R&D Engineer

As an R&D Engineer at Medtronic, your primary responsibilities include the design and development of mechanical and electromechanical devices for medical applications. You'll perform product verification, develop test protocols, and analyze test data. Your expertise in creating CAD models and managing product lifecycle will also be crucial, alongside ensuring compliance with FDA regulations and industry standards.

Candidates for the R&D Engineer role at Medtronic must hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and have a minimum of two years of experience in relevant fields like mechanical analysis and product development within the medical device industry. Familiarity with FDA regulations, CAD tools, and statistical methods is essential for success in this position.

Medtronic fosters a culture of growth and development for R&D Engineers through comprehensive training, mentorship programs, and opportunities for advancement. Employees also benefit from ongoing education support, particularly through tuition reimbursement initiatives aimed at enhancing skills and knowledge relevant to the medical device industry.

The R&D Engineer position at Medtronic operates on a hybrid work model, requiring you to be onsite in Fort Worth at least four days a week. This model offers you the flexibility to collaborate with your team in person while also enjoying some work-from-home opportunities.

R&D Engineers at Medtronic can look forward to a competitive salary ranging from $93,000 to $120,000 annually, alongside a robust benefits package. This includes health, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with employer contributions, tuition assistance, and various wellness programs to support overall health and work-life balance.

In your answer, reflect on specific projects where you utilized CAD software for design purposes, detailing the complexity and outcomes of your designs. Highlight your proficiency with SolidWorks or Creo, emphasizing any innovative solutions you developed during this time.

Explain FMEA as a proactive tool used to identify potential failure modes in a product design. Discuss your direct experience conducting FMEA in prior projects, how you used it to improve product reliability, and the specific methods you applied for risk assessment.

Safety and regulatory compliance are critical in medical device engineering. Discuss your familiarity with FDA regulations, and provide examples of how you ensured compliance in past projects. This can include documentation practices, validation processes, and how you integrated these requirements into your engineering workflows.

Talk about a specific engineering challenge, the technical obstacles you faced, and the steps you took to ultimately resolve the issue. Emphasize your critical thinking and problem-solving skills and the positive impact your solution had on the project or product.

Discuss the statistical methods you utilize, such as Design of Experiments (DOE) or optimization techniques. Provide examples from your experience where these methods guided your design decisions and led to improved product performance or development efficiency.

Describe your systematic approach to mechanical analysis, including the tools and software you use. Detail how you evaluate materials and designs against various stresses and loads, and how you apply findings to design optimization.

Share specific examples of how you developed and executed test plans for medical devices, focusing on methodologies you used, metrics you tracked, and how you ensured adherence to regulatory standards throughout the testing process.

Discuss the importance of material properties in your designs, mentioning how different materials can affect performance and compliance. Provide examples of projects where you carefully selected materials based on their properties and the project requirements.

Explain your strategies for keeping up to date with FDA regulations, ISO standards, and industry best practices. Mention any professional organizations you belong to and how you apply the latest information to maintain compliant and cutting-edge designs.

List the software tools you regularly use, such as Ansys, MATLAB, or LABVIEW, and explain how each tool assists you in your engineering tasks. Share specific instances where these tools have enhanced your design accuracy or project outcomes.