Senior R&D Manager - Medtech

Etac is a global leader in innovative assistive devices, dedicated to enabling people to live active and independent lives. Within our Paediatrics Business Unit (R82), we develop highly configurable solutions for children with complex needs. To further strengthen our organization, we're now hiring a Senior R&D Manager. Can you combine technical curiosity with commercial awareness? Challenge engineers to build products that are not only technically excellent, but simpler to use, easier to manufacture and more successful in the market?

You will step into a well-functioning R&D organisation with strong capabilities and experienced team members already in place. Your mandate is to take it to the next level across three specific frontiers. First, tighten the bridge between launch and commercial traction, so products land in the market sales-ready, not just engineering-ready. Second, simplify the user experience without sacrificing capability: our products are powerful, but adjustment should feel intuitive for caregivers, not technical. Third, advance our modular design and design-for manufacturing maturity.

This is a key leadership role with responsibility for end-to-end R&D activities, from early concept development and product architecture to final product validation and lifecycle support, within a dynamic and growing international business.

The Role

As Senior R&D Manager, you will lead a team of 18 skilled professionals, including a Product Care Manager, with full functional responsibility for new product development and market-driven adaptations.

The role is first and foremost about leadership. Your success will be measured by your ability to develop people, build trust, create ownership, and strengthen collaboration across the organisation, while providing sufficient technical leadership to challenge and elevate engineering decisions.

You will challenge, inspire, and elevate the team’s technical decisions, ensuring that all solutions meet Etac’s high standards for quality, compliance, cost, and user impact.

You will report directly to Claus Bisgaard, SVP Paediatrics EU & RoW, and play a key role in the broader leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership & Team Development: Provide clear direction, coaching and development, building future leaders and reducing dependency on individuals through empowerment, accountability and succession planning.
• R&D Strategy & Execution: Deliver on the innovation roadmap, balancing long-term platform development with short-term customer and market needs.
• Organisational Development & Ways of Working: Professionalise the R&D organisation by continuously developing processes, governance, organisational roles and supporting systems, together with the team. Drive a structured and scalable way of working, creating clarity, accountability and predictability across the function.
• Project & Resource Management: Ensure effective prioritisation and execution of projects, delivering on time, within budget, and to agreed specifications.
• Technical Leadership: Comfortably bridge academic engineering principles with practical product development, manufacturing realities, and customer needs.
• Compliance & Quality: Ensure full adherence to relevant standards and regulatory requirements, including documentation and collaboration with external certification bodies.
• Cross-functional & External Collaboration: Work closely with Product Management, Supply Chain functions, QA, and international internal and external partners to ensure strong alignment and customer value.

Your Profile

You bring strong leadership experience from R&D. Experience from medtech or assistive devices is not a requirement - we are equally interested in candidates from other complex, regulated, or highly configurable product environments.

We expect that you:

• Hold a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related technical discipline
• Bring at least 5 years of leadership experience in R&D within an international environment
• Strong experience managing complex product portfolios, balancing innovation, resource allocation, commercial priorities and technical risk.
• Have experience working with regulated or safety-critical products
• Speak Danish and English fluently

As a leader, you are self-aware, pragmatic, structured and collaborative. You create trust through authenticity, empower others to succeed, and know when to challenge, coach and step back.

Why Etac?

At Etac, your leadership directly supports children and families who rely on our solutions every day. You’ll join a global organisation with a strong heritage and ambitious growth plans, passionate colleagues and where your impact will be visible across the entire value chain and shape the next generation of paediatric solutions.

Interested? We're looking forward to receiving your resume. Please submit it by 7th of August 2026 at the latest. For more information about the role, the location or our company? Please visit www.etac.com