Principal Engineer 1 - Research & Development Process & Product Design

Summary of Position:

Alcon is hiring a Principal Engineer I to join our Surgical R&D organization. This role will convert complex industrial design concepts, SolidWorks models, and visual renderings into robust Creo Parametric master models that define the aesthetic exterior surfaces and packaging architecture of medical consoles, carts, and handpieces. The engineer will bridge industrial design intent and production-ready mechanical design, ensuring exterior skins, interfaces, and supporting components can be manufactured, assembled, controlled, and revised throughout product development.

The ideal candidate combines advanced Creo surfacing and top-down design expertise with practical DFM experience for injection-molded plastics and cast components. The position will work closely with industrial design, mechanical engineering, human factors, manufacturing, suppliers, and quality partners to preserve the intended appearance while meeting functional, dimensional, manufacturing, and medical-device development requirements.

Key Responsibilities:

•Convert industrial design concepts from SolidWorks files, surface data, sketches, and renderings into controlled Creo Parametric geometry and production-intent master models.

•Create and maintain aesthetic exterior skins for medical consoles, equipment carts, handpieces, and related surgical-system components.

•Develop high-quality complex surfaces, transitions, parting strategies, shutoffs, interfaces, and split lines while preserving industrial design intent.

•Establish and sustain top-down skeleton architecture, master-model methodology, published geometry, and interface control across modules and assemblies.

•Derive production components and assemblies from the master model, including plastic housings, bezels, covers, handles, cast structures, and supporting mechanical parts.

•Assess imported SolidWorks geometry for quality, continuity, manufacturability, and design intent; rebuild or optimize geometry in Creo when required for stable parametric control.

•Partner with industrial designers to translate visual intent into measurable geometry, resolve design feasibility issues, and manage appearance-impacting changes.

•Apply DFM/DFA principles for injection-molded plastics and cast components, including draft, wall thickness, ribs, bosses, tooling access, parting lines, sink-risk reduction, and assembly interfaces.

•Perform fit, form, interface, clearance, and tolerance assessments to verify that exterior components integrate with internal structures, displays, controls, connectors, service features, and adjacent modules.

•Create detailed models and drawings with appropriate GD&T, datum strategies, and tolerance analysis for supplier quotation, fabrication, inspection, and release.

•Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing teams to review tooling concepts, molding or casting feasibility, cosmetic requirements, secondary operations, and design changes.

•Use Windchill for product-data management, revision control, configuration management, and cross-functional collaboration.

•Lead design reviews and provide technical direction on Creo surfacing, master modeling, top-down design, model robustness, and configuration control.

•Mentor engineers and designers in Creo Parametric, complex surfacing, geometry translation, and master-model best practices.

•Improve and standardize CAD methods, design practices, checklists, and reusable approaches for industrial-design-to-engineering handoff.

Key Requirements/Minimum Qualifications:

•Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent directly related experience.

Principal Engineer - Creo Industrial Design and Master Modeling

•10 or more years of relevant product design and mechanical engineering experience.

•Advanced proficiency in Creo Parametric, including complex surfacing, top-down design, skeletons, master models, published geometry, and robust parametric modeling.

•Demonstrated experience converting industrial design concepts or non-native CAD data into production-ready Creo master models.

•Strong experience designing aesthetic exterior components for complex electromechanical products.

•Practical DFM/DFA experience for injection-molded plastic and cast components, including collaboration with tooling and manufacturing suppliers.

•Working knowledge of GD&T, datum schemes, tolerance analysis, engineering drawings, and dimensional control.

•Experience managing CAD data, revisions, and product structures in Windchill or a comparable PLM system.

•Ability to communicate design tradeoffs clearly and collaborate across industrial design, engineering, manufacturing, quality, and supplier teams.

•Ability to manage multiple assignments in a fast-paced R&D environment and provide technical leadership with limited supervision.

•The ability to fluently read, write, understand, and communicate in English.

Preferred Qualifications

•Experience with Creo ISDX or other advanced Creo surfacing tools used to create and control complex exterior geometry.

•Proficiency reviewing or working with SolidWorks part, assembly, and surface models.

•Experience applying Model-Based Definition (MBD) practices, including creation and downstream use of 3D product definition and semantic PMI.

•Experience using Creo GD&T Advisor to define and validate GD&T and semantic product manufacturing information.

•Experience using CeTol 6 Sigma for tolerance stack-up analysis and design optimization.

•Experience applying generative AI tools to support engineering workflows, such as concept development, design analysis, documentation, knowledge capture, or process improvement.

•Experience with medical devices, surgical systems, capital equipment, handheld instruments, or other regulated electromechanical products.

•Experience developing cosmetic plastic housings and exterior components where surface quality, gaps, flushness, texture, color, and visible interfaces are important.

•Knowledge of plastic resin selection, casting alloys, tooling limitations, tolerance capability, and supplier manufacturing processes.

•Experience supporting concept development through prototype, verification, tooling, design transfer, and production release.

•Experience mentoring engineers or leading technically complex CAD and mechanical design activities.

Key Measures of Success:

•Industrial design intent is preserved in stable, controlled, and reusable Creo master models.

•Exterior components are manufacturable and integrate correctly with internal architecture and adjacent modules.

•CAD geometry, interfaces, and revisions remain traceable and controlled through the product-development lifecycle.

•Design risks related to surfaces, tooling, tolerances, cosmetics, and assembly are identified and resolved early.

•Engineering teams consistently apply effective surfacing, top-down design, and master-model practices.

Work hours: 1 PM to 10 PM IST

Relocation assistance: Yes

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