Engineering Manager - Direct Placement

The Engineering Manager is a strategic leader responsible for driving engineering excellence across production, product development, and process optimization. This role leads teams in improving product yield, reducing variation and scrap, and achieving cost reduction goals while maintaining robust technical standards. The Engineering Manager balances tactical agility with long-term vision, overseeing budgets, new product introduction, metallurgical processes, and customer coordination. Through versatile leadership, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration, this role ensures innovation, operational efficiency, and alignment with both plant performance metrics and customer expectations.

 

• Base salary range: up to $160,000 starting, depending on experience and responsibilities
• Performance bonus: annual incentive program tied to strategic KPIs and company growth targets
• Comprehensive benefits:
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) with employer match
  • Paid time off including vacation, holidays, and sick leave
  • Professional development and continuing education support
  • Employee wellness and assistance programs
• Relocation assistance: competitive relocation package to support candidates moving to West Michigan

Job Roles

• Accountability and follow-through--interacts within organizational matrix understanding the inherent interdependence of roles and functions; takes ownership of outcomes; acts in the best interest of the team, group, function and enterprise
• Rigor--continuous focus on repeatable processes at scale; analyzes efforts; recalibrates as needed; considers multiple inputs from multiple stakeholders; exhibits detail orientation
• Tactical agility--inspires team to proactive improvements while maintaining ability to react to issues as they arise; functions well under pressure of production and time expectations; able to manage the tension of speed and specification demands 
• Practical and adaptive thinking--understands organizational capabilities and introduces solutions within existing frameworks while simultaneously adapting to changes, developments in technology and marketplace demands 
• Versatile leadership--technically capable, yet able to detach to gain perspective; deploys resources strategically and works alongside team when necessary
• Possibility thinking--proactively challenges the status quo and seeks to solve problems differently than we have in the past; explores the boundaries of technology and current practice; embraces and champions change including automation, smart manufacturing and progress in data gathering and interpretation
• Relationship-oriented--establishes and maintains connections with team, peers and cross functionally; collaborates and compromises for the good of the enterprise; provides thought partnership; creates and scales best practices across enterprise
• Prioritization--understands the business and its technical, financial and strategic direction and goals; prioritizes work accordingly and communicates rationale for decisions; advocates for customers within the context of organizational capability and goals; understands the implication of decisions on other facets of the enterprise
• Communication--listens well and takes multiple perspectives into consideration; articulates priorities and future possibilities clearly and frequently; interacts with operators, managers and customers and customizes approach to each stakeholder group
• Coach/Mentor/Manager--provides direction, review, reassurance, encouragement, challenge, recognition on an individual basis; promotes growth and development in associates; inspires risk; continually assesses and reassesses talent and fit to role based on individual and collective performance
• Resource and expertise deployment--understands where to invest to ensure resolution; solicits and directs the expertise and involvement of others and enables their success
• Customer coordination--responds directly to customer inquiries, interfaces with customer
• Influence without direct authority--provides justification for decisions and direction; presents a compelling case for needed efforts or change to parties with varying interests and priorities; aligns peers and stakeholders to achieve both tangible and anticipated objectives

Job Responsibilities

• Lead initiatives to achieve product yield improvements, variation reduction, and achieve cost reduction goals related to the manufacture of ceramic cores/parts
• Direct and manage the activities regarding product tool/part designs and standards
• Significant time daily on manufacturing floor
• Manage the facility’s engineering budgets
• Oversight of the engineers focused on the plants generic processes
• Manage and direct the New Product Introduction (NPI) initiative ensuring product development in accordance with overall project timelines, budget, and quoted standards
• Develop the overall plant scrap reduction plan and manage the initiatives and actions to meet the scrap targets
• Part velocity through the plant operations and elimination of constraints and waste.
• Oversight of engineers establishing and maintaining robust metallurgical processes for production product.
• Work in conjunction with the Process Engineering Manager to achieve all plant financial and scrap reduction metrics 
• Report status of scrap reduction initiatives to Plant Manager and other high-level managers as required 
• Direct and participate in the conception, evaluation and implementation of cost improvement, product improvement and production problem solving activities
• Coordinate scrap reduction initiatives with the HRC and Corporate Engineering technical staff
• Establish professional working relationship with Engineering Managers and Engineering Team at each casting facility and promote engineering team communication regarding product status and issues
• Work directly with engine manufacturer’s engineering team in conjunction with the casting facility’s engineering team to optimize core design and producibility as required
• Responsible for developing the future strategic engineering organizational structure with the Process Engineering Manager, the Plant Manager, and the HR manager
• Responsible for creating an environment of engagement and fostering development of Engineering Staff
• Manage training development strategies for the Engineering Staff

Basic Qualifications

• BS in Material Science, Mechanical, Metallurgy, or Manufacturing Engineering 
• 7+ years of experience in engineering
• 5+ years of supervisory experience
• Employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States.  Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.  Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Good knowledge of financial data 
• Experience in the casting industry
• Competent working knowledge of investment casting process, customer specifications, and quality systems