Senior Systems Engineering Manager

JOB SUMMARY:

The Senior Systems Engineering Manager leads and develops the Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering functions to support new product development, platform development, and sustaining product needs. This role develops and implements functional strategies, establishes integrated system and electrical architecture practices, and builds engineering capabilities that improve technical consistency, reuse, product quality, development efficiency, and cross-functional decision-making. The Senior Systems Engineering Manager leads engineering managers, technical leaders, and individual contributors while providing functional leadership across organizational boundaries where engineers remain matrixed to other teams. This role partners with engineering, product management, project leadership, quality, regulatory, and other functions to align technical capability and execution with product, portfolio, and organizational priorities.

ESSENTIAL/PRIMARY DUTIES:

• Develops and implements functional strategies for Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering, aligning organizational capability, technical practices, architecture, platform development, and resource priorities with current and future product and business needs.
• Establishes and governs integrated system and electrical engineering practices, including requirements development, system and domain architecture, interface definition, technical standards, verification and validation strategy, risk management, reliability, robustness, and technical assurance.
• Guides electrical platform strategy and the development of reusable electrical subsystem architectures, technologies, and designs to improve reuse, interoperability, technical consistency, lifecycle support, and development efficiency across product families.
• Oversees systems and electrical engineering execution across multiple programs and teams, establishes mechanisms for technical oversight and escalation, identifies systemic issues and patterns, and leads improvement actions that increase quality, predictability, and effectiveness.
• Builds organizational engineering capability through competency development, technical career paths, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and development of managers, architects, staff engineers, and other technical leaders.
• Provides functional leadership for systems and electrical engineering across matrixed organizational structures, establishing common expectations for competency, architecture, processes, methods, tools, technical standards, and engineering quality regardless of direct reporting structure.
• Guides functional capacity, workforce, and resource planning across Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering; ensures product development programs are appropriately staffed with systems and electrical engineering resources based on program scope, complexity, risk, and priority; and balances platform, project, sustaining, and capability-development needs in partnership with project and functional leaders.
• Drives measurable improvement in product development and engineering effectiveness through systems thinking, architecture, platform reuse, standardization, model-based approaches, automation, and other improved engineering methods and technologies, including appropriate applications of artificial intelligence.

SECONDARY DUTIES:

• Represents Systems Engineering and Electrical Engineering in cross-functional planning, technical leadership, and organizational improvement forums.

• Partners with Quality and Regulatory to improve integration of systems and electrical engineering practices with design controls, risk management, post-market learning, and applicable regulatory requirements.

• Collaborates with external partners, suppliers, and technology providers as needed to support architecture, platform development, technical capability, and product development.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related technical field and 10+ years of relevant engineering or product development experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience leading engineering teams or functions and developing engineering capability across multiple programs or teams, required. Experience in regulated product development, medical device development, systems engineering, electrical engineering, or multidisciplinary product development, preferred.

COMPETENCY and/or SKILL: 

• Comprehensive knowledge of systems engineering principles and practices, including requirements development, system architecture, interface management, verification and validation, and risk management.

• Comprehensive knowledge of multidisciplinary product architecture and the integration of system-level and engineering-domain architectures.

• Comprehensive knowledge of electrical engineering product development principles, including electrical subsystem architecture, requirements, design, integration, verification, and technical assurance.

• Comprehensive knowledge of platform engineering, design reuse, technical standardization, and lifecycle considerations for complex products and subsystems.

• Comprehensive knowledge of regulated product development and design control practices, including applicable FDA requirements, ISO 13485, and ISO 14971.

• Comprehensive knowledge of engineering functional leadership, competency development, organizational capability building, and technical career development.

• Comprehensive knowledge of matrixed engineering organizations and cross-functional technical decision-making across product, project, quality, regulatory, and engineering functions.

• Solid working knowledge of systems engineering, requirements management, architecture modeling, product lifecycle, and engineering development tools.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Leads and directs the work of other teammates. Supervision is often provided through a team of subordinate supervisors or managers. Has full authority for personnel actions and contributes to departmental budgeting, planning, and procedural change. Implements policies, practices, and procedures that have a significant impact on the department.