Principal Engineer, Early Innovation R&D

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at jnj.com As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world.  We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual.  At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit. Job Function: R&D Product Development Job Sub Function: R&D Software/Systems Engineering Job Category: Scientific/Technology All Job Posting Locations: Raritan, New Jersey, United States of America Job Description: Johnson & Johnson MedTech Surgery is currently seeking a Principal Engineer to join our R&D Innovation & Partnerships team located onsite at our Raritan, NJ location. #LI-Onsite   About Surgery Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we’re developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments. Are you passionate about improving and expanding the possibilities of surgery? Ready to join a team that’s reimagining how we heal? Our Surgery team will give you the chance to deliver surgical technologies and solutions to surgeons and healthcare professionals around the world. Your contributions will help effectively treat some of the world’s most prevalent conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Patients are waiting. Your unique talents will help patients on their journey to wellness. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/medtech   JOB SUMMARY This role will help shape the next generation of surgical, wound closure, digitally enabled, and engineered system solutions by identifying and assessing external innovation, translating clinical and customer unmet needs into system-level requirements, and advancing high-potential technologies through structured due diligence, concept generation, feasibility planning and assessment, and early development. The Principal Engineer will partner across R&D, Global Strategic Marketing, Business Development, Clinical, Medical Affairs, Regulatory, Quality, Supply Chain, Digital, and external partners to support portfolio decisions and accelerate meaningful innovation for patients and customers.

Identify, assess, and recommend external technologies, platforms, and partnership opportunities aligned to J&J MedTech Surgery’s Wound Closure & Healing strategy and innovation pipeline. Conduct technical due diligence on startups, academic innovations, licensing opportunities, and strategic collaborations, including evaluation of clinical need, technical feasibility, intellectual property, regulatory pathway, quality considerations, scalability, and strategic fit. Develop technology landscapes, target scans, competitive intelligence, and evidence summaries across priority surgical, wound closure, engineered systems, electromechanical, connected device, automation, sensing, software, and digital solution spaces. Translate customer, clinical, workflow, and technology insights into problem statements, user needs, system requirements, subsystem requirements, architecture considerations, risk profiles, and evidence-based recommendations. Engage clinicians, key opinion leaders, academic collaborators, suppliers, incubators, accelerators, and external innovation partners to maintain a robust innovation pipeline. Lead front-end innovation activities, including customer discovery, unmet need definition, opportunity framing, concept generation, system architecture