Job Type
Full-time
Description
Lead the Team That Designs Machines That MatterWe are looking for a Mechanical Engineering Manager to lead our Mechanical Engineering team and take ownership of the department's people, performance, engineering standards, and technical execution.
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who understands custom machine design, knows how to develop strong engineers, and can create the processes and standards that allow a growing engineering team to work efficiently without sacrificing quality.
What You'll Do Lead & Develop the Mechanical Engineering Team- Lead, coach, and develop mechanical engineers and designers to improve individual and department performance.
- Increase department performance against sold labor budgets by 5% each year
- Plan and allocate engineering resources across projects based on priorities, schedules, workload, and technical requirements.
- Set clear expectations and provide regular feedback, training, and performance reviews.
- Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new team members.
- Build a collaborative team that communicates well, solves problems together, and takes ownership of results.
Own Mechanical Engineering Standards & Processes- Establish, maintain, and continuously improve SDC mechanical engineering standards and best practices.
- Drive standardization and reuse of proven machine designs, components, assemblies, and engineering solutions where appropriate.
- Maintain engineering libraries, design standards, documentation requirements, and release processes.
- Improve department processes to increase engineering quality, accuracy, consistency, and efficiency.
Drive Technical Excellence- Provide technical leadership and oversight for mechanical concepts and detailed machine designs.
- Work to build technical experts in various machine types to lean on for advanced technical support
- Ensure designs meet customer specifications, SDC engineering standards, safety requirements, project schedules, and budgets.
- Guide engineers through complex machine design challenges and technical decisions.
- Review machine concepts, layouts, calculations, component selections, materials, finishes, drawings, BOMs, and release packages.
- Participate in and/or lead internal and customer design reviews.
- Support design issues through machine assembly, debug, acceptance testing, installation, and startup.
Collaborate Across SDC- Work closely with Project Management to coordinate engineering schedules, priorities, project progress, and resource needs.
- Collaborate with Controls Engineering, Manufacturing, Assembly, Sales, Applications Engineering, and other departments throughout the project lifecycle.
- Support concept development and quoting for new projects as needed.
- Represent Mechanical Engineering in management discussions and company-wide initiatives.
Requirements
What We're Looking For- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering discipline.
- 10+ years of mechanical engineering/machine design experience, preferably designing custom industrial machinery or complex automated systems.
- 5+ years of experience leading or managing highly skilled engineering professionals preferred.
- Strong knowledge of machine design principles, mechanical components, manufacturing methods, materials, and tolerancing.
- Advanced experience with 3D CAD; SolidWorks strongly preferred.
- Experience developing and implementing engineering standards, processes, and reusable design solutions.
- Strong understanding of designing equipment for manufacturability, assembly, serviceability, reliability, and safety.
- Ability to balance technical excellence with project schedules, budgets, and customer requirements.
- Strong leadership, decision-making, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability and willingness to travel to support projects, up to 10%.
What Makes Someone Successful at SDC- We move quickly, work collaboratively, and expect people to take ownership of their work. You'll be successful here if you:
- Work as a team. You communicate openly, support your coworkers, and understand that successful machines require collaboration across departments.
- Take ownership. You follow through on commitments, address problems instead of passing them along, and hold yourself and your team accountable for results.
- Move with urgency. You can make sound decisions with the information available and keep projects moving without unnecessary delays.
- Stay flexible. Priorities can change quickly in custom automation, and you can adjust while keeping the bigger picture in focus.
- Solve problems. You look beyond the obvious answer, challenge assumptions, and continuously look for a better way.
- Lead with integrity and respect. You communicate directly, treat people well, and do what is right for the customer, your team, and SDC.
- Care about the end result. Our goal isn't simply to complete engineering drawings-it is to deliver machines that work.
Why Join SDC?- At SDC, you'll have the opportunity to lead a talented engineering team working on technically challenging custom automation projects across a variety of industries. Our size gives us the resources to tackle sophisticated projects while maintaining the speed and agility of a family-owned company.
- You'll have a meaningful voice in how the department operates, how we develop our people, and how we improve the way SDC designs and builds machines.
What We Offer- Competitive compensation based on experience and expertise.
- Employer-paid medical, dental, vision, and life insurance options, plus supplemental insurance.
- Paid vacation and sick leave.
- 10 company-paid holidays.
- 4% employer 401(k) match each pay period.
- Generous parental leave.
- Company-sponsored Employee Assistance Program.
