Director, Engineering Systems Design

Thermo Fisher Scientific • Pleasanton, CA

1d • $198,900 - $298,350

About The Position

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Genetic Sciences Division develops integrated life-science platforms that combine instruments, consumables, assays, firmware, software and data. The Director of Core Engineering & Systems Design leads systems engineering, integration and hardware engineering across electrical, mechanical and optical disciplines. The role is accountable for engineering capability, technical excellence and execution across a division-wide portfolio of product-development and lifecycle programs.

The Director operates through managers and senior technical leaders who lead individual projects. The role establishes priorities, deploys capability, develops leaders and maintains visibility of technical health and risk across the portfolio. It aligns R&D, Product Management, Operations, Quality and global engineering teams to build and commercialize life-science instrumentation, consumables and scientific workflows.

The position establishes engineering strategies, standards and methods; governs portfolio priorities and resources; advances integrated product development and engineering excellence; builds global capability and leadership depth; and guides AI-enabled engineering and products. It represents Core Engineering in divisional and product governance and helps ensure consistent engineering excellence across platforms and global teams.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in systems, electrical, mechanical, optical, biomedical or computer engineering, applied physics or a related discipline.
• Extensive experience developing and commercializing integrated life-science instrumentation, consumables and customer workflows.
• Demonstrated success leading a portfolio of complex product-development and lifecycle programs through engineering leaders.
• Significant organizational leadership across systems engineering, integration or hardware engineering.
• Experience building managers, senior technical leaders and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Experience allocating resources and resolving priorities across multiple programs and platforms.
• Experience in regulated or highly quality-controlled product-development environments.
• Proven success leading across functions, global sites and matrixed organizations.
• Broad knowledge across systems, electrical, mechanical and optical engineering, with deep expertise in at least one discipline.
• Strong understanding of molecular biology workflows and how scientific, consumable and instrument performance interact.
• Experience with products integrating instruments, consumables, assays, firmware, software and data.
• Strong knowledge of system integration, requirements, technical risk management and verification.
• Ability to identify portfolio-level technical risks, capability gaps and investment needs.
• Experience with model-based engineering, simulation and modern engineering tools.
• Understanding of reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, cybersecurity and lifecycle management.
• Practical knowledge of AI/ML applications in engineering and intelligent products.
• Ability to operate effectively through leaders rather than becoming the project lead.
• Ability to build strong organizations, technical leadership and succession depth.
• Combines technical credibility with scientific, customer and business judgment; maintains a portfolio perspective and makes disciplined priority decisions.
• Surfaces systemic risks early and intervenes at the appropriate level.
• Aligns functions, global sites and senior stakeholders around enterprise outcomes.
• Balances near-term delivery with long-term capability and customer trust.

Responsibilities

• Lead systems engineering, integration and hardware engineering across electrical, mechanical and optical disciplines.
• Establish functional strategies, technical standards, development methods and capability roadmaps.
• Build managers and technical leaders who guide individual product programs, and ensure programs have the leadership, expertise and capacity needed for execution.
• Develop depth in critical disciplines and reduce dependency on individual experts.
• Balance resources across new products, platform investments, sustaining engineering and lifecycle priorities.
• Maintain a division-wide view of engineering priorities, capacity, technical maturity and risk.
• Align engineering resources with portfolio strategy in partnership with R&D, business and Product Management leaders.
• Establish portfolio-level indicators for technical health, integration readiness, quality and delivery risk; review program health and address cross-program dependencies and capability gaps.
• Resolve resource and priority conflicts that cannot be addressed within individual programs, intervene in systemic or business-critical risks, and provide senior leaders with recommendations on investment, sequencing and technical risk.
• Establish practical standards for requirements, design, analysis, integration, verification and technical reviews.
• Strengthen model-based engineering, simulation, interface management and evidence-based decision-making; apply engineering rigor appropriate to product complexity, intended use and risk.
• Address recurring systemic issues, promote reuse of proven designs, models, methods and test assets, and apply processes that improve decisions without unnecessarily slowing teams.
• Ensure products develop instruments, consumables, assays, firmware, software and data as integrated systems.
• Partner with Product Management during product definition and concept selection; translate customer and scientific workflows into clear product and system requirements.
• Review critical trade-offs involving scientific performance, customer experience, cost, schedule and risk, and maintain product coherence from feasibility through commercialization and lifecycle support.
• Use development, manufacturing and field-performance learning to improve future products.
• Establish common engineering practices across Bay Area, Singapore and India; distribute technical ownership while maintaining clear standards and accountability.
• Partner with site leaders to develop local capability and align resources with portfolio needs; build succession depth and plans to address future capability gaps.
• Create a culture that is agile, hungry, curious and grounded in customer value.
• Define how AI, modeling, simulation and automation can improve engineering effectiveness across the portfolio.
• Promote AI-assisted requirements analysis, concept evaluation, design optimization and risk identification; advance digital twins, predictive models and data-driven approaches to reduce development cycles and physical iteration.
• Ensure hardware, sensing, compute and data capabilities support intelligent instruments and connected workflows.
• Partner with Architecture, Software and Data Science leaders to align AI-enabled product development, with appropriate validation, traceability, governance and human accountability.
• Measure the impact of AI adoption.
• Build partnerships with Product Management, science, software, Quality, Regulatory, Operations, Service and Commercial leadership.
• Translate engineering portfolio decisions into customer, business, investment and lifecycle implications, and align senior stakeholders around resource, priority and technical trade-offs.
• Represent Core Engineering in product, portfolio and divisional governance.
• Engage customers, suppliers and technology partners to strengthen engineering direction and external awareness.

Benefits

• Variable annual bonus based on company, team and/or individual performance results, in accordance with company policy.
• Choice of national medical and dental plans and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs.
• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement.
• At least 120 hours of paid time off and 10 paid holidays annually.
• Paid parental leave: 3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave.
• Accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy.
• Competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan.
• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director