The Lead Project Engineer position will lead the definition, design, execution, and closeout of capital and continuous-improvement projects at the Oxford, NC manufacturing plant. This role owns multiple concurrent projects from concept through commissioning, ensuring solutions are safe, technically sound, cost-effective, maintainable, and aligned with plant production, quality, environmental, and business objectives. The position serves as a technical leader and cross-functional project owner, partnering with Operations, Maintenance, EHS, Quality, Procurement, Finance, suppliers, contractors, and plant leadership to deliver measurable results with minimal disruption to manufacturing operations.
Lead a portfolio of complex capital, reliability, automation, capacity, quality, and cost-reduction projects; establish priorities, scope, schedules, budgets, risks, and resource plans.
Develop front-end project definition, including business cases, alternatives analysis, feasibility assessments, equipment concepts, process requirements, preliminary layouts, cost estimates, and return-on-investment support.
Apply expertise to specify, design, evaluate, and integrate manufacturing equipment, utilities, material-handling systems, tooling, guarding, piping, structural modifications, and related plant infrastructure.
Prepare and review engineering drawings, scopes of work, bid packages, technical specifications, installation plans, commissioning plans, and turnover documentation.
Manage project controls, including schedule, cost, forecast, change control, risk register, action tracking, contractor performance, and regular stakeholder reporting.
Coordinate equipment procurement and contractor activities; lead technical bid evaluations, support vendor selection, negotiate technical requirements, and verify deliverables against scope and standards.
Plan and execute installations in coordination with production and maintenance, including outage planning, lockout/tagout coordination, site readiness, startup support, and safe handoff to plant ownership.
Lead factory/site acceptance activities, commissioning, qualification, and performance verification; confirm that projects meet safety, quality, throughput, reliability, maintainability, and financial objectives.
Identify, prioritize, and lead continuous-improvement and automation opportunities using root-cause analysis, data, Lean principles, and structured problem-solving methods.
Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Quality, EHS, and Technical teams to eliminate chronic losses, improve OEE, reduce scrap and downtime, increase capacity, and improve ergonomics and process stability.
Ensure projects comply with applicable safety, environmental, quality, engineering, and plant standards; incorporate machine safety, energy isolation, ergonomics, and maintainability into designs.
Develop technical standards and best practices for project execution, equipment design, documentation, spare parts, preventive maintenance, and contractor work.
Communicate project status, decisions, risks, and recovery plans to plant leadership and other stakeholders; escalate issues promptly when scope, cost, schedule, safety, or production commitments are at risk.
Candidates should be prepared to work during weekends or holidays as needed to support plant shutdown activities or project installations
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.
Eight or more years of progressive engineering experience, including responsibility for capital projects in a manufacturing, industrial, process, or high-volume production environment.
Demonstrated success leading multiple concurrent projects through scope development, design, procurement, installation, commissioning, and closeout.
Working knowledge of mechanical design, manufacturing equipment, utilities, machine guarding, contractor management, and project cost/schedule controls.
Ability to work effectively in an active manufacturing environment and coordinate work across operations, maintenance, technical, and external partner teams.
Professional Engineer (PE), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean/Six Sigma certification, or equivalent project/continuous-improvement credentials.
Experience with tire, rubber, automotive, chemicals, heavy industrial, or similarly complex manufacturing processes.
Experience with automation, robotics, controls integration, material handling, process equipment, or reliability engineering.
Proficiency with CAD, project scheduling tools, cost estimating, and structured problem-solving methods.
Experience applying Lean, Kaizen, TPM, OEE, or Six Sigma methodologies to manufacturing performance improvement.
