Head Navigation Digital R&D

Johnson & Johnson • Boston, MA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

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. Johnson & Johnson announced plans to separate our Orthopaedics business to establish a standalone orthopaedics company, operating as DePuy Synthes. The process of the planned separation is anticipated to be completed within 18 to 24 months. Should you accept this position, it is anticipated that, following conclusion of the transaction, you would be an employee of DePuy Synthes and your employment would be governed by DePuy Synthes employment processes, programs, policies, and benefit plans. The Head of Navigation Digital, R&D will lead software and systems engineering for intra operative navigation: localization, registration, sensor fusion, and orchestration across embedded, edge and cloud components. Act as the primary navigation partner to robotics, clinical, and regulatory teams to deliver deterministic, clinician grade navigation capabilities.

Requirements

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Systems or equivalent.
• ~10+ years SW/systems experience with ~5+ years in navigation/perception or related systems; experience shipping production navigation or perception software.
• Strong C/C++ and Python, real‑time middleware (ROS/ROS2, DDS or equivalent), sensor fusion, SLAM/VO, 3D registration, and simulation tooling.
• Practical experience with software design controls for regulated products (IEC 62304, ISO 13485, ISO 14971).
• Systems thinker with hands‑on credibility; mentors senior engineers, builds cross‑disciplinary trust, and navigates clinical/regulatory constraints.
• Collaborates globally with external partners and sales regions.

Nice To Haves

• Surgical/orthopedics navigation experience, GPU/accelerator optimization, and ML model lifecycle in regulated contexts.
• Experience with SBOM, cybersecurity for medical devices, and cloud/edge orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Own multi‑year navigation SW & systems roadmap and drive delivery to product milestones.
• Architect real‑time navigation stacks and partition deterministic control loops from non‑real‑time services.
• Lead SW, algorithm and AI teams to productionize perception pipelines.
• Build and operate simulation/digital‑twin and synthetic data pipelines for validation and regression testing.
• Establish IEC 62304‑aligned software lifecycle, CI/CD for embedded + cloud, automated test harnesses, and traceability.
• Define non‑functional requirements (accuracy budgets, latency, availability, robustness) and verification strategies.
• Integrate MLOps for model training, validation, deployment controls, and in‑field monitoring.
• Partner with QA/RA to deliver software evidence, risk controls and regulatory inputs; qualify navigation software suppliers/SDKs.
• Partner with technology partners for co-development.

Benefits

• Vacation –120 hours per calendar year
• Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Colorado –48 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington –56 hours per calendar year
• Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays –13 days per calendar year
• Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year
• Parental Leave – 480 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child
• Bereavement Leave – 240 hours for an immediate family member: 40 hours for an extended family member per calendar year
• Caregiver Leave – 80 hours in a 52-week rolling period
• Volunteer Leave – 32 hours per calendar year
• Military Spouse Time-Off – 80 hours per calendar year

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees