Product Development Technicians, sometimes called "Product Development Associates," assist with the creation and production of medical devices (products for use in the medical sciences). The medical device field has a broad range of products, including coronary artery stents, orthopedic devices, dental products, surgical products and bone transplantation products. Some of the larger companies create a variety of medical products. Smaller companies may make only one or two products. You can work at a company that doesn’t manufacture any products, but has a heavy research dynamic. Working in medical devices usually means working in private industry. The only governmental jobs available for medical devices are jobs at the US Patent Office, where you review products for their uniqueness and feasibility, and the FDA, which approves the safety of the products.
When working at a company that manufacture medical devices, Process Development Technicians will often support the Product Development Teams by assisting in the development and implementation of new processes, technologies or tooling needed to manufacture company products. They work with Process Engineers to ensure manufacturing meets quality requirements and the project schedule, identify process improvements for established products, determine equipment needs and protocols for optimal manufacturing, assist in the resolution of production problems as needed, and investigate and test new, pilot, scale-up or revised production procedures. They also support manufacturing, Sales & Marketing, and other lab departments as needed during product improvement stage
You can have a number of different job titles working in companies that create and manufacture medical devices. You could work in sales where you would sell the company’s products worldwide. With more education or experience, you could become a project manager in a research and development team or a scientist in research and development. You could also be a product developer in areas of new product development. Some job titles include “product developer” or “program manager in medical products”. Investigative manager is another job title you could aspire to. As a postgraduate in Engineering and Biology, you will be in the best position to get the choice jobs in the research and development of new products.
Fast Facts
$29 - $33.50 per hour
When starting in the field of medical devices, you need a strong background in biology and the biological sciences. Position requirements range from an Associates degree to 4-year degree or beyond. Much of your specific skill set depends on what kind of job you are interested in. If you are working in research and development, you may need bench skills and strong engineering skills. When working with team of people all working on the same problem or project, you need good communication skills. If you will be working in the area of sales, you will need strong communication and “people skills” and should be prepared to travel a lot. Work in sales implies you know the product very well and have the written and spoken skills to get that across to other people.
InnovATEBIO programs offer degrees, certificates, or teach skills in these related areas.
