Director, General Engineering

Overview

Alcon is a global leader in eye care products and solutions. We are searching for a Director of Engineering to lead all engineering functions at our medical device disposables and consumables manufacturing site in Houston, TX. This senior appointment focuses on transforming legacy automation, manual operations, and sustainability initiatives while building a high‑performance engineering organization.

• Develop a prioritized, risk‑managed automation roadmap that systematically upgrades legacy automated systems and progressively transitions labor‑intensive or high‑risk manual operations to validated automated solutions.
• Introduce Industry
  4.0 capabilities across the site: real‑time process monitoring, machine vision, digital work instructions, OEE dashboards, connected asset management, and predictive maintenance platforms.
• Own the full validation lifecycle (IQ/OQ/PQ/CSV) for all new and modified equipment and software, maintaining compliance with FDA
  21CF
  RPart
  820, ISO
  13485, and applicable GMP/GDP standards.
• Collaborate with IT and Global Engineering to evaluate, pilot, and scale digital tools that generate measurable throughput, quality, or cost improvement for the site.
• Ensure automation investment decisions are staged and risk‑assessed to protect product quality and supply continuity throughout every phase of transition.

• Own and deliver an annual engineering‑led savings target across energy cost reduction, yield improvement, scrap elimination, material efficiency, labor productivity, and capital avoidance.
• Embed a structured CI culture using Lean, Six Sigma, and Value Stream Mapping across manufacturing and support processes.
• Build and manage a prioritized CI project pipeline with clear owners, milestones, and financial accountability, reporting monthly progress to site leadership.
• Partner with Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, and Finance to sustain, validate, and reflect savings initiatives in the site P&L.
• Interrogate every legacy process before automating it—simplifying, standardizing, and eliminating waste at the process level first.
• Develop compelling investment business cases with clear NPV, payback period, and risk‑adjusted return analysis.

• Design and own a site‑wide energy transformation roadmap covering solar PV, co‑generation, energy storage, demand response, and green utility procurement.
• Establish clear energy KPIs (kWh per unit of output, carbon intensity, utility cost as a percentage of revenue) and drive consistent year‑on‑year improvement.
• Identify, develop business cases for, and deliver a pipeline of energy‑efficiency capital projects across production equipment, HVAC, compressed air, cleanroom utilities, and site infrastructure.
• Leverage government incentive programs, energy grants, and strategic supplier partnerships to maximize the financial return on sustainability investments.
• Integrate the site energy strategy with corporate ESG commitments and any applicable regulatory or public sustainability reporting requirements.
• Serve as the site’s internal authority and external spokesperson on energy and environmental engineering.

• Lead, develop, and inspire a multidisciplinary engineering organization with clear performance expectations, meaningful coaching, and genuine career development pathways.
• Build capability strategically by identifying future skill requirements in automation, data analytics, energy systems, and regulatory engineering, and growing those skills from within.
• Foster a culture of psychological safety, intellectual rigor, and courageous problem‑solving that empowers engineers to challenge assumptions and innovate.
• Attract and retain top engineering talent through credible leadership, purposeful work, and a reputation for delivering industry‑leading engineering.
• Establish structured engineering reviews, knowledge‑sharing forums, and cross‑functional communities of practice.
• Represent Engineering at the site leadership table, collaborating across Operations, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, Finance, and HR as a peer and…