Staff Engineer / Staff Designer, Innovation

BD; Covington (GA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

BD is seeking a Staff-level Innovation leader in Covington, Georgia, to drive innovation in medical device development. This role focuses on transforming validated needs into scalable concepts while ensuring usability and compliance. The ideal candidate will possess a blend of engineering or design skills with extensive experience in healthcare innovation.

The position offers a chance to engage deeply in the product development lifecycle, collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure effective solutions tailored to patient needs.

Qualifications

• 7+ years experience in medical device development or healthcare innovation.
• Experience applying structured innovation methods like Design Thinking.
• Hands-on experience with prototyping and user testing.

Responsibilities

• Identify focus areas for innovation projects.
• Translate needs into concept directions and user benefits.
• Lead early concept prototyping to explore usability.

Skills

Medical device development discipline

Consumer product design mindset

Communication skills

Systems thinking

Empathy for patients and caregivers

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Design, or related field

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Prototyping tools

User testing methods

Job description

Job Summary

As a Staff-level Innovation leader within BD’s Urology & Critical Care (UCC) organization, you will play a critical role in advancing opportunities through the UCC Innovation Process. This role is focused on transforming validated needs into differentiated, testable, and scalable concepts that are ready for development investment.

This position is intended for an experienced engineer or industrial designer with a strong blend of medical device development discipline and consumer product design mindset. You will lead concept development, prototyping, and learning cycles that balance clinical performance, business viability, and consumer‑grade usability.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify focus areas for critical innovation projects
• Translate prioritized needs and value propositions into multiple concept directions, clearly articulating user benefits, technical approach, and business rationale.
• Define target customers and users (patients, caregivers, clinicians) and ensure concepts address distinct needs across care settings, including home use.
• Lead early concept prototyping (physical, digital, experiential) to explore usability, feasibility, and differentiation.
• Partner with engineering, industrial design, human factors, and clinical stakeholders to assess technical readiness and identify critical development gaps.
• Evaluate early IP landscape and contribute to invention disclosures and protection strategies.
• Clearly document assumptions, uncertainties, and learning plans required to advance concepts out of Innovation.
• Refine value propositions and differentiation versus competitive and alternative solutions based on testing and stakeholder feedback.
• Drive concept down‑selection using structured criteria including user desirability, technical feasibility, regulatory risk, and business attractiveness.
• Partner with technical to assess design space and critical functions.
• Contribute to early technology and system architecture decisions to support scalable product development.
• Ensure concepts exiting Innovation are clearly defined, evidence‑backed, and development‑ready.

Cross‑Functional Leadership & Collaboration

• Act as a central integrator across engineering, design, clinical, regulatory, quality, marketing, and commercial teams.
• Bridge consumer design principles with medical device development rigor, ensuring solutions are intuitive without compromising safety or compliance.
• Collaborate globally to incorporate regional insights and ensure concepts can scale across markets.

Communication & Change Leadership

• Clearly communicate concept rationale, trade‑offs, and recommendations to senior leaders and governance forums.
• Use compelling storytelling, visuals, and prototypes to drive understanding and alignment.
• Support innovation capability building within UCC by mentoring teams and contributing to best practices for concept development.

Critical Traits

• Proven ability to move ambiguity into clarity through structured experimentation and learning.
• Strong judgment in evaluating concepts and making evidence‑based recommendations for investment or termination.
• Demonstrated ability to balance user desirability, technical feasibility, and business viability.
• Excellent communication skills across technical, clinical, design, and executive audiences.
• Systems thinker who understands how early decisions impact downstream development, regulatory, and commercialization outcomes.
• Deep empathy for patients, caregivers, and consumers, particularly in home and self‑care contexts.
• Comfortable leading without authority and influencing cross‑functional teams through insight and credibility.
• Bias toward action, rapid prototyping, and learning‑driven progress.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in Engineering, Industrial Design, Human Factors, or related field.
• Minimum of 7+ years experience in medical device development, healthcare innovation, or consumer product development.
• Demonstrated experience progressing concepts from early ideation through validation and down‑selection.
• Experience applying structured innovation methods (e.g., Biodesign, Design Thinking, Jobs to be Done, DFSS).
• Hands‑on experience with prototyping, user testing, and formative evaluation.
• Experience designing or developing products intended for home care, self‑use, or consumer health environments strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with regulatory, usability, and risk considerations for medical or health‑adjacent products.
• Travel: Yes, 10% domestic and international.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree preferred (Engineering, Industrial Design, Human‑Centered Design, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with regulatory, usability, and risk considerations for medical or health‑adjacent products.

Equal Opportunity Employer. Becton, Dickinson, and Company evaluates applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, marital or domestic or civil union status, familial status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, disability, military eligibility or veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.