Job Description
Tooling Engineer - Plastics
Schedule: Full-time, onsite, Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM
Pay: $90,000-$105,000, based on experience
Travel: 10%-20%
Travel: 10%-20%
Position Summary
Our client is seeking a Plastics Tooling Engineer to design, develop, validate, and improve molds and tooling used to manufacture plastic components. This role supports new-product launches, production troubleshooting, engineering changes, cost reduction, and continuous improvement.
Responsibilities
- Design molds, tooling, and fixtures for plastic-component production.
- Create and modify designs using SolidWorks, AutoCAD, CATIA, or comparable CAD software.
- Interpret blueprints, technical drawings, tolerances, and tooling specifications.
- Coordinate mold design, fabrication, testing, and revisions with outside tool shops.
- Support tooling projects from design through build, validation, launch, and production.
- Conduct tooling trials and evaluate quality, performance, repeatability, and cycle time.
- Troubleshoot tooling and injection-molding issues affecting production.
- Implement changes that improve tooling efficiency, reliability, performance, and cost.
- Collaborate with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, R&D, and New Product Development.
- Maintain tooling drawings, specifications, test results, and engineering documentation.
- Manage multiple projects, priorities, budgets, and deadlines.
- Mentor junior engineers and skilled-trades employees.
- Approximately 10%-20% travel may be required to support U.S. facilities, vendors, and suppliers, with possible annual travel to China.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Plastics Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
- Five or more years of tooling design and development experience in plastics manufacturing.
- Strong knowledge of injection molding, mold design, tooling materials, and related manufacturing processes.
- Proficiency with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or comparable 3D CAD software.
- Strong blueprint-reading and technical-drawing interpretation skills.
- Understanding of steel, aluminum, plastics, CNC machining, and casting.
- Strong troubleshooting, project-management, and communication skills.
- Experience collaborating with suppliers and outside tool shops.
Preferred Qualifications
- CATIA experience.
- Injection-mold design and validation experience.
- New-product introduction experience.
- Experience coordinating projects with domestic and international tool shops.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | Plano, IL |
| Industry | Staffing/Employment Agencies |
| Salary | $90,000–$105,000 Per Year |
| Company Size | 500 to 999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1969 |
| Website | http://www.sterling-engineering.com |
About Company
Sterling Engineering has been a trusted partner for engineering, project management, and staffing solutions for over five decades. We provide exceptional engineering/technical recruitment and engineering project services to clients nationwide:
- Engineering & Technical Recruitment - With our focus on engineering, technical, and IT, Sterling has the in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and robust employee pipeline it takes to rapidly find talent for even the most difficult to fill positions. Sterling’s extensive recruitment methodology allows us to engage the most talented employees in the marketplace. We offer exciting work and career-building opportunities for our candidates, along with expert support at every step of the process.
- Engineering Project Services – Our experienced, multi-disciplined team of project managers, engineers, and designers, led by licensed Professional Engineers (PE), provide project management, engineering, design, and Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation (CQV) to manufacturing, OEM, and R&D customers. We work on complex, highly technical projects across a number of industry sectors, and our ability to scale and seamlessly integrate at multiple levels of your organization is what differentiates us.
Sterling offers a unique combination of engineering solutions and Best of Staffing level service to help our clients and talent achieve their goals.