Director, Research & Development

Bausch + Lomb (NYSE/TSX: BLCO) is a leading global eye health company dedicated to protecting and enhancing the gift of sight for millions of people around the world—from the moment of birth through every phase of life. Our mission is simple, yet powerful: helping you see better, to live better.

Our comprehensive portfolio of over 400 products is fully integrated and built to serve our customers across the full spectrum of their eye health needs throughout their lives. Our iconic brand is built on the deep trust and loyalty of our customers established over our 170-year history. We have a significant global research, development, manufacturing and commercial footprint of approximately 13,000 employees  and a presence in approximately 100 countries , extending our reach to billions of potential customers across the globe. We have long been associated with many of the most significant advances in eye health, and we believe we are well positioned to continue leading the advancement of eye health in the future. 

Objectives/Purpose of Position

Direct and functionally lead contact lens design department, responsible for optical and mechanical design and methods development of innovative new contact lenses, through concept, research, design, and development phases of new product development.  Manage various strategic planning processes and deliver on complex milestones in a regulated medical device industry.  This includes applying our core values in prioritizing resources and funding resulting in activities to achieve better contact lens products at lower costs to improve people’s lives. This position ensures a robust product design meeting our customer, commercial and business needs is transferred to global manufacturing facilities during product/process/technology transfer and validation activities. 

As a functional lead, this position considers operating and capital budgeting, resource allocations and reporting requirements for strategic planning as well as current operating plans.  They are responsible for staffing, employee growth and development, and improving overall department skillsets, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The position may also act as project manager/technical leader responsible for planning, tracking and managing early-stage product/process research and development.  The technical leader is responsible for managing a cross-functional team to accomplish the project objectives, within the defined scope, quality, cost, and time targets to deliver the product to market or achieve other defined objectives.

Key Activities/Responsibilities

            Department functional leadership:

• Lead the early-stage ideation and development of contact lenses utilizing optical and mechanical modeling / design systems.  Work closely with clinical group to validate predictive modeling and simulations via on-eye clinical studies to improve product development efficiency. 
• Identify new research opportunities and proposal strategies for future R&D considerations.   Oversee external partnerships for innovative new research.  Propose/apply state of the industry solutions to projects or product applications and demonstrate new technology feasibility for future manufacturing platform considerations.
• Act as patient/product advocate during development to ensure product meets customer and stakeholder needs.
• Act as a liaison with the commercial function to support claims development and an R&D technical representative for any requested events with practitioners or sales force. 
• Communicate effectively and in a timely manner with appropriate Management regarding the status, opportunities and issues involving the department, contact lens projects and information pertinent to achieving and maintaining Bausch & Lomb's vision and mission.
• Compliance to global medical device regulations and quality systems for new product development, lens manufacture for clinical and non-clinical development, and new product launches including all required documentation.
• Build high performing teams capable of interacting and meeting the requirements of product and process development, research and engineering initiatives and compliance requirements.
• Conduct employee assessments to provide them feedback throughout the year on their performance relative to established objectives and expected behaviors.
• Grow and develop employees to maximize their career potential while also delivering benefits to the corporation.  Develop retention and succession plans for key positions.
• Plan and manage the departmental capital and expense budget, including reforecasting, strategic plans and variance analysis.
• Coordinate, support, and facilitate joint efforts, priority setting and resource distribution between other R&D, Ops and Plant functions.
• Ensure all safety & ethical standards are maintained at all times.
• Provide expertise and technical support to B&L functions as required.
• Establish strategic alliance/partnership with internal functions and external partners.
• Stay informed with internal business environment or external landscape change, evaluate impact to department, business or project objectives and elevate new risks or opportunities.
  
  Technical project leadership:
• Define project scope and work within the product development processes to identify and develop products/processes or improve existing product that deliver increased revenue/earnings to the Corporation.
• Set objectives for the team and provide functional management with team member assessments of performance regarding quality of work, participation and deliverable achieved.
• Inform management and key stake holders in a timely manner of project status, and any critical problems which may result in unsatisfactory product performance, delays in project schedule or significant changes in project cost. Lead team to develop alternate paths that mitigate any issues.
• Plan and conduct project team meeting and project review. Ensure project documentation is complete and properly maintained and filed according to company policies.
• Conduct retrospective R&D project review to document project management process improvement opportunities and suggest improvements to the business processes.

Qualifications/Training

Education: Bachelor's Degree in Science or Engineering.  Master's Degree in Science, Engineering and/or Management or equivalent experience preferred.  Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, or related curriculum preferred.

Experience: 10+ years relevant industrial experience in medical device research and/or development. Experience managing functional and project teams, developing budgets.

Skills/Training: 

• Demonstrated leadership ability to drive innovation and make data driven decisions.
• Strong problem-solving skills; knowledge of Lean/Six Sigma or DFSS preferred.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills including demonstrated ability to interact with and influence all levels of the organization.
• Familiar w/ regulated medical device development environment (ISO/FDA).
• Subject matter expert in ophthalmic design research and development ideal.
• Mechanical and optical design expertise desired (CATIA/Zemax).
• Competent understanding of statistics.  Experience w/ statistical analysis applications preferred (Minitab, JMP or similar).
• Application experience w/ programming using Matlab or similar analytical software preferred.

As required by New York State's pay transparency bill, Bausch + Lomb provides a good faith minimum and maximum salary range of compensation for roles that can or will be performed, in New York State.  Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific office location.  For New York State, the range of starting annual base pay for this role is $160,000 - $195,000
 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Job Applicants should be aware of job offer scams perpetrated through the use of the Internet and social media platforms.

To learn more please read Bausch+Lomb's Job Offer Fraud Statement.

Our Benefit Programs: https://www.bausch.com/careers/benefits/

Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

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