Principal Manufacturing Engineering - Operations Lead

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 28 Sep 2026 Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first — developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72&#43; million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact. A Day in the Life The Principal Manufacturing Engineer (Operations Lead) provides technical and operational leadership at Medtronic's Medtronic Energy and Component Center (MECC) in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. MECC serves as a critical manufacturing hub within Medtronic, producing batteries, capacitors, connectors, feedthroughs, and other highly specialized components that support therapies and products used across multiple Medtronic businesses worldwide. In this role, you will serve as a key engineering leader within manufacturing operations, partnering closely with Production, Quality, Supply Chain, Maintenance, and New Product Introduction teams to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient manufacturing performance. As an Operations Lead, the Principal Manufacturing Engineer will drive resolution of complex manufacturing challenges, lead continuous improvement initiatives, and provide strategic direction for process, equipment, quality, and operational excellence efforts. This role is responsible for optimizing manufacturing performance, expanding process capability, supporting capacity and technology investments, and developing sustainable solutions that improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost. The successful candidate will combine deep technical expertise with strong cross-functional leadership to influence decision-making, mentor engineering talent, and support the continued growth of a manufacturing organization that delivers critical components powering life-changing medical technologies. At Medtronic, we bring bold ideas forward with speed and decisiveness to put patients first in everything we do. In-person exchanges are invaluable to our work. We’re working 5 days a week onsite as part of our commitment to fostering a culture of professional growth and cross-functional collaboration as we work together to engineer the extraordinary. Responsibilities may include the following and other duties may be assigned. Designs manufacturing processes, procedures and production layouts for assemblies, equipment installation, processing, machining and material handling. Designs arrangement of machines within plant facilities to ensure most efficient and productive layout. Designs sequence of operations and specifies procedures for the fabrication of tools and equipment and other functions that affect product performance. Adapts machine or equipment design to factory and production conditions. May incorporate inspection and test requirements into the production plan. Inspects performance of machinery, equipment, and tools to verify their efficiency, and investigates and initiates corrective action of problems and deficiencies to ensure product quality. Develops manufacturing processes that are applicable to statistical process control, and may develop those techniques. Provides guidance to engineering regarding design concepts and specification requirements to best utilize equipment and manufacturing techniques. Ensures processes and procedures are in compliance with regulations. Required Qualification Bachelor's degree and minimum of 7 years of relevant experience OR Master's degree with a minimum of 5 years relevant experience OR PhD with 3 years relevant experience Preferred Qualifications Experience supporting manufacturing operations in a regulated industry such as medical device , pharmaceutical , aerospace, electronics, or other high-volume manufacturing environments. Experience leading cross-functional teams to resolve manufacturing, quality, equipment, or operational performance issues. Experience implementing process improvements that improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, or cost metrics. Experience supporting capital equipment projects, capacity expansion initiatives, automation, or manufacturing technology implementations. Experience using Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, or related continuous improvement methodologies. Experience mentoring engineers, leading technical projects, or serving as a technical lead within a manufacturing organization. For Baccalaureate degrees earned outside of the United States, a degree that satisfies the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) is required. Physical Job Requirements The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position. The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role. U.S. Work Authorization & Sponsorship At Medtronic, we are committed to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. In alignment with our enterprise-wide workforce planning approach, U.S. work authorization sponsorship (H-1B, TN, J, etc.) is offered exclusively for Principal-level roles and above, where specialized expertise aligns with long-term business needs. Roles below the Principal level require candidates to possess unrestricted U.S. work authorization at the time of hire and for the duration of employment. ‌ Recruitment Fraud Alert <span style="color:#0000