Job SummaryThe Director of Engineering- LifeCycle Engineering is a senior leadership role responsible for protecting and expanding profitability across the existing product portfolio while ensuring uninterrupted support of released products. This role owns two tightly coupled functions, Gross Margin Improvement (GMI) and Sustaining Engineering.
This leader serves as the single threaded owner for lifecycle value optimization, balancing speed, rigor, and cross functional alignment across Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercial teams.
Job DescriptionGross Margin Improvement Leadership- Own the Gross Margin Improvement roadmap across the existing product portfolio, aligned to annual operating plan targets and divisional margin commitments.
- Lead value engineering initiatives including material optimization, process efficiency, labor reduction, tooling reuse, supplier strategy, and make/buy decisions.
- Establish clear financial baselines, savings targets, and validation mechanisms in partnership with Finance.
- Prioritize GMI projects based on margin impact, risk, regulatory complexity, and resource availability.
- Ensure GMI initiatives are executed with appropriate design controls, validation, and documentation.
- Drive repeatable cost-reduction playbooks that can be scaled across products and sites.
Sustaining Engineering Ownership- Lead the Sustaining Engineering organization responsible for post-launch product support.
- Ensure timely and compliant execution of engineering changes, cost-downs, supplier changes, and issue resolution.
- Partner with Quality and Regulatory to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable standards and customer requirements.
- Establish clear intake, prioritization, and execution processes for sustaining requests.
- Protect revenue and customer satisfaction by reducing response time and engineering cycle time for sustaining work.
- Ensure sustaining engineering work is data-driven and aligned to business priorities.
Cross-Functional Leadership- Act as the primary engineering interface for Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and Product Management for all lifecycle and margin-related topics.
- Balance tradeoffs between cost, risk, speed, and compliance, escalating when appropriate.
- Ensure tight alignment between GMI and Sustaining Engineering efforts to avoid duplication and conflicting priorities.
- Support commercial decision-making with engineering insight on cost, risk, and feasibility.
People & Organization Leadership- Directly manage engineering managers and senior individual contributors across both teams.
- Build a high-performing, accountable organization with clear roles, expectations, and success metrics.
- Develop talent through coaching, performance management, and succession planning.
- Drive consistent engineering rigor, documentation quality, and decision-making discipline.
Process, Metrics & Governance- Define and track KPIs for margin improvement, sustaining responsiveness, engineering cycle time, and execution effectiveness.
- Establish standard work for cost-down projects, sustaining change management, and cross-functional reviews.
- Ensure engineering deliverables are audit-ready and aligned with QMS requirements.
- Provide regular executive-level reporting on margin impact, risks, and execution status.
Basic Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, Biomedical, or related discipline) required
- Master's degree (MS/MBA) preferred
- Minimum 10-12 years of progressive engineering experience in a regulated manufacturing environment
- Minimum 5+ years of engineering leadership experience managing managers and/or senior technical leaders
- Demonstrated experience in medical device, regulated healthcare manufacturing, or equivalent FDA/ISO-regulated industry
- Proven track record leading cost-reduction, value-engineering, or gross margin improvement initiatives on released products
- Experience leading sustaining or lifecycle engineering functions, including design changes and post-launch support
- Strong working knowledge of design controls, change management, validation, and QMS requirements
- Experience partnering cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercial teams
- Ability to translate engineering decisions into measurable business and financial outcomes
Medline Industries, LP, and its subsidiaries, offer a competitive total rewards package, continuing education & training, and tremendous potential with a growing worldwide organization.
The anticipated salary range for this position:
$154,000.00 - $231,000.00 Annual
The actual salary will vary based on applicant's location, education, experience, skills, and abilities. This role is bonus and/or incentive eligible. Medline will not pay less than the applicable minimum wage or salary threshold.
Our benefit package includes health insurance, life and disability, 401(k) contributions, paid time off, etc., for employees working 30 or more hours per week on average. For a more comprehensive list of our benefits please click here. For roles where employees work less than 30 hours per week, benefits include 401(k) contributions as well as access to the Employee Assistance Program, Employee Resource Groups and the Employee Service Corp.
We're dedicated to creating a Medline where everyone feels they belong and can grow their career. We strive to do this by seeking diversity in all forms, acting inclusively, and ensuring that people have tools and resources to perform at their best. Explore our Belonging page here.
Medline Industries, LP is an equal opportunity employer. Medline evaluates qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, neurodivergence, protected veteran status, marital or family status, caregiver responsibilities, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.
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