Senior Principal Clinical R&D Engineer - Joints Robotics

Johnson & Johnson•Boston, IN

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

Johnson & Johnson is seeking a Senior Principal Clinical R&D Engineer to join its Orthopaedics team, supporting joint robotics. This hybrid position can be based in Boston, Massachusetts, or Warsaw, Indiana. The role is a senior technical and clinical leadership position bridging medical device design, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and real-world clinical applications. It provides hands-on engineering and clinical input across the product lifecycle to support safe, effective, and compliant device development. The position supports customer insight gathering and translation into clinical and engineering scope proposals; training and R&D rollouts; surgeon and clinical staff interactions and demonstrations; clinical investigations as needed; and usability advice. It partners with Regulatory on technical and clinical documentation for regulatory submissions and post-market reporting. The role also reviews field actions, product complaints, health hazard assessments, and recall decisions, providing risk assessments and remediation recommendations. It interfaces with physicians, clinical staff, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, and external testing laboratories, and supports technical content for scientific manuscripts, clinical summaries, and internal reports. The position is part of Orthopaedics, which develops solutions across joint reconstruction, trauma and craniomaxillofacial, sports, extremities, elective foot and ankle, spine, robotics, and digital surgery. Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to separate its Orthopaedics business as DePuy Synthes; following completion of the transaction, the employee is anticipated to become an employee of DePuy Synthes, subject to the stated conditions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (mechanical, biomedical, electrical, or related) or an equivalent technical degree.
12 or more years of experience in medical device R&D, clinical engineering, or related roles supporting product development.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate across engineering, clinical, quality, and regulatory teams.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Practical problem-solving ability.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience in orthopedics, joint replacement, or surgical robotics.
Knowledge of regulatory pathways, including FDA and EU MDR.
Experience with field actions, complaint investigations, HHAs, and recall processes.
Operating room exposure and strong clinician relationships.
Technical leadership with a clinical focus.
Pragmatic, data-driven decision-making.
Collaborative communication and cross-functional influence.
Orientation toward patient outcomes and risk management.

Responsibilities

Gather and translate Voice of Customer (VoC) insights into clinical and engineering scope proposals.
Support train-the-trainer activities and R&D rollouts.
Support interactions and demonstrations with surgeons and clinical staff.
Support clinical investigations as needed.
Advise on usability.
Partner with Regulatory to draft and support technical and clinical documentation for regulatory submissions and post-market reporting.
Review field actions, product complaints, health hazard assessments (HHAs), and recall decisions, and provide technical and clinical risk assessments and remediation recommendations.
Interface with physicians, clinical staff, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, and external testing laboratories to resolve technical and clinical questions.
Support preparation of technical sections for scientific manuscripts, clinical summaries, and internal technical reports as needed.

Benefits

Participation in the company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)), subject to plan terms.
Vacation: 120 hours per calendar year, subject to policy and date of hire.
Sick time: 40 hours per calendar year, with different stated amounts for employees residing in Colorado or Washington, subject to policy and date of hire.
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 a child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
Bereavement Leave: 240 hours for an immediate family member and 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.