Applied Engineering Manager

Job description

Work Schedule Standard (Mon-Fri) Environmental Conditions Office Job Description As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer. Position Summary： This position will be titled as Applied Engineering Manager, who will be responsible for building and developing Suzhou's ULT Applied Engineering capability to support the ongoing transformation of the ULT business. This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on industrialization, validation, reliability improvement, supplier engineering, service support, and capability development. The successful candidate is expected to directly participate in technical work while gradually building team capability, engineering processes, and organizational influence. Unlike a traditional engineering management role, this position is intended as a development leadership assignment, growing alongside the organization as Suzhou evolves from a manufacturing site into a broader engineering and capability platform. The role will work closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Global R&D, Quality, Service, Supply Chain, and external suppliers to improve product competitiveness, strengthen technical capability, and support future business growth. Key Responsibilities： Applied Engineering Capability Development Build foundational Applied Engineering capability for ULT products in Suzhou. Establish engineering standards, work processes, and technical governance mechanisms. Develop technical knowledge retention and transfer processes. Support long-term capability development aligned with business needs. Product Industrialization & NPI Support Support Alpha, Beta, Pilot, and production launch activities. Drive manufacturability assessments and industrialization readiness. Coordinate engineering issue resolution during product transfer and NPI programs. Support design verification and manufacturing integration activities. Validation & Reliability Engineering Establish validation methodologies and test strategies. Lead performance verification and reliability improvement activities. Support validation lab development and capability expansion. Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for field and factory quality issues. Technical Problem Solving Lead investigations of complex technical issues. Support refrigeration system troubleshooting and performance optimization. Work with Quality and Service teams to resolve customer and field issues. Support corrective and preventive action implementation. Supplier Engineering & Localization Support supplier qualification and technical assessments. Participate in localization and dual-source development activities. Drive technical improvements with key suppliers. Support supply resilience initiatives for critical components. Service & Lifecycle Support Support development of technical service capability for Suzhou-manufactured products. Assist with service documentation, troubleshooting guides, and technical knowledge transfer. Support field service training and dealer capability development. Participate in field issue investigations and technical escalation support. AI & Digital Engineering Promote the use of AI and digital tools to improve engineering effectiveness. Utilize data analytics to accelerate problem solving and technical decision making. Support development of engineering databases, digital knowledge repositories, and automated reporting systems. Drive adoption of digital engineering practices across validation, quality, and technical support activities. Leadership Responsibilities This role is expected to grow from technical contributor to organizational leader through capability building and business impact. Key leadership expectations include: Lead by example through hands-on technical contribution. Build credibility through delivery of business results. Coach and develop junior engineers. Create a culture of ownership, continuous learning, and technical excellence. Build cross-functional relationships across global and local teams. Develop future technical talent for the organization. Qualifications Education Bachelor's or Master's degree in Refrigeration Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or related field. Experience 5+ years of experience in engineering, product development, validation, manufacturing support, or related technical functions. Experience with refrigeration systems, laboratory equipment, medical devices, or industrial products preferred. Experience supporting product transfer, NPI, validation, or technical problem solving preferred. Demonstrated ownership and initiative in driving technical improvements. Preferred Characteristics Strong learning agility and growth mindset. Willingness to take on increasing leadership responsibility. Strong communication and collaboration skills. Comfortable working in ambiguous and evolving environments. Passion for building new capabilities and developing people. Interest in leveraging AI and digital technologies to improve engineering effectiveness. Success Measures (1~2 Year) Year 1 – Build Capability Establish Validation & Reliability capability. Support key quality and cost improvement initiatives. Build foundational service support processes. Support successful product transfer and industrialization activities. Recruit and onboard key engineering positions. Implement at least one AI or digital engineering improvement initiative. Year 2 – Build Team Develop a sustainable Applied Engineering team structure. Expand validation, supplier engineering, and technical support capability. Improve organizational ownership of critical technical knowledge. Reduce dependency on external technical resources. Become a recognized technical leadership function within the LED organization. Long-Term Mission Build Suzhou into a trusted ULT Applied Engineering hub that strengthens product competitiveness, accelerates industrialization, improves quality and service support, and develops the technical capabilities required for future business growth.