What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Engineer, Product Development position at HUDSON LAB AUTOMATION?
We are seeking a Senior Engineer, Product Development to serve as a critical bridge between engineering innovation and released product. This is a full-time hands-on, execution-focused role for a senior engineer who knows how to turn promising prototypes and early designs into field-ready, scalable products.
This role is not a pure design position-it is a productization role. You will bring structure, rigor, and predictability to development while remaining deeply involved in technical problem-solving and decision-making. You’ll lead execution across development programs, work cross-functionally to resolve ambiguity, and raise the bar for manufacturability, serviceability, and release readiness.
Depending on experience and growth, this role may evolve into broader technical or people leadership over time.
What You’ll Do
Product Development & Productization
- Drive the transition of life science instruments and robotic automation systems from prototype or early design into manufacturable, field-deployable products.
- Lead productization efforts with strong emphasis on DFM, DFA, and DFS.
- Ensure designs account for cost, reliability, quality, manufacturability, and serviceability from early development stages.
- Own or lead engineering rigor activities including tolerance analysis, risk assessment, FMEA, design verification and validation, pilot readiness, and design transfer.
- Partner with engineers, scientists, and technical stakeholders to convert concepts into scalable, supportable product designs.
Project Execution & Cross-Functional Leadership
- Directly manage execution of product development programs, actively driving milestones, decisions, risks, and dependencies.
- Work closely with R&D, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Service to ensure early and continuous cross-functional input.
- Act as a central technical and execution voice—resolving ambiguity, driving decisions, and maintaining momentum.
- Communicate status, risks, tradeoffs, and execution challenges clearly to senior leadership, including the CEO.
- Help establish realistic plans while strengthening accountability and follow-through.
PLM / Stage Gate Development
- Help build and implement a more formal PLM / Stage Gate development process.
- Define phase criteria, deliverables, reviews, and go/no-go decision points.
- Improve documentation, design review cadence, configuration management, and ECO discipline.
- Ensure the right stakeholders are involved at the right stages of development.
Supplier & Manufacturing Readiness
- Engage suppliers and manufacturing partners to assess feasibility and improve design-for-build.
- Support creation of release packages including drawings, BOMs, work instructions, and test methods.
- Contribute to pilot builds, issue resolution, and lessons learned prior to broader release.
What You Bring
Required Qualifications
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline.
- 7–12 years of hands-on experience in product development, NPI, manufacturing engineering, or electromechanical productization.
- Proven success taking products from prototype through release into production.
- Strong experience with DFM/DFA/DFS and structured product development practices.
- Ability to directly drive project execution across multiple teams and functions.
- Experience with life science instrumentation, lab automation, robotics, or complex electromechanical systems.
- Strong engineering judgment with the ability to identify risk early and push work to completion.
- Excellent communication skills, especially explaining technical tradeoffs to cross-functional and executive stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with robotic lab automation, motion control, or precision electromechanical systems.
- Background in low-volume, high-mix instrumentation environments.
- Familiarity with PLM or Stage Gate development models.
- Experience working with suppliers, contract manufacturers, and design transfer.
- Experience in a growth-stage or smaller company environment where process-building is part of the role.
Additional Details
- Competitive compensation that includes bonus eligibility.
- Comprehensive benefits package, including voluntary medical, dental, vision insurance and 401(k) retirement plan.
- This is an on-site position at our new headquarters in New Providence, NJ.
- Occasional travel may be required.