Engineering Manager

Lead IFAB’s engineering function so new and existing products can be manufactured safely, consistently and cost-effectively to approved customer requirements.

Responsibilities

• Accountable for engineering capability, workload, technical decisions, deliverable quality and controlled release across assigned manufacturing operations.
• This is a people-management and technical-leadership role, not solely a design, programming or project-tracking position.
• The manager establishes a reliable path from complete customer requirements to approved designs, manufacturing methods, tooling and production-ready documentation, partnering with NPI on launch execution.
• Team leadership and accountability: Define roles, primary assignments, backup coverage and decision rights.
• Set performance expectations; coach, assess and develop employees; manage performance and recommend staffing or compensation actions through approved HR processes.
• Assign technical reviews and approvals according to demonstrated competence, not informal seniority.
• Maintain one engineering work queue for quotations, new parts, fixtures, changes and sustaining support.
• Assign one owner, reviewer, estimate, due date and priority per deliverable.
• Reconcile launch needs with available skills and capacity; authorize floor-support assignments and communicate their effect on other commitments.
• Require complete part lists, current drawings/specifications, volumes, material, finish, hardware, packaging and dates.
• Verify changes between quoted and awarded scope with NPI, Sales/Project Management and Estimating.
• Lead qualified cross-functional feasibility review and document constraints, assumptions and unresolved requirements before engineering approval.
• Retain accountability for engineering approval controls while delegating discipline-specific decisions only to qualified personnel.
• Separate creation, self-check, independent technical review, approval and controlled release.
• Require alignment of models, drawings, DXFs, bills of material (BOMs), routings, work orders and process records.
• Reconcile ballooned drawing references with Quality.
• Control revision distribution and obsolete records; assess changes for tooling, programs, materials, work-in-process, inventory, cost and customer-approval impact.
• Require complete, buildable fixture packages with identifiers, drawings, hardware/BOM, work-order and routing inputs, planned operation hours, time-charging requirements and approved required dates.
• Partner with Production and Materials on build capacity, shortages, tryouts and acceptance.
• Evaluate outsourcing when appropriate; obtain authorization before commitments.
• Engineering defines and validates the tooling; Production owns assigned fabrication execution.
• Oversee process selection, sequence, equipment/capacity studies, layouts, labor assumptions, technical work instructions, parameters and process validation.
• Coordinate expertise across stamping, flat and five-axis laser cutting, press-brake/tube forming, welding, assembly and finishing, as applicable.
• Maintain clear Manufacturing versus Process Engineering ownership rather than duplicating deliverables.
• Through qualified programming personnel, require program review, revision traceability, safe prove-out and approved release for applicable laser, bending and CNC operations.
• Distinguish DXF preparation from machine-program approval.
• Establish recovery and change controls with IT and Production; do not authorize advanced programming or equipment operation without verified capability.
• Own Engineering’s Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) deliverables.
• Ensure process flow, process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA), control-plan inputs and validation evidence are technically consistent with Quality.
• Confirm engineering readiness for trials, production and handoff; support stabilization while NPI manages the integrated launch plan.
• Provide disciplined engineering response to design, tooling, process and program issues.
• Lead technical root-cause work, corrective actions and effectiveness checks with Quality and Production.
• Validate proposed cycle-time, scrap, labor, space, capacity and tooling-life improvements against documented baselines; review financial benefits with Finance and Operations.
• Manage the approved engineering budget and develop justified staffing, training, tooling, equipment and software requests.
• Supply reviewed technical assumptions to Estimating.
• Define CAD/ERP requirements, escalate IT and Sage workflow failures, and establish controlled contingency methods.
• Track engineering effort and avoid duplicate savings claims or unsupported capacity commitments.

Requirements

• Establish and enforce standards for CAD, DXF, drawings, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), fixture/gauge design, hardware specification and design-for-manufacture.
• Ensure locating, clamping, access, safety and inspection needs are considered.
• Qualifications and demonstrated capability Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering or a related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant technical education and demonstrated engineering leadership experience.
• At least 8 years of relevant manufacturing engineering experience and 3 years leading technical teams; 10+ years in manufacturing and 5+ years of leadership preferred.
• Proposed requirements are subject to management/HR approval.
• Demonstrated results in metal fabrication or comparable multi-process manufacturing, including fixture/tooling readiness, process validation, production troubleshooting and technical change control.
• Strong drawing interpretation, GD&T and manufacturability judgment; ability to evaluate design and process risks and direct qualified specialists across multiple manufacturing technologies.
• Practical APQP/PPAP, PFMEA, control-plan and structured problem-solving experience, including 8D, 5 Whys or comparable methods.
• Evidence of developing employees, resolving cross-functional priorities, managing budgets and turning technical improvements into measurable operating results.
• Effective written and spoken communication for technical, customer and leadership discussions.
• Ability to lead a multilingual workforce; Spanish-English bilingual capability preferred.

Preferred

• Automotive customer experience preferred.
• Working knowledge of CAD/CAM, BOMs, routings, ERP/work-order controls and engineering data management.
• SolidWorks and Sage experience preferred.