Senior Product Engineer (Mechanical)

What if the work you did every day could impact the lives of people you know? Or all of humanity? At Illumina, we are expanding access to genomic technology to realize health equity for billions of people around the world. Our efforts enable life-changing discoveries that are transforming human health through the early detection and diagnosis of diseases and new treatment options for patients. Working at Illumina means being part of something bigger than yourself. Every person, in every role, has the opportunity to make a difference. Surrounded by extraordinary people, inspiring leaders, and world changing projects, you will do more and become more than you ever thought possible.

Summary: Responsible for supporting product lifecycle activities, including new product introduction, product transfer, and ongoing manufacturing operations. This role ensures product quality, yield, and compliance through engineering evaluation, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement initiatives. Collaborates cross-functionally to drive process enhancements, cost  optimization, and operational excellence, enabling smooth transition from design to production and sustaining high-performance standards throughout the product lifecycle.

Responsibilities: Common Responsibilities: •  Support and drive product transfer into manufacturing. •  Perform data trending and analysis. •  Apply FMEA, DOE, and statistical analysis to optimize product quality and reduce costs. •  Drive process improvements, cost reduction, and product sustaining activities. •  Manage Engineering Change Request and Notifications (CRs and CNs), including updates to work instructions and test requirements. •  Support documentation: engineering drawings, BOMs, test reports, assembly procedures, and validation plans. •  Participate in continuous improvement initiatives and operational excellence programs. •  Frequent cross-functional collaboration and occasional travel to other sites. •  Provide guidance and mentorship to junior staff. Discipline-Specific Responsibilities: Mechanical Engineering Design & Development •  Architect   subsystem changes (enclosure/chassis,   mechanisms, thermal/fluidics/optical interfaces). •  Conduct  advanced  analyses  (FEA-lite,  thermal  modeling,  fluidic characterization). •  Define reliability test plans (ALT/HALT, life testing); own acceptance criteria. Manufacturing Support & NPI •  Lead readiness for mass production: PFMEA updates, process controls, test method validation (TMV). •  Approve critical fixture design changes; ensure calibration strategies. Quality, Reliability & Data •  Institutionalize SPC dashboards and paretos; own CTQ monitoring. •  Lead troubleshooting using structured frameworks (8D, KT) with statistical validation. •  Define CTQs and monitor Cp/Cpk for critical features. •  Mentor juniors on interpreting SPC and DOE outputs. •  Frames decisions with confidence intervals and risk quantification. •  Coaches team to replace “gut feel” with evidence. •  Escalates issues with quantified impact (yield %, cost). Project & Process •  Create and maintain integrated schedules; present status/risks at core team. •  Manage cross-functional action logs; drive risk registers (severity × occurrence × detectability). Documentation & Compliance •  Author/approve validation protocols and reports; ensure full traceability. •  Ensure change control rigor (ECR, deviations, waivers); audit readiness. Collaboration •  Coordinate design engineering and operations; harmonize requirements with service feedback. •  Travel to CM/supplier sites for first builds; lead lessons learned. Listed responsibilities are an essential, but not exhaustive list, of the usual duties associated with the position. Changes to individual responsibilities may occur due to business needs.

Requirements: • Typically requires a minimum of