Principal Quality Engineer - CST - Memphis, TN (Onsite)

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 29 Aug 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+ 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

At Medtronic Neuroscience, we bring innovation, expertise, and purpose together to improve care for people living with neurological, spinal, and chronic pain conditions. Our technologies help restore function, improve quality of life, and support better outcomes for patients around the world.

The Cranial and Spinal Technologies (CST) operating unit delivers a comprehensive portfolio of technologies used in cranial and spinal procedures, supporting surgeons and healthcare teams with solutions designed to advance patient care. The Quality function partners closely with Research & Development, Operations, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, and Regulatory Affairs to ensure products meet quality, safety, and compliance requirements throughout the product lifecycle.

This position is based in Memphis, Tennessee and follows an onsite work model, with a minimum of four days per week in the office. Travel is expected to be less than 20%.

Check us out on LinkedIn: Medtronic CST

The Principal Quality Engineer serves as a quality leader supporting product development, manufacturing, and lifecycle management activities across the Cranial and Spinal Technologies portfolio. This role is responsible for driving quality strategy, ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and standards, supporting supplier quality initiatives, and partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver products that meet customer and business requirements.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develops, modifies and maintains quality standards and protocols for processing materials into partially finished or finished materials products.

• Collaborates with engineering and extended team members to ensure compliance with quality management systems and regulatory requirements.

• Lead development and maintenance of quality records per established processes – design history files, risk management, and change control across the product lifecycle.

• Perform duties as the quality engineering lead between the design site and internal/external manufacturing sites – developing and implementing inspection, testing, and evaluation methods for products and production equipment.

• Support activities for Product Acceptance, Product Performance Reviews, and Production Parts Approval Process, as applicable.

• Monitor parts through the development and production value stream, communicate and resolve issues in a timely manner (including leading nonconformance assessments, investigations, corrective and preventive actions).

• Lead manufacturing transfers and continuous improvement efforts to identify opportunities and implement changes (including training) to enhance product quality and reliability.

• Provide mentorship and guidance to junior engineers and team members, fostering a culture of quality and innovation.

• Ensure design assurance and supplier controls execution rigor along with quality systems compliance (including post-market surveillance activities) for all products.

• Lead supplier audits and process validations.

• Serve as the Quality Engineering SME during internal and external inspections.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or another engineering discipline and a minimum of 7 years of engineering experience; or an advanced degree and a minimum of 5 years of medical device industry experience.

• Experience supporting quality engineering activities within a regulated manufacturing or product development environment.

• Experience applying quality management system requirements and supporting compliance with regulatory standards.

• Experience leading cross-functional projects, investigations, or quality improvement initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working within the medical device industry across multiple quality management systems.

• Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) certification.

• Experience with blueprint reading, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), metal machining, metrology, and statistical analysis tools.

• Knowledge of FDA regulations, ISO standards, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, and European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) requirements.

• Lean Six Sigma certification and experience leading process improvement initiatives.

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.

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We are aware of phishing scams targeting job seekers. Please keep the following in mind:

Apply only through official Medtronic channels. All legitimate Medtronic recruiting communications come from approved Medtronic platforms and official @medtronic.com email addresses.

Medtronic will never ask for payment or sensitive personal information (such as bank account or Social Security details) during early stages of the hiring process. Any such requests are not legitimate.

If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Medtronic, do not respond, click links, or open attachments.

If you have any questions, concerns regarding the authenticity of a communication alleged to have been made by or on behalf of Medtronic, please contact us immediately at View email address on aiapply.co .

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Benefits & Compensation

Medtronic offers a competitive Salary and flexible Benefits Package
A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create. We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage.

Salary ranges for U.S (excl. PR) locations (USD):$120,800.00 - $181,200.00This position is eligible for a short-term incentive called the Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP).The base salary range is applicable across the United States, excluding Puerto Rico and specific locations in California. The offered rate complies with federal and local regulations and may vary based on factors such as experience, certification/education, market conditions, and location. Compensation and benefits information pertains solely to candidates hired within the United States (local market compensation and benefits will apply for others).

The following benefits and additional compensation are available to those regular employees who work 20+ hours per week: Health, Dental and vision insurance, Health Savings Account, Healthcare Flexible Spending Account, Life insurance, Long-term disability leave, Dependent daycare spending account, Tuition assistance/reimbursement, and Simple Steps (global well-being program).

The following benefits and additional compensation are available to all regular employees: Incentive plans, 401(k) plan plus employer contribution and match, Short-term disability, Paid time off, Paid holidays, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, Employee Assistance Program, Non-qualified Retirement Plan Supplement (subject to IRS earning minimums), and Capital Accumulation Plan (available to Vice Presidents and above, or subject to IRS earning minimums).

Regular employees are those who are not temporary, such as interns. Temporary employees are eligible for paid sick time, as required under applicable state law, and the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Please note some of the above benefits may not apply to workers in Puerto Rico.

Further details are available at the link below:

Medtronic benefits and compensation plans

It is the policy of Medtronic to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Medtronic will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

If you are applying to perform work for Medtronic, Inc. (“Medtronic”) in any position which will involve performing at least two (2) hours of work on average each week within the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, you can find here a list of all material job duties of the specific job position which Medtronic reasonably believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. Medtronic will consider for employment qualified job applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.