Sustaining Engineering Manager

Cadwell; Kennewick (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Cadwell Industries, Inc. seeks a Sustaining Engineering Manager to lead the Engineering Lab team responsible for supporting and improving Cadwell’s medical devices.

You will guide technicians and engineers, shaping processes, tools, and methods to sustain released products while enabling development work. You will drive design verification, failure analysis, and change control, coordinating with Production, Procurement, and Regulatory teams.

Qualifications

• Leadership in engineering teams and staff development.
• Experience with PCB design and manufacturing transfer.
• Regulatory knowledge for medical devices (FDA 21 CFR Part 820, ISO 13485) and QMS.
• Experience with hardware development lifecycle from design to production.
• Ability to plan, organize, and communicate plans and schedules.

Responsibilities

• Lab Team Ownership: Oversees the Engineering Laboratory team for new development and sustaining released designs.
• Team Leadership & Growth: Mentors technicians and engineers and grows team capabilities.
• Resource Management: Manages Lab resources across projects and activities; adjust plans as needed.
• Reactive Work Management: Resolves escalations with other departments and vendors.
• Sustaining Change Planning and Oversight: Leads change control with cross-functional coordination.
• Laboratory Systems Ownership: Guides standards, processes, and tools for the lab; monitors performance.
• Technical Expertise: Maintains strong technical skills and ensures Cadwell standards.
• Inter-team Collaboration: Partners with Procurement, Manufacturing, Service, R&D, Regulatory, QA, and SQE.
• Regulatory and Process Compliance: Aligns processes with FDA/ISO and supports audits.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Staff development

Lifecycle management

Regulatory knowledge

Risk management

Inter-team collaboration

Technical assessment

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Equivalent work experience

Tools

DFM/DFT analysis

Design verification testing

Change control systems

Job description

The Sustaining Engineering Manager leads the Engineering Lab team in the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of Cadwell’s cutting-edge medical devices. This leadership role oversees the technical team that provides long-term engineering sustaining support of released products, as well as supporting prototyping and testing efforts for products in development. As a team leader, they are responsible for the development and growth of skilled technicians and engineers, along with the identification, planning and maintenance of the techniques, processes, systems, and tools they use every day to optimize team quality, efficiency, and consistency.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lab Team Ownership: Oversees and leads the Engineering Laboratory team in supporting both new development and post-release sustaining of Cadwell’s medical devices; includes failure analysis, design verification testing, component management, production/procurement support, design improvements, and releasing new and updated engineering design
• Team Leadership & Growth: Provides mentorship and guidance to Laboratory Technicians and Engineers, assisting in their technical development and strategically growing and diversifying skills and team composition to best support Cadwell’s success
• Manage and Monitor Resources: Oversees and actively manages Engineering Laboratory resources to ensure they are efficiently applied to both projects and smaller supporting activities; continuously evaluates team, outputs, and workload to proactively identify and communicate resource needs and schedule impacts, adjusting plans and priorities as needed
• Reactive Work Management: Ensures timely resolution of engineering support escalations from other departments, as well as externally sourced escalations from Cadwell’s vendors
• Sustaining Change Planning and Oversight: Leads engineering change control efforts for released designs, chairing change control activities and crossfunctionally coordinating with Production, Procurement, and Manufacturing Engineering as necessary to ensure success
• Laboratory Systems Ownership: Provides leadership on and direction for the systems (standards, processes, checklists, and tools) used by the Engineering Laboratory team; continuously monitors and manages the performance of the Engineering Laboratory team and systems against set goals
• Technical Expertise: Maintains strong technical skillset to evaluate, guide, and continually improve the team’s produced work; ensures that work quality meets Cadwell design standards and industry best practices
• Inter-team Collaboration: Partners with other departments such as Procurement, Manufacturing, Service, Software & Hardware Engineering, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, and Supplier Quality Engineering to ensure they are supported as needed
• Regulatory and Process Compliance: Ensure the team’s processes, trainings, and outputs align with applicable regulations (FDA 21 CFR Part 820, ISO 13485, etc.) and Cadwell processes; supports internal and external audits from FDA and Notified Bodies
• Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Comprehensive knowledge of engineering team leadership, staff development, and development of engineering procedures, checklists, and work instructions
• Comprehensive knowledge of PCB design from concept through manufacturing transfer and post-release support; includes Design-For-Manufacturability and Test (DFM/DFT) analysis
• Thorough knowledge of electrical engineering principles, including failure analysis, reliability engineering, component selection, and risk-based decision making.
• Thorough knowledge of common embedded electronic circuits such as DC-DC converters, embedded microcontrollers, memory interfaces, sensors, and other technologies
• Thorough knowledge of regulatory compliance and Quality Management Systems (QMS) required for Medical Device
• Thorough knowledge of the entire hardware development life cycle including development, testing, change control, deployment to production, and maintenance
• Ability to plan, organize, and exercise sound judgment; communicates plans and schedules well, motivate and lead employees, and collaborate with other teams
• Ability to clearly assess, articulate, and manage risk with a sense of urgency to meet product requirements, on schedule, and on budget. Must be able to see the big picture, prepare contingency plans, and ensure execution of plans through effective organizational awareness

Education and Experience:

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering or equivalent worked experience
• Typically has greater than ten (10) years of relevant professional or technical engineering management experience of increasing responsibility and difficulty of assignment
• Experience designing regulated equipment. Ideal this experience is in a medical or similar safety-conscious, highly regulated industry

Physical Requirements And Working Conditions:

• Positions working with Cadwell equipment generally may require some reaching, bending, stooping, squatting, crawling, kneeling, pushing, pulling, lifting and carrying up to 50 pounds, finger dexterity, repetitive motions, standing, walking, sitting, hearing, visual acuity, color vision, and 2-way written/verbal communication. More specific details may be provided as needed or requested.
• Extensive use of a computer will be required.
• Travel may be required; must be able to obtain necessary travel documents.
• Work hours outside normal business hours may be required at times to meet business needs.

Cadwell Industries, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and affirms the right of every individual to participate in all aspects of employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic. If you are interested in applying for employment and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply for a posted position, please contact our Human Resources department at [e-mail].

Salary Range

$140,000 — $165,000 USD