Head Navigation Digital R&D

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine•Boston, MA

1d•Onsite

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. As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit. Fueled by innovation at the intersection of science, technology, and surgical workflow, Johnson & Johnson Orthopaedics is advancing the next generation of solutions to keep patients moving. We are focused on delivering smarter, less invasive, and more personalized orthopedic care, grounded in clinical evidence and enabled by biologics, implants, instruments, enabling technologies, and data‑driven insights. Our Orthopaedics teams help more than 6 million patients move each year, partnering with surgeons and healthcare systems worldwide to deliver meaningful clinical outcomes, operational efficiency & reproducibility combined with sustainable economic value. Across joint reconstruction; trauma and craniomaxillofacial; sports, extremities, and elective foot and ankle; spine; and robotics and digital surgery, we bring together deep domain expertise and scalable platforms to redefine standards of care. 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, subject to legal requirements, including consultation with works councils and other employee representative bodies, as may be required, regulatory approvals and other customary conditions and approvals. 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. In that case, details of any planned changes would be provided to you by DePuy Synthes at an appropriate time and subject to any necessary consultation processes. We are searching for the best talent to join our Orthopedic team as Director of Navigation, Robotics, located in Boston, MA, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Warsaw, IN, or Raynham, MA. Other DPS locations will be considered. The Director of Navigation, Robotics, will report to the VP Digital R&D Orthopedics. 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.
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

Consolidated retirement plan (pension)
Savings plan (401(k))
Long-term incentive program
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