Director, General Engineering

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At Alcon, we're passionate about enhancing sight and helping people see brilliantly. With more than 25,000 associates, we innovate fearlessly, champion progress, and act swiftly to impact global eye health. We foster an inclusive culture, recognizing your contributions and offering opportunities to grow your career like never before. Together, we make a difference in the lives of our patients and customers. Are you ready to join us? We are searching for a Director of Engineering to lead all engineering functions at our medical device disposables and consumables manufacturing site. This is a senior appointment at a site with deep-rooted expertise in both legacy automated production lines and precision manual assembly processes - and a clear, leadership supported mandate to transform both. The Director of Engineering will be accountable for four strategic pillars: accelerating automation and digital transformation across legacy and manual operations; delivering disciplined, measurable CI and OpEx savings year on year; transitioning the site to sustainable energy generation and usage; and building an engineering organization recognized for its sustained talent pipeline, capability, and culture. This is a transformation role, not a maintenance role. The right individual brings both the vision to articulate where the site needs to go and the operational discipline to get it there - on time, within budget, and without compromising the quality and compliance standards expected in a regulated medical device environment at our Manufacturing Facility in Houston, TX . 1. Automation & Digital Transformation 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 21 CFR Part 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. 2. Lean, CI & OpEx Savings Delivery Own and deliver an annual engineering-led savings target spanning energy cost reduction, yield and right-first-time improvement, scrap elimination, material efficiency, labor productivity, and capital avoidance. Embed a structured CI culture using Lean, Six Sigma, and Value Stream Mapping methodologies across all 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 ensure savings initiatives are sustained, validated, and properly reflected 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. 3. Energy Transition & Sustainability Design and own a site-wide energy transformation roadmap covering renewable generation (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. 4. Team Leadership & Talent Development Lead, develop, and inspire a multi-disciplinary engineering organization - setting clear performance expectations, providing meaningful coaching, and creating genuine career development pathways. Build capability deliberately and strategically: identify future skill requirements in automation, data analytics, energy systems, and regulatory engineering, and grow those skills from within. Foster a culture of psychological safety, intellectua

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