R&D Manager

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

Job Description

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Join a multidisciplinary R&D team developing reliable instruments that help customers advance research, improve analytical results and solve practical laboratory and inspection challenges.

Role overview

As R&D Manager, you will lead the development of life science and chemical analysis instruments and related inspection systems. With a systems engineering background, you will connect customer needs, system architecture and measurable product performance, guiding electrical, firmware, mechanical and applications engineers from concept through industrialization. You will combine technical leadership with responsibility for people development, team capability, resources and project delivery.

The development portfolio includes the Varioskan ALF Multimode Microplate Reader, the Power Blotter Station, EDXRF instruments, and X-ray inspection systems. Assignments will depend on project needs and relevant expertise.

Key responsibilities

· Lead system definition, architecture and integration; translate customer and application needs into measurable requirements and clear subsystem interfaces.

· Guide technical tradeoffs across sensing, electronics, firmware, mechanics and automation, balancing performance, reliability, cost and schedule.

· Lead technical reviews and resolve cross-disciplinary issues using analysis, experiments, risk assessment and documented engineering decisions.

· Manage and develop the engineering team through clear objectives, coaching, regular feedback, performance reviews and individual development plans.

· Recruit and onboard talent, identify skill gaps and allocate resources to build the capabilities needed across the instrument portfolio.

· Plan development work, milestones, budgets and dependencies with project stakeholders; communicate progress, risks and recovery actions.

· Establish verification and validation strategies, requirements traceability and acceptance criteria with engineering, quality and applications teams.

· Drive design quality, reliability and applicable safety and compliance activities with discipline leads and compliance specialists.

· Partner with operations, sourcing and service on design transfer, manufacturing readiness, cost improvement and field issue resolution.

· Improve engineering practices and encourage collaboration, technical ownership and knowledge sharing across global teams.

Required qualifications

· Degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Physics or a closely related technical discipline.

· Bachelor's degree plus at least 8 years, in systems engineering or multidisciplinary instrument development, or advanced degree plus at least 6 years of relevant experience

· Demonstrated technical leadership in complex R&D projects, including resolution of tradeoffs across multiple engineering disciplines.

· Experience taking an instrument or complex electromechanical product from concept through development and industrialization.

· Strong systems engineering background, including requirements management, architecture, interface definition, integration and verification planning.

· Ability to coach engineers, establish technical priorities and build consensus across engineering, applications, quality and operations.

· Project planning and resource management skills, with the ability to manage technical risks, dependencies, schedules and budgets.

· Structured problem-solving skills and a strong focus on customer needs, product quality, reliability and engineering evidence.

· Strong written and spoken English and effective communication with global, cross-functional teams.

· Ability to travel as needed for collaboration with global teams, suppliers and manufacturing sites.

Preferred qualifications

· Demonstrated direct people management, including hiring, performance management, career development and building a multidisciplinary engineering team.

· Experience developing life science and chemical analysis instruments, spectroscopy systems, X-ray equipment or laboratory automation.

· Experience with calibration, measurement uncertainty, statistical analysis and application-based product validation.

· PMP or equivalent project leadership training is beneficial.

· Familiarity with AI-assisted tools for engineering tasks such as analysis, documentation, or coding is a plus.