Harbor Freight Tools

Sr Lead Engineer, Product Development - Plumbing (Remote)

Harbor Freight Tools • $100K — $130K *
US-AnywhereRemote in Calabasas, CA
Manufacturing & Automotive
8 - 10 years of experience
2 weeks ago
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Industrial Engineering or Physical Science from an accredited university
  • 10+ years of direct experience in engineering roles
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, CAD, and HFT specific programs
  • Understanding of mechanical and electrical systems with practical application knowledge

Responsibilities

  • Drive project schedules to ensure timely task completion
  • Support vendor selection and enhance capabilities through audits
  • Organize workflows to optimize team efficiency
  • Adapt quickly to changing priorities with a collaborative approach
  • Define product specifications based on market and corporate needs
  • Maintain high standards in quality assurance for customer satisfaction
  • Support product testing through preparation and updates to test methods

Benefits

  • Flexibility to work from anywhere
  • Opportunity for travel up to 25%
  • Exposure to a global product team including overseas collaboration
  • Chance to contribute to high-impact projects with elevated complexity
  • Coaching opportunities for professional development within the team
Full Job Description
Job Description

The Senior Lead Engineer will be responsible for providing technical leadership to develop best-in-class products that deliver premium performance at a great market value. As an individual contributing team member in the Quality Assurance group, the Lead Engineer coordinates efforts of a global product team, including domestic and overseas colleagues as well as vendors. Delivery of the highest level of product functionality, quality, and speed to market is critical in the success of this position. Successful execution of duties requires a balance of driving to meet aggressive project goals while maintaining high standards of professionalism and collaborative partnership with other valued team members.

Duties and Responsibilities
  • Driving Schedules: Read schedules and drive project tasks to completion with urgency. Identifies actions that accelerate completion with acceptable risk.
  • Support Vendor Selection and Enhancement: Provide project specifications and global sourcing in selection of factories for development & manufacturing. Audits issues through factory corrective actions. Provides recommendations to improve vendor capability.
  • Organization: Optimizes work flow to improve efficiency.
  • Adaptation: Sense of urgency, collaborative team style, and adapts to changes in priorities.
  • Defining Product Specifications: Knowledge of market landscape, corporate objectives, and product needs to communicate expectations to vendors for quotation and development.
  • Quality Assurance: High standards of quality for each product for customer satisfaction. Measures success by online reviews and returns %.
  • Product Testing: Supports testing group by preparing test methods, instructions, and plans. Updates test protocols. Reviews reports, interacts with test team, generates appropriate corrective action plans.
  • Completion of tasks: Complete multiple parallel tasks. Works with time constraints and deliver on multiple advanced tasks. Creates processes that enhance task completion. Mindful of how completion affects others.
  • Inspections: Update and publish list of items to be inspected. Works with overseas inspection team to identify inspection process improvement areas and create solutions to improve quality.
  • Mature Product Support: Support complaint handling group in resolving product complaints by analyzing product and market comparisons. Read and respond to customer reviews directly and through FAQs. Review product and related literature to identify root causes and viable solutions. Drive corrective actions.
  • Individual Contribution: Actively completes assignments as an individual contributor to 25 or more projects with elevated complexity. Assists manager with tasks assigned to manager.
  • Teamwork: Ability to work collaboratively in a team setting with various departments and outside parties such as Global Sourcing, Merchant, Asia teams, and vendors. Understands how their work, and the way they work, affect others.
  • Visibility and Escalation to Leadership: Provides constant and timely updates on project status and systems improvements to manager, cross functional team, and leadership team using appropriate communication methods. Anticipates events and prepares leadership in advance.
  • Management Responsibilities: Models responsible behavior and coaches others in their work.
  • Decision Making: Works independently and exercises independent judgment and good decision-making skills. Solves project and system problems with little support. Leverages collaborative culture and escalations, understanding when and how to appropriately involve others.
  • Reliability: Consistently present, attentive and engaged in daily operations to effectively reach defined goals
  • Safety Mindedness: Understand and be involved in workplace safety to ensure all employees follow safety rules and procedures.
Scope
  • Staff supervision and development: No
  • Decision making
  • Travel: Up to 25%
  • Flex Designation: Anywhere


Requirements

Education and Experience
Education Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Industrial Engineering or Physical Science from accredited university
Years of Experience
  • 10+ years of direct experience
Skills
  • Communication
  • Written: Must have basic written communication skills. Must prepare clearly worded communication for others and decipher intended messages where English is not a primary language.
  • Verbal: Speak and listen to others in person, over the phone, and on video calls in English. Must have clear oral communication skills and convey messages in concise, organized, and effective manner that is appropriate to the intended audience, including executive level. Language is to be professional and collaborative.
  • Multi-media: Must have refined skills developing and presenting information in multimedia format. Support management in translating conceptual ideas into creative, and analytical presentations in PowerPoint/Excel.
  • Computer Skill: Use keyboard and read from computer screen and reports. Must be skilled in MS Office suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Project), CAD, web search, and e-mail. Proficient in HFT specific programs - Kronos, ISS, TurnTo, etc.
  • Problem Resolution: Resolves problems using professional communication, technical skill, and appropriate urgency.
  • Mechanical Proficiency: Understanding advanced mechanical systems and cost with demonstrated ability to develop mechanisms. Applies knowledge to assigned product categories. Ability to guide factories and SQEs on mechanical principles needed for projects.
  • Electrical Proficiency: Understanding of advanced electronics and costs, with an aptitude to learn controls used in area of assignment. Applies knowledge to assigned product categories. Ability to guide factories and SQEs on electrical principles needed for projects.
  • Manufacturing Proficiency: Demonstrated ability overseeing quality control systems and product manufacturing. Drives the selection of manufacturing techniques with associated cost, production speed, and technical pro/con. Ability to guide factories and SQEs on manufacturing principles needed for projects.
  • Qualification/Testing: Ability to apply, follow, and create appropriate formalized testing methods to prove reliability of products according to HFT standards.
  • Use of Equipment: Demonstrate proficiency to work with a wide range of equipment: electronic testing equipment, small motor dynamometer, AC/DC load banks, data acquisition systems, environmental chambers, hardness testers, other lab tools. Can train others on use of equipment.
  • Regulatory Knowledge: Knowledge of UL, CSA, and other regulatory standards with application to product design.
  • Market Knowledge
  • Business/Market Environment: Understanding the competitive market and business environment for categories of responsibility and expertise. Understanding customers, end user applications, market size, competitors, and market trends.
  • Product Knowledge: Expertise in one or more product category and knowledge in adjacent categories. Effective in researching market landscape, perform practical testing, and draw insight from target users.
  • HFT strategy: Execute HFT response to market conditions and business environment within assigned categories. Recommend Life Cycle Management of existing items and new product offerings.

Physical Requirements
General office environment requiring ability to:
  • Stand, walk, sit for extended periods of time.
  • Speak and listen to others in person and over the phone and video conferencing.
  • Use keyboard and read from computer screen and reports.
  • The ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
  • Ability to travel frequently within China to various supplier manufacturing sites.
  • Ability to walk factory manufacturing operations and spend considerable time on the factory floor.
Safety
  • Must be able to perform this job safely in accordance with standard operating procedures and good manufacturing practices, without endangering the health or safety of self or others.


About Harbor Freight Tools

Harbor Freight Tools is a privately held discount tool and equipment retailer headquartered in Calabasas, California. The company was founded in 1977 by Eric Smidt and has grown to become one of the largest tool and equipment retailers in the United States. Harbor Freight Tools offers a wide range of products, including hand tools, power tools, automotive tools, generators, air compressors, and welding equipment. The company operates over 1,000 stores across the United States and employs over 20,000 people.
Learn more about Harbor Freight Tools
Size
20,000 employees
Industry
Retail & Consumer Goods
Founded
1977
* Ladders Estimates

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