Senior Principal Robotics & AMR Automation Platforms Engineer

Location: Minneapolis

We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on - 21 Aug 2026

Careers that change lives start here. Medtronic is a global leader in healthcare technology with a Mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life. Our 95,000 employees work across more than 150 countries to put patients first - developing innovative medical technologies that improve the lives of 72+ million patients each year. Your unique talents will help shape the future of healthcare while building a career grounded in purpose, growth, and impact.

A Day in the Life

Our Automation Platforms team develops and scales reusable technologies that improve safety, quality, and productivity across Medtronic's global manufacturing network.

We're working onsite 4 days a week as part of our commitment to fostering a culture of professional growth and cross-functional collaboration as we work together to engineer the extraordinary. The person in this role will work from the Medtronic facility located in Fridley, Minnesota.

This role will require 25% of travel to enhance collaboration and ensure successful completion of projects.

The Sr Principal Robotics & AMR Automation Platforms Engineer will serve as the enterprise technical authority for autonomous mobile robotics, collaborative robotics, and emerging intelligent automation technologies, advancing reusable platforms from technology development through factory validation and global deployment.

This role will define technical strategy, platform architectures, roadmaps, standards, and reusable capabilities while partnering with manufacturing sites, engineering teams, IT/OT, suppliers, system integrators, and Medtronic's Surgical Robotics organization. The successful candidate will combine deep robotics expertise with systems thinking and a platform-first approach to accelerate adoption of advanced robotics and enable scalable replication across applications, product families, and manufacturing sites.

Primary Responsibilities

* Serve as the enterprise technical authority for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), collaborative robots (cobots), mobile manipulators, and emerging intelligent robotics technologies across Medtronic's global manufacturing network.

* Define the long-term technical vision, strategy, roadmaps, platform architectures, and standards for autonomous material movement and flexible robotic automation.

* Lead the development and maturation of reusable robotics platforms that reduce deployment cost and implementation time while enabling replication across manufacturing sites and applications.

* Architect advanced robotic systems integrating AMRs, cobots, mobile manipulators, machine vision and 3D perception, end-of-arm tooling, safety systems, industrial controls, fleet-management software, and manufacturing IT/OT infrastructure.

* Partner with manufacturing sites and cross-functional stakeholders to identify high-value opportunities and lead technology development from feasibility and prototyping through integration, factory validation, and deployment.

* Collaborate with Medtronic's Surgical Robotics organization and other internal robotics experts to leverage technologies, architectures, simulation capabilities, perception and controls expertise, and development practices across Medtronic.

* Evaluate and mature emerging technologies including autonomous navigation, AI-enabled perception and manipulation, robotic foundation models, simulation and digital twins, and advanced fleet-management technologies.

* Establish robotics platform governance and technical practices for safety, cybersecurity, validation, reliability, and lifecycle management appropriate for regulated manufacturing environments.

* Convert learning from factory implementations into standardized designs, architectures, documentation, and deployment methodologies that enable enterprise replication.

* Provide technical direction to engineers, manufacturing teams, suppliers, and system integrators; lead technical reviews and resolution of complex multidisciplinary engineering challenges.

* Build strategic relationships with robotics suppliers, technology companies, system integrators, research institutions, and other external partners to identify and evaluate technologies that can advance Medtronic manufacturing.

* Lead the establishment and ongoing development of an Automation Platforms laboratory for technology development, prototyping, integration, simulation, testing, and demonstration.

* Mentor engineers, strengthen organizational robotics capabilities, and represent Manufacturing Technology in enterprise and external robotics forums.

* Influence engineering and business leadership through recommendations on robotics strategy, technology investments, technical risk, platform maturity, and long-term manufacturing capabilities.

Required Qualifications

* 10+ years of experience with a bachelor's degree or 8+ years of experience with an advanced degree

* 10+ years of experience developing and deploying AMRs, cobots,…