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Principal Risk Quality Engineer

San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States

Heartflow is a medical technology company advancing the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease, the #1 cause of death worldwide, using cutting-edge technology. The flagship product—an AI-driven, non-invasive cardiac test supported by the ACC/AHA Chest Pain Guidelines called the Heartflow FFRCT Analysis—provides a color-coded, 3D model of a patient’s coronary arteries indicating the impact blockages have on blood flow to the heart. Heartflow is the first AI-driven non-invasive integrated heart care solution across the CCTA pathway that helps clinicians identify stenoses in the coronary arteries (RoadMap™Analysis), assess coronary blood flow (FFRCT Analysis), and characterize and quantify coronary atherosclerosis (Plaque Analysis). Our pipeline of products is growing and so is our team; join us in helping to revolutionize precision heartcare.

Heartflow is a publicly traded company (HTFL) that has received international recognition for exceptional strides in healthcare innovation, is supported by medical societies around the world, cleared for use in the US, UK, Europe, Japan and Canada, and has been used for more than 500,000 patients worldwide.  

As the Principal Risk Quality Engineer, you will own the product Risk Management process and will serve as the global subject expert (SME) for Product Safety and Risk Management. You will be the architect of the risk lifecycle, ensuring that our digital health solutions—including SaMD and AI/ML-enabled technologies—are designed with a "Safety-First" mindset.

Your core responsibility will be leading the end-to-end Risk Management process (ISO 14971), from initial Hazard Analysis through Post-Market Risk surveillance, ensuring that clinical risks are identified, mitigated, and verified before reaching a patient.  As a global SME of Risk Management, you will train and coach teams on Risk Management and work collaboratively with cross functional engineers and Quality team members.  

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

  • Risk Governance: Act as the primary authority on global risk standards, including ISO 14971, IEC 62304 (Risk focus), and ISO/TR 24971.
  • Safety Architecture: Define the framework for evaluating risk in AI/ML (algorithmic bias/drift), Cloud Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity (AAMI SW96/TIR57).
  • Cybersecurity:  Partner with Cybersecurity team to evaluate and address cybersecurity related risks and ensure processes adhere to U.S. and international standards and guidance documents.  
  • Risk Culture: Lead cross-functional "Safety-by-Design" workshops, ensuring engineering and product teams understand the clinical impact of technical failures.

Design Quality & Risk Management

  • Advanced Risk Modeling: Lead and facilitate comprehensive risk activities, including Hazard Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and FMEAs (System, Design, and Software).
  • Benefit-Risk Analysis: Partner with Clinical Affairs to author Benefit-Risk Assessments (BRA) for global regulatory submissions.
  • V&V Alignment: Ensure that the Software Verification & Validation (V&V) strategy is directly driven by the Risk Management File (RMF), ensuring all mitigations are rigorously tested.

Execution & Compliance

  • Risk Management File (RMF) Ownership: Drive the creation and maintenance of the RMF from concept through commercialization, ensuring a "living document" approach.
  • Post-Market Risk Surveillance: Lead the review of field performance data and complaints to update risk assessments and trigger Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) when necessary.
  • Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs): Lead necessary HHE activities related to quality and safety issues.    
  • Audit Representation: Serve as the global SME, defending the technical integrity of the Risk Management process and files and technical safety justifications during FDA, Notified Body, and MDSAP inspections.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Clinical Collaboration: Bridge the gap between technical software failures and clinical harms by working closely with Medical Affairs.
  • Regulatory Submissions: Provide critical risk-based evidence for FDA 510(k)/PMA and EU-MDR technical files.

Skills Needed

  • Mastery of Risk Estimation, Evaluation, and Control methodologies.
  • Strong critical thinking skills with the ability to visualize complex system-level failure modes.
  • Ability to translate technical software bugs into potential clinical patient harms.

Educational Requirements & Work Experience 

  • Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field; Master’s degree strongly preferred.
  • 10+ years of experience in Risk Management or Quality Engineering within the medical device industry.
  • Certifications (Preferred): ASQ Certified Risk Management Professional, Six Sigma Black Belt, or ISO 14971 Lead Auditor.

This position has an estimated base salary of $185,000 - $240,000, bonus, and equity. #LI-IB1; LI-Hybrid

Heartflow is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to every aspect of employment at Heartflow, including recruitment, hiring, training, relocation, promotion, and termination.
 
Positions posted for Heartflow are not intended for or open to third party recruiters / agencies. Submission of any unsolicited resumes for these positions will be considered to be free referrals.
 
Heartflow has become aware of a fraud where unknown entities are posing as Heartflow recruiters in an attempt to obtain personal information from individuals as part of our application or job offer process. Before providing any personal information to outside parties, please verify the following: A) all legitimate Heartflow recruiter email addresses end with “@heartflow.com” and B) the position described is found on our careers site at www.heartflow.com/about/careers/. 

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