Principal Mechanical R&D Engineer

CIVCO Medical Solutions•Coralville, IA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal R&D Engineer is CIVCO’s hands-on upstream (Stage 0) technical lead. This principal-level individual contributor converts unmet clinical needs, product ideas, and emerging technologies into technical evidence—concepts, prototypes, experiments, and recommendations—to support go/no-go investment decisions, detailed scoping, and handoff into formal product development. Most of the role’s capacity is dedicated to upstream work, with the remainder supporting knowledge transfer to downstream teams and engaging other design engineers in concept work so exploratory capability grows across the team. Success is measured by substantiated unmet needs identified, feasibility questions resolved, strategically relevant technologies evaluated, and concepts advanced to a clear investment or no-go decision. The position is based at CIVCO’s production facility in Coralville, Iowa. On-site work is preferred because of the hands-on nature of the role; this is not a fully remote position. Relocation assistance may be available for the right candidate.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline; demonstrated experience and capability may outweigh degree level.
Typically 10+ years of relevant engineering and product-development experience.
Deep capability in mechanical engineering and physical product design, including CAD, prototyping, test development, and experimentation.
Proven ability to independently drive technical projects from an ambiguous starting point to a defined outcome, decision, or handoff.
Ability to take an idea through concept, prototype, experiment, learning, iteration, and recommendation, including the judgment to stop when evidence does not support continuing.
Strong systems-level, first-principles problem-solving skills and ability to rapidly learn unfamiliar technologies.
Strong planning, organization, and follow-through; ability to coordinate stakeholders and small teams without formal authority.
Strong technical communication and judgment, including concise presentation of technical findings and recommendations to executive leadership.
Strong technical writing skills and discipline in creating concise, decision-oriented documentation as work happens.
Ability to meet vendor credentialing requirements for all healthcare systems.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Medical-device product-development experience, including familiarity with design controls, design inputs, and stage-gate frameworks.
Experience in another highly regulated industry, such as aerospace, automotive, defense, or pharmaceutical, where evidence and traceability drive decisions.
Working capability with electronics, sensors, instrumentation, data analysis, and basic programming.
Comfort working in ambiguous, poorly defined problem spaces, with a bias toward building and testing rather than prolonged analysis.
Strong experimental instincts and technical creativity balanced with engineering rigor.
Broad curiosity across technologies and a track record of scouting and evaluating external technologies, vendors, or academic partners.
Hands-on fabrication and machining skills and experience with additive manufacturing workflows.
Experience mentoring or collaborating with other engineers on early-stage concept work.

Responsibilities

Translate early ideas into concepts, prototypes, experiments, and technical conclusions that inform investment and scoping decisions.
Personally design and fabricate prototypes, fixtures, and test setups using CAD, additive manufacturing, basic fabrication and machining, and internal and external resources.
Identify critical assumptions and technical risks, then design and execute practical experiments to resolve them, including recommending against concepts when evidence warrants it.
Structure, plan, organize, and drive loosely defined upstream investigations to completion with minimal oversight; coordinate stakeholders and small ad-hoc teams as needed and deliver a clear outcome, decision, or handoff.
Lead or participate in clinical and user observation alongside Product Management; identify and characterize unmet needs and develop approved opportunities into potential solutions.
Scout technologies, vendors, startups, universities, components, sensors, and other capabilities relevant to future CIVCO products, and evaluate their applicability.
Integrate mechanical systems with sensors, electronics, instrumentation, and basic software or data tools to demonstrate feasibility.
Collaborate with Product Management, clinical and field partners, Design Engineering, and downstream New Product Development; present concise findings and recommendations to executive leadership.
Share methods, learning, and concept work with other engineers to strengthen the team’s exploratory capability.
Collaborate with vendors, technical experts, universities, and outside fabrication and testing resources.
Hand off successful concepts to downstream New Product Development with prototypes, evidence, technical learning, risks, constraints, and documentation; support knowledge transfer rather than execution of the downstream development program.
Maintain clear, disciplined documentation of concepts, prototypes, experiments, results, decisions, assumptions, risks, and lessons learned, consistent with applicable quality processes.