Biomedical Engineering Manager

The Biomedical Engineering Manager is responsible for the overall management, coordination, supervision, maintenance, safety, quality assurance, and lifecycle management of medical equipment and biomedical technology across Washington Healthcare PLC.

The position provides strategic and operational leadership to ensure that medical equipment and biomedical systems are safe, functional, reliable, appropriately utilized, properly maintained, and available to support uninterrupted delivery of high-quality patient care.

The Biomedical Engineering Manager oversees medical equipment planning, procurement support, installation, commissioning, acceptance testing, calibration, preventive and corrective maintenance, equipment safety, performance monitoring, inventory management, technology assessment, asset lifecycle management, vendor and service-provider coordination, documentation, and staff development.

The position works closely with physicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, pharmacists, medical equipment users, hospital management, procurement, finance, information technology, facilities and maintenance teams, infection prevention and control, and external suppliers and service providers to ensure effective and safe utilization of biomedical technology.

The position ensures that biomedical engineering activities comply with applicable Ethiopian regulatory requirements, organizational policies, manufacturer recommendations, professional standards, occupational safety requirements, and applicable accreditation standards.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Biomedical Engineering Management and Clinical Operations

• Plan, organize, coordinate, and oversee the day-to-day operations of the Biomedical Engineering Department.
• Develop and implement biomedical engineering operational plans, workflows, schedules, service standards, and performance targets.
• Ensure the availability, functionality, safety, and reliability of critical medical equipment across all clinical and diagnostic departments.
• Establish systems for timely identification, reporting, assessment, troubleshooting, repair, and resolution of medical equipment failures.
• Prioritize biomedical engineering activities based on clinical risk, patient safety, equipment criticality, and service requirements.
• Establish appropriate procedures for equipment breakdown reporting and escalation.
• Coordinate biomedical engineering support for critical clinical areas, including operating rooms, intensive care units, emergency departments, laboratories, radiology, maternity services, dialysis, dental services, and other specialized units.
• Monitor equipment downtime and implement measures to minimize service interruptions.
• Ensure medical equipment is operated according to manufacturer specifications, approved procedures, and safety requirements.
• Provide technical advice to clinical departments regarding appropriate selection, operation, maintenance, and utilization of medical equipment.
• Participate in planning for new clinical services and expansion of existing services from a biomedical engineering perspective.

2. Medical Equipment Inventory and Asset Management

• Establish and maintain a comprehensive inventory of all medical and biomedical equipment.
• Ensure each medical device is appropriately identified, tagged, categorized, and assigned an asset or equipment identification number.
• Maintain accurate records of equipment specifications, location, ownership, acquisition date, warranty status, service history, maintenance requirements, and expected useful life.
• Develop and maintain equipment asset registers and computerized equipment management systems where available.
• Conduct periodic physical verification and inventory reconciliation.
• Classify medical equipment according to clinical importance, risk level, complexity, and maintenance requirements.
• Monitor equipment utilization and identify underutilized, obsolete, redundant, or excessively costly equipment.
• Develop equipment replacement and lifecycle management plans.
• Maintain appropriate documentation for equipment transfer, relocation, disposal, decommissioning, and replacement.
• Ensure equipment records are updated following installation, transfer, repair, modification, or disposal.

3. Preventive Maintenance and Corrective Maintenance

• Develop and implement comprehensive preventive maintenance programs for medical equipment.
• Establish preventive maintenance schedules based on manufacturer recommendations, equipment risk classification, usage, and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure preventive maintenance is completed within the required timeframes.
• Coordinate corrective maintenance and emergency repair of malfunctioning medical equipment.
• Establish procedures for equipment breakdown reporting, work orders, repair authorization, completion, and verification.
• Monitor equipment downtime, mean time to repair, repeat failures, and maintenance performance.
• Conduct root-cause analysis for recurring equipment failures and recommend appropriate corrective actions.
• Verify that repaired equipment is safe and functional before returning it to clinical use.
• Maintain complete and accurate preventive and corrective maintenance records.
• Ensure equipment requiring specialized maintenance is serviced by qualified internal personnel or authorized external service providers.

4. Calibration, Testing and Performance Verification

• Develop and implement appropriate calibration and performance verification programs for medical equipment.
• Ensure equipment requiring calibration is calibrated at defined intervals using appropriate standards and procedures.
• Coordinate calibration of critical equipment such as patient monitors, infusion pumps, ventilators, defibrillators, anesthesia machines, laboratory equipment, weighing devices, and other applicable equipment.
• Ensure calibration certificates and performance verification records are properly maintained.
• Conduct or coordinate electrical safety testing and other appropriate equipment safety assessments.
• Verify equipment performance following installation, repair, modification, calibration, or relocation.
• Ensure defective or unsafe equipment is immediately identified, appropriately labeled, removed from service, and reported.
• Maintain systems to prevent use of equipment with expired calibration or unresolved safety concerns.

5. Equipment Procurement and Technology Assessment

• Participate in the planning and procurement of medical equipment based on clinical needs and organizational priorities.
• Conduct technical assessments of proposed medical equipment and technologies.
• Develop or review technical specifications for medical equipment procurement.
• Participate in tender evaluations and technical assessments of suppliers and products.
• Assess equipment quality, safety, functionality, compatibility, maintainability, warranty, service support, spare parts availability, and total cost of ownership.
• Ensure equipment procurement decisions consider lifecycle costs rather than purchase price alone.
• Participate in supplier demonstrations, technical evaluations, and product comparisons.
• Provide recommendations to senior management regarding equipment selection and technology investment.
• Ensure procured equipment meets specified technical, safety, and clinical requirements.
• Support development of annual and long-term medical equipment procurement and replacement plans.

6. Equipment Installation, Commissioning and Acceptance

• Coordinate installation and commissioning of newly acquired medical equipment.
• Ensure equipment installation requirements, including electrical, environmental, structural, networking, water, gas, ventilation, and other infrastructure requirements, are addressed before installation.
• Conduct or coordinate equipment acceptance testing before clinical use.
• Verify equipment specifications and functionality against procurement requirements.
• Ensure appropriate user training is completed before equipment is placed into service.
• Confirm availability of operation manuals, service manuals, warranty documents, spare parts information, and other required documentation.
• Ensure newly installed equipment is appropriately registered and incorporated into the biomedical equipment inventory.
• Coordinate installation qualification, commissioning, and performance verification where applicable.
• Document acceptance and handover of equipment to the responsible clinical department.

7. Equipment Safety and Risk Management

• Establish and implement medical equipment safety management systems.
• Identify and assess risks associated with the use, maintenance, malfunction, and failure of medical equipment.
• Conduct risk assessments for critical and high-risk medical devices.
• Ensure appropriate electrical safety and equipment safety measures are implemented.
• Investigate equipment-related incidents, near misses, adverse events, and safety complaints.
• Conduct root-cause analysis of significant equipment-related incidents and recommend corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
• Ensure unsafe or malfunctioning equipment is immediately removed from clinical use where necessary.
• Establish procedures for equipment recall, safety alerts, manufacturer notifications, and field safety corrective actions.
• Monitor manufacturer safety notices and ensure appropriate action is taken.
• Participate in hospital patient safety and risk management activities related to medical technology.

8. Medical Equipment User Training and Competency

• Develop and coordinate medical equipment user training programs.
• Ensure healthcare professionals receive appropriate training before using new or complex medical equipment.
• Coordinate refresher training for equipment requiring periodic competency updates.
• Maintain records of equipment user training and competency.
• Work with clinical department heads to identify equipment-related training needs.
• Provide technical guidance to users on appropriate operation, basic troubleshooting, cleaning, handling, and reporting of equipment problems.
• Promote proper and safe utilization of medical equipment.
• Investigate equipment failures related to inappropriate use and recommend corrective training where necessary.
• Develop user-friendly equipment operation guidelines where appropriate.

9. Vendor, Supplier and Service Provider Management

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with medical equipment suppliers, manufacturers, authorized service providers, and technical contractors.
• Monitor supplier and service-provider performance against agreed service requirements.
• Review service contracts, maintenance agreements, warranties, and technical support arrangements.
• Participate in evaluation and selection of external biomedical engineering service providers.
• Monitor response times, repair quality, spare parts availability, equipment downtime, and service costs.
• Ensure service providers provide appropriate service reports and maintenance documentation.
• Verify the quality and completeness of outsourced maintenance and calibration services.
• Escalate persistent vendor performance problems to senior management and procurement.
• Maintain records of service agreements, warranties, contacts, and supplier performance.

10. Spare Parts, Consumables and Biomedical Inventory Management

• Develop and maintain systems for management of biomedical engineering spare parts, accessories, and technical consumables.
• Identify critical spare parts and establish appropriate minimum and maximum stock levels.
• Monitor consumption, availability, expiry dates, and storage conditions where applicable.
• Ensure timely procurement of essential spare parts to minimize equipment downtime.
• Develop technical specifications for biomedical spare parts and accessories.
• Verify compatibility and quality of spare parts before installation.
• Maintain accurate records of spare parts issued, used, returned, and stored.
• Minimize unnecessary expenditure, wastage, and obsolete stock.
• Establish contingency arrangements for critical spare parts and equipment components.

11. Electrical, Medical Gas and Technical Safety Coordination

• Collaborate with Facilities and Maintenance teams to ensure appropriate infrastructure support for medical equipment.
• Assess electrical requirements and risks associated with medical equipment installation and operation.
• Coordinate with relevant departments regarding electrical safety, grounding, power quality, voltage stability, and backup power requirements.
• Participate in assessment and monitoring of medical gas systems where biomedical engineering responsibilities apply.
• Coordinate with facility engineering teams regarding oxygen, medical air, vacuum, and other clinical utility systems.
• Identify infrastructure-related risks that may affect medical equipment performance and patient safety.
• Support testing and verification of critical infrastructure supporting medical equipment.
• Participate in emergency preparedness and contingency planning for failure of critical utilities.

12. Medical Device Software, Connectivity and Technology Integration

• Coordinate with Information Technology and clinical departments regarding integration of medical equipment with hospital information systems.
• Support connectivity of medical devices with Laboratory Information Systems, Electronic Medical Records, PACS, monitoring systems, and other relevant platforms.
• Assess interoperability and compatibility requirements during procurement of connected medical devices.
• Support configuration, validation, testing, and troubleshooting of network-connected medical equipment.
• Collaborate with IT on cybersecurity-related risks associated with connected medical devices.
• Ensure appropriate documentation of equipment connectivity, software versions, configurations, and network requirements.
• Monitor software and firmware updates and coordinate implementation where appropriate.
• Participate in evaluation of emerging digital health and medical device technologies.

13. Quality Management and Accreditation

• Develop, implement, maintain, and continuously improve the Biomedical Engineering Quality Management System.
• Develop and maintain policies, procedures, SOPs, work instructions, forms, checklists, and technical records.
• Establish and monitor biomedical engineering quality indicators.
• Conduct regular internal audits and technical inspections of biomedical engineering activities.
• Monitor preventive maintenance completion rates, equipment downtime, calibration compliance, repair turnaround time, repeat failures, and other relevant indicators.
• Identify nonconformities, risks, and service gaps and implement corrective and preventive actions.
• Maintain complete and accurate maintenance, calibration, inspection, testing, and equipment records.
• Support hospital inspections, regulatory assessments, accreditation surveys, and external evaluations.
• Ensure biomedical engineering practices comply with applicable national requirements, professional standards, manufacturer recommendations, and accreditation requirements.
• Promote a culture of quality, patient safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

14. Emergency and Critical Equipment Management

• Establish procedures to ensure availability of critical medical equipment during emergencies and disasters.
• Identify critical equipment required for emergency, intensive care, surgical, laboratory, diagnostic, and other essential services.
• Develop contingency plans for failure of critical medical devices.
• Maintain appropriate arrangements for emergency equipment repair and technical support.
• Participate in hospital emergency preparedness and disaster response planning.
• Ensure critical equipment such as ventilators, defibrillators, patient monitors, infusion pumps, anesthesia machines, and other life-support equipment receive appropriate priority for maintenance and availability.
• Support emergency relocation or deployment of medical equipment when required.
• Participate in investigation of equipment-related failures during emergency situations.

15. Staff Management and Supervision

• Recruit, orient, supervise, evaluate, and support biomedical engineering personnel in accordance with organizational policies.
• Develop staff duty rosters, work schedules, and on-call arrangements where required.
• Monitor staff performance, attendance, competency, productivity, and adherence to policies and procedures.
• Conduct or coordinate competency assessments for biomedical engineering staff.
• Identify staff training and professional development needs.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, coaching, and guidance to biomedical engineers, technicians, interns, and trainees.
• Promote teamwork, professional ethics, accountability, and effective communication.
• Address staff performance and professional conduct issues in collaboration with Human Resources and senior management.
• Ensure relevant staff maintain appropriate professional qualifications, competencies, and continuing professional development.

16. Documentation and Record Management

• Establish and maintain comprehensive documentation systems for biomedical engineering activities.
• Ensure availability of equipment files containing relevant technical, operational, maintenance, calibration, warranty, and service information.
• Maintain preventive and corrective maintenance records.
• Maintain calibration and electrical safety testing records.
• Maintain equipment installation, commissioning, acceptance, and handover documentation.
• Maintain records of equipment incidents, recalls, repairs, modifications, and decommissioning.
• Ensure all biomedical engineering documentation is accurate, current, traceable, secure, and readily accessible when required.
• Establish appropriate retention and archiving procedures for biomedical engineering records.

17. Budgeting, Cost Control and Resource Management

• Develop annual biomedical engineering operational and capital budget requirements.
• Provide technical input into budgeting for medical equipment procurement, maintenance, calibration, spare parts, service contracts, and replacement.
• Monitor biomedical engineering expenditure and resource utilization.
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction without compromising equipment quality, reliability, or patient safety.
• Analyze maintenance costs and equipment lifecycle costs to support management decisions.
• Evaluate repair-versus-replacement decisions for major equipment.
• Monitor outsourced maintenance and service costs.
• Support effective utilization of biomedical engineering resources.

18. Strategic Planning and Technology Development

• Develop short-, medium-, and long-term biomedical engineering strategies aligned with organizational goals.
• Develop medical equipment replacement and technology upgrade plans.
• Assess emerging medical technologies and recommend appropriate innovations.
• Identify opportunities for automation, digital integration, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and other technology improvements.
• Participate in strategic planning for new clinical services, facility expansion, and modernization.
• Conduct technology assessments based on clinical need, safety, effectiveness, sustainability, and cost.
• Promote appropriate and sustainable use of medical technology.
• Benchmark biomedical engineering practices against relevant national and international standards.
• Support organizational initiatives aimed at improving clinical quality, patient safety, operational efficiency, and service accessibility.

19. Infection Prevention and Environmental Safety

• Collaborate with the Infection Prevention and Control team to ensure medical equipment is appropriately cleaned, disinfected, sterilized, stored, and maintained.
• Ensure biomedical equipment is compatible with required infection prevention and reprocessing procedures.
• Provide technical advice regarding equipment cleaning and disinfection requirements.
• Participate in assessment of equipment-related infection risks.
• Ensure maintenance activities are conducted in a manner that minimizes contamination and infection risks.
• Coordinate appropriate handling and disposal of damaged, contaminated, obsolete, or hazardous equipment and components.
• Ensure biomedical engineering workshops and work areas maintain appropriate occupational and environmental safety standards.

20. Research, Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve equipment reliability, maintenance efficiency, clinical technology utilization, and patient safety.
• Develop and implement biomedical engineering quality improvement projects.
• Analyze equipment performance and maintenance data to identify trends and recurring problems.
• Introduce preventive and predictive maintenance approaches where appropriate.
• Evaluate innovative biomedical technologies and engineering solutions.
• Promote evidence-based decision-making in medical technology management.
• Participate in research, technical assessments, and service improvement initiatives related to biomedical engineering.
• Share lessons learned from equipment incidents, failures, and improvement projects across relevant departments.

21. Communication and Collaboration

• Maintain effective communication with physicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, pharmacists, radiology professionals, hospital administrators, procurement, finance, IT, facilities, infection prevention, and other departments.
• Provide timely technical advice regarding medical equipment and biomedical technology.
• Participate in multidisciplinary meetings and committees as required.
• Communicate equipment risks, service interruptions, maintenance requirements, and technical recommendations clearly to management and clinical departments.
• Establish effective mechanisms for reporting equipment failures and technical concerns.
• Coordinate communication with suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, and regulatory bodies where appropriate.
• Promote collaborative and customer-focused biomedical engineering services.

22. Other Duties

• Perform other duties related to biomedical engineering, medical technology management, patient safety, and healthcare service improvement as assigned by the Chief Clinical Officer or senior management.
• Support organizational emergency preparedness and response activities.
• Represent Washington Healthcare PLC in relevant technical, professional, regulatory, training, and industry forums when assigned.

• Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Biomedical Engineering, Medical Engineering, Clinical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related engineering field.
• A postgraduate qualification in Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Engineering, Healthcare Technology Management, Engineering Management, or a related field is highly desirable.
• Valid professional license/registration by the appropriate Ethiopian regulatory or professional body, where applicable.
• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrable professional experience in biomedical engineering, clinical engineering, medical equipment management, hospital engineering, or a related healthcare technology environment.
• Minimum of 2 years of supervisory or managerial experience in biomedical engineering, clinical engineering, medical equipment management, or a related healthcare engineering environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of biomedical and clinical engineering principles, medical equipment technologies, diagnostic equipment, therapeutic devices, monitoring systems, and life-support equipment.
• Strong understanding of preventive and corrective maintenance, calibration, performance verification, electrical safety testing, equipment commissioning, acceptance testing, and troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and manage comprehensive medical equipment inventory, asset registers, maintenance schedules, service records, calibration records, and equipment lifecycle plans.
• Ability to assess equipment criticality, prioritize maintenance activities according to clinical risk, and minimize equipment downtime and service interruptions.
• Strong knowledge of medical equipment procurement processes, technical specifications, tender evaluation, technology assessment, supplier evaluation, warranty management, and total cost of ownership.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate installation, commissioning, acceptance testing, validation, user training, handover, and integration of new medical equipment.
• Strong knowledge of laboratory, radiology, operating room, intensive care, emergency, dialysis, maternity, dental, and other specialized clinical equipment and their technical requirements.
• Knowledge of electrical systems, grounding, power quality, backup power, medical gases, environmental requirements, and infrastructure considerations relevant to medical equipment.
• Knowledge of medical device connectivity, interoperability, software, firmware, LIS, EMR, PACS, network-connected equipment, and basic medical-device cybersecurity considerations.
• Strong knowledge of spare parts, biomedical consumables, accessories, inventory control, procurement, storage, compatibility, and resource utilization.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement biomedical engineering policies, SOPs, maintenance programs, quality indicators, technical procedures, and equipment management systems.
• Strong understanding of quality management systems, internal audits, accreditation requirements, regulatory compliance, documentation, and continuous improvement in biomedical engineering services.
• Ability to analyze equipment performance, maintenance costs, downtime, repeat failures, lifecycle costs, and other performance data and develop appropriate corrective and improvement measures.
• Demonstrated ability to manage, supervise, motivate, coach, and develop biomedical engineers, technicians, interns, and other technical personnel.
• Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, problem-solving, decision-making, and critical-thinking skills.
• Strong organizational, planning, coordination, project-management, and time-management skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and biomedical equipment management, computerized maintenance management, or other relevant information systems.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with physicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, pharmacists, radiology professionals, hospital administrators, procurement, finance, IT, facilities, infection prevention teams, suppliers, manufacturers, and regulatory authorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, technical reporting, negotiation, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated professionalism, integrity, accountability, confidentiality, leadership, and commitment to patient safety, equipment safety, quality, reliability, and continuous improvement.