transfer and document-control practices, customer requirements, and applicable regulatory standards.
• Establish and monitor meaningful performance measures for safety, quality, delivery, project execution, cost, launch performance, and resource utilization.
• Drive structured problem-solving, technical reviews, design for manufacturability, process capability, validation rigor, and production-readiness discipline.
• Manage engineering resources, operating expenses, capital needs, external engineering support, and technical suppliers within approved plans.
• Identify capability gaps and develop talent, systems, standards, tools, and partnerships required to support growth and increasingly complex customer programs.
• Create an inclusive, collaborative environment that encourages transparency, timely decisions, continuous improvement, and effective cross-functional partnership.
• Support site and enterprise strategy, operational excellence, customer audits, and other business priorities as assigned.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Plastics, Biomedical, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field required.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.

Experience

• Eight or more years of progressive engineering experience with substantial responsibility for NPI, product development, tooling, or manufacturing execution preferred.
• Three or more years of formal people-leadership or significant technical-team leadership experience preferred.
• Demonstrated experience launching injection-molded products and processes from concept through validated production required.
• Experience in medical device, regulated manufacturing, or contract manufacturing strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong people leadership, coaching, change leadership, resource planning, and cross-functional influence.
• Deep understanding of injection molding, tooling, DFM, process development, validation, risk management, process capability, and production transfer.
• Business and financial acumen, including quoting, capital planning, project economics, and prioritization.
• Strong customer-facing communication, executive-level judgment, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to create scalable systems and lead multiple complex programs in a fast-paced contract-manufacturing environment.

Working Conditions

• Office environment
• Manufacturing environment

Compensation

• The expected starting salary for this position is $130,000 to $165,000 depending on qualifications. As part of your overall rewards, we offer a comprehensive benefits program.

EEO Statement

Forj Medical provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Employment Requirement

Must be authorized to work in the United States.

Compensation And Total Rewards Package

The salary range for this position is outlined below under "Job Details" and is dependent upon the individual's skills, experience, qualifications, and applicable employment laws. Beyond base salary, Forj offers a competitive Total Rewards Package. We offer health, dental, vision, 401K plans, and time off programs. You may also be eligible to participate in an annual bonus program which depends on various factors, including, individual and organizational performance.