Cochlear’s mission is to help people hear and be heard. As the global leader in implantable hearing solutions, Cochlear is dedicated to helping people with moderate to profound hearing loss experience a world full of sound. We aim to transform the way people understand and treat hearing loss and innovate to connect people with future technologies. Our employees tell us that the number one reason they enjoy working for Cochlear is the opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives. Learn and grow with us as we tackle the most complex challenges in helping more people to experience a lifetime of hearing.
Medical Device Incubator | Implantable Devices | Contract (Sydney)
This is not a traditional R&D role.
Cochlear’s Incubation Operations team works alongside innovative, ground‑breaking medical device start‑ups to help transform bold ideas into real, manufacturable, implantable products.
We are seeking highly experienced Senior Mechanical Engineers who thrive in fast‑paced, start‑up environments where requirements evolve, ambiguity is the norm, and progress depends on sound judgement rather than perfect information.
The environment
This role sits within Cochlear R&D – Incubation Operations.
You should expect:
- A start‑up culture operating inside a global medical device leader
- Rapid iteration, changing requirements, and incomplete information
- A need to make clear, defensible engineering trade‑offs
- Hands‑on involvement across design, test, tooling, and early production
- Close collaboration with start‑up companies, suppliers, quality, regulatory, and manufacturing
If you are energised by uncertainty and enjoy developing ground-breaking commercial medical devices under pressure, this will feel familiar.
What you will be doing
This is a senior, delivery‑focused role with genuine end‑to‑end ownership.
You will:
- Lead detailed mechanical design of implantable components and assemblies, with strong consideration of biocompatibility, fluid ingress, tolerancing, and long‑term reliability
- Drive DFM/A decisions with suppliers and process engineering to ensure designs can be built, inspected, and scaled
- Own mechanical verification, validation, and characterisation testing, including test method development, fixtures, execution, and failure investigation
- Design or specify simple production tooling, jigs, fixtures, and silicone moulding tools to support pilot and early production builds
- Support design transfer and NPI, including CTQs, inspection strategies, pilot builds, and design convergence
This is an end-to-end, solutions-focused role with a sense of urgency to ensure the successful delivery of start-up medical device technology.
Who this role is for
You will likely have:
- 10+ years mechanical engineering experience, including 5+ years in medical devices or other highly regulated industries
- A proven track record of delivering complex electromechanical or implantable products from detailed design through V&V and into manufacturing
- Strong DFM/A capability, including tolerance analysis and GD&T
- Hands‑on experience leading verification, validation, and reliability testing
- Comfort wearing different hats across design, test, tooling, and early production
- Demonstrates outstanding communication abilities and consistently exhibits a proactive approach to teamwork and collaboration.
Experience with implantable devices and production tooling is a strong advantage.
Who thrives here
Engineers who succeed in this team tend to:
- Enjoy solving hard, real‑world problems, not just producing CAD
- Take ownership for outcomes, not just tasks
- Stay calm and pragmatic when requirements change
- Have an appetite for bold experimentation, grounded in strong engineering judgement
- Care deeply about developing solutions that genuinely improve patients’ lives
If you feel that you have the skills and experience to be successful in this role and take on new challenges to build your career with Cochlear, please start your application by clicking the apply button below.
#CochlearCareers
How we recognise your contribution
At Cochlear we value and welcome the unique contributions, perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds of our employees and aim to build a culture that celebrates and leverages these differences, creating a sense of belonging and enabling our people to realise their full potential. Through our internal programs and employee benefits, we aim to create an environment where our people will feel value and supported. Whether your focus is on continuous learning, professional development or simply finding an environment which enables you to thrive whilst balancing family or personal life commitments, then we have several programs in place to support you.
For more information about Life at Cochlear, visit www.cochlearcareers.com
