Senior R&D Manager

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join Boston Scientific as a Senior R&D Manager. The position is in one of Boston Scientific's most successful businesses, WATCHMAN. This position will focus on managing early-stage products through initial feasibility along with the opportunity to set strategy throughout product lifecycle. In this role, you will lead a talented team focused on developing next-generation left atrial appendage closure devices to meet unmet clinical needs, strengthen our market leadership and expand access to life-changing therapies for patients around the world.

As a Senior R&D Manager, you will provide people and technical leadership to a team of highly talented engineers. Success in this role requires strong technical judgment, a track record of developing medical devices across the product lifecycle and the ability to build trusted relationships with direct reports, cross-functional partners and senior leaders.

Your responsibilities will include

People leadership

• Recruit, coach, develop and retain technical talent to meet current business needs while building future technical and leadership capabilities.
• Establish clear performance expectations and foster a culture of high performance, collaboration, inclusion, accountability and continuous learning.
• Empower team members to solve complex problems, exercise sound technical judgment and make efficient, risk-based decisions.
• Provide direction and guidance to employees who operate with significant independence and technical responsibility.
• Create an environment where employees can speak candidly, challenge assumptions, share knowledge and learn from one another.

Technical and product leadership

• Provide technical leadership and governance across the product lifecycle, ensuring sound engineering decisions, effective risk management and compliance with applicable design control and quality system requirements.
• Assess project capabilities and staffing needs, partnering with technical leads and program managers to position teams for successful technology and product development.
• Guide teams through technical challenges, escalations and trade-off decisions while maintaining focus on patient needs, product quality and business objectives.

Business and cross-functional leadership

• Build strategic partnerships across Boston Scientific to advance departmental and organizational objectives.
• Collaborate across functions, including Clinical, Quality, Regulatory, Operations, Process Development and Test Engineering, as well as with external development and manufacturing partners.
• Support project and departmental budget planning, monitor spending and adjust resource plans to meet business priorities.
• Assess Business Development opportunities. Participate in due diligence efforts. Provide recommendations on potential business opportunities.
• Keep Boston Scientific's values and organizational objectives at the forefront of decisions and actions.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, or related discipline.
• Minimum of 10 years' experience in product development, engineering, medical devices or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years' experience leading and managing technical teams.
• Proven track record of developing medical devices from early-stage development through full product launch and sustaining activities.
• Proficiency in design controls and risk management, with an understanding of regulatory expectations for medical device product approvals.
• Proven ability to influence stakeholders and drive alignment across functions.
• Ability to communicate technical issues and risks clearly, concisely and transparently across all organizational levels.

Preferred qualifications

• Background in early/FIM (First-in-Man) cardiac device development.
• A systems engineering background as well as prior management experience.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally with external manufacturing partners, Operations, Test Engineering and Process Development.
• Track record of building, developing and leading high-performing engineering organizations.
• Passion for understanding clinical needs and partnering directly with physician customers to identify and solve complex problems, including delivering technical presentations.
• Highly creative problem-solving skills combined with a sense of urgency.
• Strong personal drive, individual accountability and bias for action.
• Commitment to fostering an environment of curiosity, continuous improvement, learning, accountability, knowledge sharing and candid communication where team members feel empowered to challenge assumptions and solve problems.