Lead R&D Engineer - Biomechanics & Sensing (April 2027)

Location: Cambridge, MA

Term: Approximately 6 months (anticipated April–September), contingent upon NIH SBIR Phase I award

Base salary: ~$135K–$150K annualized

Potential conversion: opportunity to transition into a permanent technical leadership role following successful completion of Phase I and continued company financing

Equity upon conversion: negotiate an equity package as part of the permanent offer

About OrthoIQ

OrthoIQ is developing intelligent surgical instrumentation that provides orthopedic surgeons with objective, real-time measurements during implant insertion. Our first product is a sensorized impactor for cementless total hip arthroplasty (THA) that measures the mechanical response of each hammer strike to quantify implant fixation quality during surgery. By replacing subjective tactile judgment with quantitative feedback, OrthoIQ aims to reduce implant loosening, periprosthetic fracture, and costly revision procedures.

Position Summary

OrthoIQ is seeking a highly experienced engineer to independently lead technical execution of our NIH SBIR Phase I program. This individual will own the day-to-day engineering effort, planning and executing experimental studies, coordinating technical activities across collaborators, and ensuring milestones are completed on schedule.

The successful candidate will operate with a high degree of autonomy. They will be expected to identify technical challenges, develop solutions, coordinate testing activities, and make engineering decisions with minimal supervision. While they will work closely with the CEO, consultants, and an engineering intern, this role is primarily an individual contributor responsible for driving the project's technical success.

This position is ideal for an engineer who enjoys taking ownership of complex multidisciplinary projects and turning early-stage technology into rigorous experimental evidence.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the experimental R&D program from hypothesis and experimental design through hardware development, testing, analysis, and technical conclusions.
• Design and build sensorized electromechanical prototypes, test fixtures, and data-acquisition systems.
• Collect and analyze high-frequency time-series data from force, acceleration, acoustic, strain, and other sensors.
• Develop signal-processing methods including filtering, FFT/frequency-domain analysis, feature extraction, and sensor fusion.
• Develop and evaluate statistical and machine-learning models relating measured signals to implant stability and other biomechanical endpoints.
• Translate experimental findings into technical decisions and subsequent product development.

Required Qualifications

• M.S., Ph.D., or equivalent experience in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Applied Physics, or a related field.
• Strong hands-on experience developing and testing physical electromechanical systems.
• Demonstrated ability to independently take an ambiguous technical problem from hypothesis through experimental design, implementation, analysis, and conclusion.
• Strong experience with sensors, instrumentation, data acquisition, and experimental measurement.
• Strong experience analyzing time-series sensor data using Python, MATLAB, or equivalent tools.
• Practical experience with digital signal processing, including filtering, FFT/spectral analysis, frequency-domain methods, feature extraction, sampling, and noise characterization.
• Experience developing and evaluating statistical or machine-learning models using experimental sensor data.
• Strong mechanical intuition and ability to troubleshoot complex experimental systems independently.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in one or more of the following areas is particularly valuable:

• Impact dynamics, vibration, acoustics, structural dynamics, modal analysis, acoustic emission, condition monitoring, or similar transient mechanical systems.
• Force transducers, accelerometers, strain gauges, piezoelectric sensors, microphones/acoustic sensors, or precision displacement measurement.
• Supervised learning, classification, regression, dimensionality reduction, time-series classification, or sensor fusion.
• Biomechanical testing, orthopedic implants, surgical tools, medical devices, or robotics.
• Experience in a startup, research lab, or similar environment requiring substantial technical autonomy.

Deep expertise in every area is not expected. The successful candidate should have sufficient systems-level breadth to own the overall technical program and effectively engage specialized consultants when deeper expertise is required.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is highly self-directed, technically rigorous, and comfortable taking ownership of an ambitious R&D program. Rather than waiting for detailed instructions, they proactively identify what needs to be done, develop execution plans, coordinate the necessary resources, and drive work to completion. They are equally comfortable designing hardware, running experiments, coordinating collaborators, and troubleshooting technical challenges in a fast-paced startup environment.

Salary : $135,000 - $150,000