Your role isn't simply to manage engineering. You'll build an engineering organization that creates lasting competitive advantage for PJ Wallbank Springs while developing exceptional people along the way.
Over time, you'll grow toward leading the full engineering function, including product, process, tooling, equipment, and controls engineering. The exact path will depend on your strengths, your development, and the evolving needs of the business.
We don't expect you to own every aspect of engineering on day one, but we do expect you to continuously expand your capability. You'll work closely with our VP of Engineering to intentionally broaden your experience, exposing you to technical, operational, commercial, and leadership challenges that most engineering leaders never have the opportunity to tackle.
As your capability grows, so will your responsibility.
Your work will likely include the following:
- Build People
- Develop engineers who solve bigger problems, think more critically, and take greater ownership over time.
- Create an environment where high standards, coaching, accountability, and continuous learning become part of how engineering operates every day.
- Help shape the next generation of engineering and manufacturing leaders.
- Build Better Engineering Systems
- Improve how engineering prioritizes work, makes decisions, executes projects, launches products, and solves problems.
- Create systems that allow engineering to execute with greater speed, consistency, and impact while reducing dependence on individual heroics.
- Build Competitive Advantage
- Lead the development of manufacturing capabilities that make PJWS fundamentally better than the alternatives.
- This could include improving existing production systems, developing entirely new manufacturing technologies, expanding into new products or markets, or creating technical capabilities that competitors struggle to replicate.
- Build the Future Business
- Engineering doesn't exist to support the business. Engineering helps create the business we'll become.
- You'll help identify where we should grow, develop the capabilities required to get there, and translate technical insight into long-term competitive advantage.
- Lead Beyond Engineering
- Some of your most meaningful work won't happen inside the engineering department.
- As your capability grows, you'll increasingly lead cross-functional initiatives that strengthen our production system, improve business performance, and help shape the future of PJ Wallbank Springs.
What Success Looks LikeYour exact priorities will evolve as you develop and as the needs of the business change. You may begin by driving production system optimization or you could initially spend more time leading product innovation or new business development.
Regardless of where you start, our expectation is that you'll build on your strengths while developing new capabilities to steadily grow toward leading the full engineering function.
By the end of your first year, you'll likely have:
- Developed the technical understanding and leadership capability required to effectively lead product, process, tooling, equipment, and controls engineering, while building the foundation to eventually lead the broader engineering organization.
- Earned the trust of engineers, operators, and business leaders through sound judgment and consistent execution.
- Created a higher-performing engineering team that executes with greater speed, ownership, and impact across product development, manufacturing, continuous improvement, launches, and problem solving.
- Coached and developed early-career engineers into increasingly capable technical and business leaders.
- Led one or more meaningful manufacturing improvements that strengthen quality, capacity, cost, or technical differentiation. This could include initiatives such as improving coiler performance, stress relief consistency, automated loading, machine vision, or other manufacturing technologies that strengthen our competitive position.
- Successfully led one or more cross-functional business initiatives that produce measurable business results. Engineering is expected to be a driving force behind the evolution of our production system, our competitive advantage, and ultimately our business.
- Expanded your own capability through increasing responsibility and exposure to new technical and business challenges. This may include new spring geometries, materials, manufacturing processes, assemblies, or entirely new production capabilities that create meaningful opportunities for organic growth.
What We're Looking forWe're looking for someone with the capability and ambition to become an exceptional engineering leader. Someone who enjoys solving difficult problems, building better systems, developing people, and expanding their own capability.
You'll likely bring:
- A strong mechanical engineering foundation and sound engineering judgment.
- Experience leading meaningful technical projects or teams.
- The ability to balance technical performance, manufacturability, cost, and business objectives.
- Experience improving products, manufacturing systems, or engineering processes.
- Comfort making decisions with incomplete information and adjusting quickly as new information becomes available.
- Strong communication and collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, customers, and commercial teams.
- A player-coach mindset. Willing to be hands-on when needed, but ultimately focused on building capability in others.
You'll probably thrive here if you naturally take ownership, think in systems, ask thoughtful questions, move with urgency, and genuinely enjoy helping other people grow.
Experience with automotive manufacturing, APQP, PPAP, SolidWorks, GD&T, DFMEA, DVP&R, or similar engineering disciplines is valuable, but we're far more interested in your capability to learn, your judgment, and your potential to grow into a broader engineering and business leadership role.
Competitive Compensation and BenefitsThe compensation package will be attractive to the candidate possessing the experience, qualifications, and ability to deliver exceptional value to the company. We offer competitive pay, incentive, and benefits, including healthcare and a 401(k) plan with a company match, providing a compensation package comparable to companies much larger than we are.
LocationThe position is based in scenic Port Huron, Michigan, the Maritime Capital of the Great Lakes, and is located on the shores of Lake Huron, with activities such as boating and time on the beach. This position will need to be on-site to integrate product design with our manufacturing processes, but it comes with workplace flexibility to be hybrid at times to meet both business and family/personal needs.
Community InvolvementWe're building more than products. We're building people. This starts by investing in early-career engineers who are the future of our business. Whether that's through the robotics practice field at our facility or the STEAM program at the local high schools that we helped fund. We're giving local talent a compelling reason to stay or return to their hometown, knowing they can have a legitimate career with big impact.
If you want to help define what world-class engineering looks like in a small, fast-moving, and growing company, this could be your next step. Apply now and take the next step in your leadership journey.
Hear more about how we Manufacture Impact.
