Sr. Manufacturing Engineer

Join us in pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.

Our inspiring and caring environment forms a global community that celebrates diversity and individuality. We encourage you to step beyond your comfort zone, offering resources and flexibility to foster your professional and personal growth, all while valuing your unique contributions.

Varian Medical Systems is hiring a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to support our team onsite in Palo Alto, California. We provide a supportive and inclusive culture fostering a global community that embraces diversity and individuality. We empower you to grow beyond your comfort zone by providing the resources, flexibility, and encouragement needed to advance both professionally and personally—while recognizing and valuing your unique contributions.

The Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Materials/Mechanical) will lead and optimize manufacturing processes within the machine shop, brazing, welding, and linear accelerator assembly areas. This position is responsible for maintaining the highest standards of safety, quality, and efficiency, while driving continuous improvement, automation initiatives, and supporting new product introductions. The ideal candidate brings a strong background in materials science, machining, metal joining, fixturing, and mechanical assembly, along with hands-on experience in process design, tooling, and production support.

What You Will Do
Manufacturing Process Ownership

• Develop, document, and optimize manufacturing processes for machining, brazing, welding, and linear accelerator assembly.
• Own the development and maintenance of process parameters, work instructions, and control plans to ensure consistent product quality and reliability.
• Troubleshoot process and equipment issues to maintain production efficiency and minimize downtime.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for non-conformances or process deviations.

Equipment & Tooling Management

• Specify, procure, and validate manufacturing equipment, tooling, and fixturing for brazing, machine shop and joining processes, including required equipment programming.
• Develop optimized tooling solutions to enhance manufacturing efficiency and minimize defects.
• Collaborate with maintenance and production teams to ensure equipment reliability and calibration compliance.
• Implement preventive maintenance plans and process capability studies.

Materials & Process Engineering

• Evaluate and select appropriate materials, brazing alloys, and filler metals based on mechanical and thermal requirements.
• Develop and qualify welding and brazing procedures in accordance with relevant standards (e.g., AWS, ASME).
• Support metallurgical analysis and materials testing for process validation and failure investigations.

Continuous Improvement & Lean Manufacturing

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to reduce waste, improve cycle time, and enhance throughput.
• Apply Lean, Six Sigma, and DFMA principles to optimize production layouts and process flow.
• Drive standardization of best practices across production areas.
• Promote innovative and automated solutions to optimize production performance and reduce cycle time.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Partner with Design Engineering, Quality, and Production teams to support design-for-manufacturability (DFM) and new product introduction (NPI).
• Train and mentor operators and junior engineers in best practices for machining, brazing, and welding.
• Ensure compliance with EHS (Environmental, Health, and Safety) and ISO quality standards.

Education
What You will have:

• Engineering or technical bachelor's degree (or equivalent experience) and 8 years of related experience OR master's degree with 6 years of related experience.
• Desired: Mechanical Engineering/Materials degree plus 8 years' experience, or Master's with 6 years' experience.

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in manufacturing or process engineering, preferably in precision machining, welding, and brazing environments. OR master's degree with 6 years of related experience.
• Proven experience with CNC machining processes, metal fabrication, and assembly of mechanical systems.
• Familiarity with enclosure or guide system builds, structural assemblies, and heat