Senior R&D Project Manager | Boston, MA – DePuy Synthes

About Orthopaedics

Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we're developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments. Our Orthopaedics teams help keep more than 6 million people moving each year while delivering clinical and economic value to surgeons and healthcare systems. Our teams build solutions for joint reconstruction; trauma and craniomaxillofacial; sports, extremities, and elective foot and ankle; spine; and robotics and digital surgery.

Purpose

The Senior R&D Project Manager is responsible for planning and executing assigned projects within the robotics platform in Digital R&D, ensuring delivery against scope, schedule, cost, and quality in a regulated medical device environment. Reporting to the Platform Program Manager – Knee Robotics, this role owns the project-level integrated plan (WBS/IMS), project budget baseline and EVM tracking, project RAID management, change control, and stakeholder communications. The Project Manager coordinates cross-functional execution across software, systems, V&V, clinical, quality, regulatory, and manufacturing partners, and drives disciplined design controls and phase-gate readiness to enable predictable delivery outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Own project planning and baseline management for assigned Knee Robotics projects, including project charter, scope baseline, WBS, and an integrated master schedule aligned to the platform program plan.
• Manage project schedule execution, critical path tracking, milestone readiness, and schedule recovery actions; maintain and communicate weekly status to the platform leadership team.
• Own the project budget baseline, track actuals and forecasts, and perform earned value management (EVM) tracking; provide inputs for program-level financial reviews and funding decisions.
• Maintain the project RAID log (risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies) with proactive mitigation actions; escalate cross-project or platform-level risks and decisions through the Platform Program Manager.
• Lead weekly project core team meetings, drive action/decision tracking, and ensure timely follow-through across cross-functional contributors.
• Drive disciplined design controls and Design & Development Planning (DDP) execution, ensuring required evidence packages and reviews support regulatory and quality expectations.
• Plan and coordinate product launch readiness for international markets, ensuring project plans account for regional regulatory, quality, commercial, supply chain, labeling, training, and market-entry dependencies.
• Plan and drive phase-gate readiness activities and toll-gate submissions (schedule, documentation, V&V readiness, risk status, and stakeholder alignment).
• Manage project change requests (scope/schedule/cost) and ensure changes are reviewed, approved, and documented per governance and change control expectations.
• Drive project resource demand and capacity planning with functional leaders; surface and resolve resource conflicts and negotiate mitigation plans or escalations as needed.
• Support hybrid execution cadence (Agile sprints + hardware work packages) by coordinating sprint planning inputs, backlog readiness, and integration dependencies with the Scrum Master, Software/Hardware Lead, and technical leads.
• Coordinate vendor/contractor deliverables and procurement tracking (SOW/PO/PCARD) in partnership with PM Operations and Finance; ensure supplier work aligns to schedule, quality, and deliverables.
• Execute assigned project(s) and provides data-driven recommendations and inputs.
• Leads project closure activities, including lessons learned, final reporting, and transition to sustaining/operations as applicable.
• Provide transparent project dashboards and stakeholder communications (status, KPIs, risks, decisions, and next milestones), and initiate/manage project escalations through closure when required.

External Interactions

• Work closely with Health Care Professionals (Surgeons), to conduct preclinical, formative, summative, and validation studies throughout the design process.
• Interactions with Health Care Professionals (Surgeons, Clinical Staff), Field Sales, Commercial Education, and Professional Education, administering field-based complaint characterization, risk assessments and onsite remediation.
• Collaborate with third-party development partners to transform proofs of concept into fully functional, high-level prototypes, by providing clear specifications, design inputs, and feedback throughout the design process to ensure alignment on technical and business requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences, or related field is required.
• Minimum of 3 years project management experience is required.
• Experience in a regulated Class II and/or product development environments (medical device, robotics, Knee Robotics, or software-enabled products) is highly preferred.
• Experience with phase-gate execution and design controls documentation in a QMS environment is preferred.
• Demonstrated evidence of planning and supporting product launches in international markets, including familiarity with regional medical device regulatory requirements and market-entry expectations such as EU MDR, TGA, and other applicable international regulatory frameworks is preferred.
• Deep understanding of regulated medical device product development and phase-gate execution, including FDA 21 CFR 820.30 / ISO 13485 design controls is preferred.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional programs across software, systems, and hardware, including integrated planning across requirements, architecture, V&V, clinical, quality, and regulatory deliverables.
• Demonstrated technical problem-solving leadership.
• Strong project controls and financial acumen including budget baselining, forecasting, earned value management (EVM) concepts, and data-driven performance reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage integrated schedules (IMS/WBS), critical path, and dependency mapping across cross-functional teams.
• Proficiency with project management tooling (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Planisware/Cadence PPM, Jira/Azure DevOps) and documentation practices.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills; ability to produce clear dashboards, executive updates, and decision briefs.
• Experience operating in Agile/SAFe or hybrid delivery models; ability to drive project resource and schedule planning.
• Strong in RAID management and structured escalation; ability to drive mitigation actions and decisions to closure.

Location & Travel

• Primary location: Boston, MA, US.
• Hybrid work model with minimum 3 days per week onsite.
• Estimated travel up to 15%, domestic and international.

Pay & Benefits

• This position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan.
• Employees and/or eligible dependents may be eligible to participate in the following Company sponsored employee benefit programs: medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance.
• Employees may be eligible to participate in the Company's consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
• Vacation – up to 120 hours per calendar year.
• Sick time - up to 40 hours per calendar year.
• Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays – up to 13 days per calendar year.
• Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year.