I hear this request all the time. Ortho executives call and say, “I need an Engineer.”
That’s the wrong request.
"An Engineer is not an Engineer."
Many Ortho leaders jump straight to the solution. That’s normal. We all do it. You have a budget slot for an Engineer, so you want someone with that title. You want the chair filled.
Think about it differently. What problem are you actually trying to solve?
Instead of hiring “an Engineer,” you may really need:
A predictable pipeline of new products
More creativity, or someone who can crack a specific engineering problem
Someone who can take one surgeon’s idea and turn it into a product
A leader who can sit between marketing, sales, and surgeons without dropping the ball
An organized, detail-obsessed project leader for a big, messy launch
A coach and mentor for the younger engineers already on the team
Not all Engineers are the same.
Same degree does not mean same skillset. Same title does not mean they will perform the same inside your company.
One person lives in CAD and documentation. Another can walk into a cadaver lab, talk to a surgeon, and come back with a design that actually ships. Another can run a cross-functional team wit...
