Principal Engineer, DDS

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com

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Job Scope

General Job Summary

The location for this position is Beerse, Belgium.  It is part of the global Drug Delivery Systems (DDS) Team.  The position reports to the Engineering Director in Lexington, MA (US).

The Principal Engineer will be a leader in the development of new and innovative technologies, processes, solutions, and combination products. This position will be part of a high caliber multi-functional team developing and driving innovative approaches that solve problems.  Perform high level research and development supporting the implementation of new and existing technologies and processes.  Design experiments to statistically analyze and verify these technologies and processes.

The Principal Engineer will work closely with various IMSC and DPDS departments (e.g. MSAT, AD, ESI, PES, etc.) and TAs (e.g Bladder DAS) to determine unmet needs and provide potential solution and support existing innovation activities.  Test these solutions and evaluate their value; determine if the solutions provide material savings, labor savings, and/or value to our patients, care givers or healthcare providers.  Support the transition of these solutions into existing systems as needed.

Furthermore, the Principal Engineer will cross-functionally collaborate with and leverage existing laboratory and manufacturing resources on the Beerse campus to complement and enhance the US team’s capabilities. 
 

Impact

• Functions as engineering SME in single or multiple engineering topic(s).
• Performs a high degree of independent judgment and execution which delivers on components of the strategic plan as assigned or directed by leadership.
• Pursue complex technical issues in the areas of product, packages, device, process, mechanistic understanding and customer insights.
• Develop support strategy for programs or platforms with key business partners. 
• Provide estimates of capital, OOP and FTE requests for specific projects.
• Participates/leads communities of practice providing expertise in specific engineering areas
• Supports the development and validation of departmental, project and program budgets and goals.

Degree of Supervision

• Works with greater autonomy for longer term strategic initiatives establishing deliverables and organizational outcomes.
• Will receive direction from management, but is typically accountable for execution which directly impacts the goals and objectives of the specific program.

Innovation

• Develop IP as needed for programs or platforms and align with management and legal.
• May lead in the analysis of highly complex issues in a technical area and establishes resolutions/decision points in a given program/project.

Nature of Communication

• Communicates overall strategy of the projects and initiatives to other stakeholder, both internally and externally.
• Acts as lead functional/technical member of the project with frequent interaction with senior internal and external colleagues/partners.
• Serves as liaison between team members and Beerse site functions and activities.
• May serve as the liaison between team members and senior leadership.

Key Responsibilities 

Conceptualization/Creation Ideation and Execution

• Seeks to contribute to improving business/work processes to identify and enable the organization to cultivate new technical insights.
• Identifies novel scenarios and nascent engineering/technical opportunities in a specific engineering area.

Operations Management

• Directs the proper use and implementation for innovative technology to establish long-term
  plans.
• Ensures that all necessary procedures are followed to secure new equipment and technology and compliance with local and country safety and quality guidelines and regulations.

Information Management and Communication

• Attends in-house seminars and participates in engineering meetings as appropriate to support team goals.
• May present data and recommendations to outside consultants, at in-house research forums and at outside professional meetings.
• Hosts visiting outside engineers and subject matter experts; likely to initiate and maintain external collaborations to advance specific projects.

Project Management

• Coordinate DDS-led product and process development activities at the Beerse site for development of drug-device combination products..
• Lead small investigatory projects with cross-matrixed team members to evaluate new or existing technologies and/or processes.  Ensure deliverables are met within scope, time and budget.
• Collects and collates results and inferences and reports to project team and senior colleagues.
• Drives collaboration across R&D groups and communicates results to colleagues within project context.

Knowledge

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
• Strong process development and validation experience
• Combination product design controls
• Project management skills
• Packaging technology and materials
• Injection molding of thermoplastic materials experience preferred
• Extrusion and co-extrusion of thermoplastic materials
• Computer skills (MS Office)
• Additional Computer Skills Preferred, 3D CAD, FEA, CFD
• Advanced knowledge of statistics
• Write reports and deliver presentations that are clear, organized, focused and intellectually sound.

Personal and Interpersonal Skills

• Good organizing, planning and problem solving skills
• Ability to mentor junior Engineering colleagues
• Able to interface effectively with people of various groups and disciplines
• Ability to regularly interface with the team located in the US (East Coast)
• Customer oriented approach to problem solving
• Set priorities and meet deadlines
• Self-starter able to work and/or manage people in a matrixed environment
• Effectively resolve conflict by making data driven decisions
• Exhibit strong negotiation skills when working with internal and external partners
• Ability to motivate other to get the job done safely and effectively

Education

B.S. degree in an appropriate Engineering discipline 9-12 years’ experience

MS/MBA/PhD 6-9 Years’ Experience

Pharmaceutical or Medical Device industry experience preferred.