Sr. Manager, Mechanical Engineering

As a family-owned and operated company, we feel a special obligation to the employees who comprise our Taco family.  We are committed to offering employees access to the tools necessary to live long and productive lives. We strive to instill in all of our employees:

• A positive mental attitude that helps us to be a leader in the industry
• A commitment to building strong relationships, both inside and outside the organization
• A desire to learn, grow, and contribute to moving our strategy forward
• A need to create and to innovate

Employment Type: Regular Full-Time

Shift: 1st Shift

Work Status:  Hybrid

Position Summary: 

The Sr. Manager, Mechanical Engineering manages new product development and sustaining activities in their responsible areas in support of the strategic vision.  This role leads a team of engineers and designers, focusing on deliverables though the phase gate process and manages sustaining support activities to solve production issues. They are responsible for transforming the department’s initiatives into tactical plans to support corporate research and product development goals.

Measures of success:

• Improve the efficiency of mechanical development, through successfully building, mentoring, and managing their mechanical engineering team
• Accurately develop and manage annual department and new product development (NPD) budgets
• Accurately develop, maintain, and enforce department policies and procedures
• Targets met for NPD Index (NPD Products/Total Products sold) monthly
• Attain annual cost savings goals.
• Maintain ISO documents with zero findings in ISO audits

Responsibilities:

Responsibilities include but are not limited to: 

Engineering Leadership & Support

• Builds and directs a successful engineering team responsible for new product development (NPD) and sustaining support engineering activities for residential products
• Follows and implements all engineering support procedures and best practices
• Promote team cohesion and collaboration with other departments such as Product Management, Sales and Technical Services
• Sets clear and achievable goals for the residential engineering team
• Works with the SVP of Product Engineering and Legal in the managing of intellectual property, including new patent filing and legacy patent administration
• Prepares and monitors departmental budget, including capital, expenses and engineering time.
• Supports Operations, Quality, Supply Chain and other internal departments with engineering-related production and supplier issues.

NPD Project Deliverables

• Knows and drives the NPD phase gate process
• Determines resource allocations for Phases 1 and 2 NPD projects
• Ensures accurate project schedule building for Phases 3 through 5 NPD projects
• Ensures on-time and on-budget completion of projects.
• Ensures quality engineering deliverables and documentation are achieved, including but not limited to design reviews, design failure mode and effect analysis (DFMEA), engineering change orders (ECOs), drawings, calculations, finite element analysis (FEA), test reports, etc.

Engineering Process Improvement

• Manages process improvement related to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Engineering Change Requests (ECR), Engineering Change Orders (ECO), lab activities, product design, test reports (TR) and other standard Engineering Functions
• Streamlines processes with workflows and automations
• Ensures accurate and protected file storage for easily accessible files
• Develops and implements policies, standards, and procedures for the engineering and technical work in the department.
• Establishes and maintains relationships with Product Management, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Technical Services, Manufacturing, Quality, Legal, Financial and Purchasing functions.
• Schedules and adheres to agency approval and test standards required for products in identified target markets.
• Assists the Legal Department in managing intellectual property, including new patent filing and legacy patent administration.
• Performs all other duties as assigned

People Management  

• Evaluates team members to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement; collaborates on development actions and ensure resources necessary to complete actions.
• Cascades relevant and appropriate information about the company and department effectively and in a timely manner.
• Coaches and mentors for skill and knowledge development.
• Executes necessary responsibilities of team during absences or alternate engagement.
• Ensures team adheres to company policies, practices, and department standards.
• Assigns actions and ensures completion.
• Reviews work quality and provide feedback and guidance to team.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering
• 10+ years of experience leading teams and managing projects in an engineering organization in a manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Excellence Through Quality (ETQ) systems
• Strong project planning, organizational management, and technical leadership skills with a proven track record of successful execution
• Strong ability to develop strategic engineering initiatives to support overall corporate objectives
• Strong background using Product Data Management (PDM) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) software
• Proficient with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Teams and Project)
• Demonstrated relationship management and decision-making skills
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and inspire cross-functional teams
• Occasional travel is required to conferences, customer / rep sites, etc.

Preferred:

• Master’s Degree in a Mechanical Engineering or related field
• 10+ years of experience in an R&D engineering role, developing platforms
• Design for Six Sigma experience and Six Sigma Green Belt or higher

Work Environment

This position works primarily in an office environment using computers and technology.  Verbal and auditory capability are . Occasional exposure in production plant where large equipment and noise are prevalent.  Safety gear is in these areas.  

 This position may work from home up to 2X/week if performance is in good standing.

This position has approximately 6-12 direct reports.  Roles may include: 

• Associate Product Designer 
• Product Designer
• Sr Product Designer
• Staff Product Designer
• Associate Mechanical Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer I and II
• Sr Mechanical Engineer
• Principal Mechanical Engineer 

Benefits

With nearly 1,000 people working at Taco worldwide, each with their own story, you will discover a sense of community and diverse, intelligent colleagues who help us innovate, create and explore.

Taco employees benefit from a company that:

• Provides competitive salaries and benefits
• Offers tuition reimbursement, career development, and on-site training programs in our learning center
• Believes in sharing profits with its employees
• Is mindful about family, health and well-being
• Fosters conditions that allow people and communities to reach their full potential
• Embraces and celebrates diversity

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