Senior Spine R&D Engineer - Implants & Instruments

Medtronic; California (MO); On-site; USD 106,000 - 158,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, Dental and Vision Insurance

401(k) plan

Tuition assistance

Job summary

Medtronic is seeking a Senior R&D Engineer in San Diego, CA, to advance spinal implant and instrumentation systems from concept to market release. You will translate customer needs into system requirements, develop CAD designs, and perform V&V activities in a regulated medical device environment.

You will mentor junior engineers, collaborate with Surgeons, suppliers, and clinical stakeholders, and support product delivery across the spinal portfolio while traveling 1–2 days per month for

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and 4+ years of engineering design and product development experience, including 2+ years of medical device experience in spine, trauma, orthopedics, or dental applications.
• Proficiency with Creo, SolidWorks, or a comparable 3D computer‑aided design platform.
• Demonstrated experience creating engineering drawings, applying geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and performing tolerance stack analyses.
• Experience designing and developing surgical instruments within a regulated product development environment.
• Experience working within the United States Food and Drug Administration, International Organization for Standardization, and Quality System Regulation requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of spinal implant and instrumentation systems from concept through market release in accordance with New Product Introduction processes.
• Translate Voice of the Customer insights into stakeholder requirements, system requirements, design specifications, and engineering concepts.
• Develop and refine mechanical designs using 3D computer‑aided design tools while ensuring compliance with engineering drawing standards and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing requirements.
• Define, assess, and mitigate technical and system‑level risks through structured design reviews, testing, and analysis activities.
• Plan and execute verification, validation, bench testing, and experimental evaluations to confirm product performance and user needs.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams, suppliers, consultants, and clinical stakeholders to support project execution and product delivery.
• Document technical decisions, design tradeoffs, test results, and development activities through engineering reports and presentations.
• Mentor less experienced engineers and contribute to technical knowledge development within the spinal product portfolio.

Skills

Creo

SolidWorks

GD&T

Tolerance analysis

Medical device experience

Surgical instruments

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering

Tools

Windchill

Job description

Medtronic is seeking a Senior R&D Engineer in San Diego, CA, to advance spinal implant and instrumentation systems from concept to market release. You will translate customer needs into system requirements, develop CAD designs, and perform V&V activities in a regulated medical device environment.

You will mentor junior engineers, collaborate with Surgeons, suppliers, and clinical stakeholders, and support product delivery across the spinal portfolio while traveling 1–2 days per month for