Medical device engineer
Mechanical engineering inside a regulated product. One of the largest and most stable employers of mechanical graduates in Israel, and the sector least affected by downturns.
What the work actually is
You design and verify devices that go in or near a person. That means the usual mechanical work plus biocompatibility, sterilisation, and a documentation burden that exists because someone can be harmed if you are wrong.
Design controls are not bureaucracy in this field, they are the job. Requirements traceability, risk analysis and verification testing take more of the week than CAD does, and engineers who resent that are unhappy here.
The work spans surgical robotics, imaging, implants and drug delivery, which are quite different disciplines sharing a regulatory frame.
The course chain
In the order worth taking them. Each one links to what it covers, when it runs and what it needs first.
- 0542-4528Introduction to biomechanicsDepartment electives · Not fixed · 4h
- 0555-4432Design of biomedical systemsFaculty electives · Not fixed · 4h
- 0542-4223Introduction to finite elementsCore: solids · Semester A · 4h
- 0542-4226Industrial applications of finite elementsDepartment electives · Semester B · 3h
- 0555-4630Polymeric biomaterialsFaculty electives · Not fixed · 4h
- 0555-3160Cell and tissue engineeringFaculty electives · Not fixed · 4h
What prepares you
Biomechanics for tissue and cardiovascular mechanics, and Design of biomedical systems for the regulatory and process side. Finite elements and the industrial course carry over directly, because implant and device verification is heavily simulated. Polymeric biomaterials and Cell and tissue engineering if you are going toward implants rather than instruments.
Quick answers
Which TAU courses prepare you for the Medical device engineer role?
In the order worth taking them, the Tel Aviv University electives that prepare you for the Medical device engineer role are: Introduction to biomechanics (0542-4528), Design of biomedical systems (0555-4432), Introduction to finite elements (0542-4223), Industrial applications of finite elements (0542-4226), Polymeric biomaterials (0555-4630), Cell and tissue engineering (0555-3160).
Which software do you use in the Medical device engineer role?
In the Medical device engineer role you are expected to work with SolidWorks, ABAQUS, COMSOL, Risk and design-control tooling.
Where is the Medical device engineer role done in Israel?
Israeli companies where the Medical device engineer role exists include Medtronic Israel, Insightec, Johnson & Johnson Israel, Nano-X Imaging, Itamar Medical. These are examples of where the work is done, not partners, sponsors or a placement claim.
Which interest areas lead to the Medical device engineer role?
The Medical device engineer role draws on these interest areas of the TAU Mechanical Engineering electives: Miniaturised systems and materials, Mechanical design, Structures and computational mechanics.
Closest neighbours
Additive manufacturing engineer
Design and production by adding material rather than removing it. Israel is a global centre for this, so the route from these courses to these companies is unusually short.
Mechanical designMiniaturised systems and materials4 coursesManufacturing and process engineer
Owning how the thing actually gets made, at rate and at yield. Less visible than design and considerably harder to outsource.
Mechanical designStructures and computational mechanics5 coursesMaterials and failure engineer
Working out why the part broke, and making sure the next one does not. It is the role where a lab habit matters more than a solver, and it exists in every manufacturing company in the country.
Miniaturised systems and materialsStructures and computational mechanics5 courses
The part a page cannot give you.
What the interview actually asked, which team is worth joining, who to talk to. That comes from people who have done it, which is most of what the club is for.
Join CARNOTThis is our reading of where a mechanical degree goes in Israel, written from the course content and the shape of the local market. It is judgement, not data. We do not have interview questions, salaries or hiring numbers, and we would rather say so than invent them. If you have sat one of these interviews, tell us and the page gets better.