Senior Product Development Engineer – Metal Forming
Employment Type: Full-Time, Direct Hire
Base Salary: $120,000–$140,000 annually, based on experience
Industry: Advanced Manufacturing / Automotive / Aerospace / Industrial
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Senior Product Development Engineer to lead the development, validation, and launch of advanced cold forging and metal forming processes supporting automotive, aerospace, and industrial applications.
This is a highly visible, hands-on engineering position responsible for taking new products and manufacturing processes from initial concept through prototype, process development, validation, launch, and full-scale production.
The Senior Product Development Engineer will work closely with customers, suppliers, tooling partners, manufacturing, quality, and other engineering disciplines to develop robust and cost-effective manufacturing solutions. This individual will play a key role in determining how new components will be manufactured, developing the necessary tooling and processes, conducting trials, resolving technical challenges, and ensuring successful production launches.
The ideal candidate combines strong engineering fundamentals with practical manufacturing experience. We are looking for someone who is equally comfortable developing tooling and processes in a 3D CAD environment and working directly on the manufacturing floor during trials, troubleshooting, and production launches.
Key Responsibilities
Product & Process Development
- Lead the development of new products and manufacturing processes from initial concept through production launch.
- Develop manufacturing concepts for complex metal-formed components with an emphasis on cold forging and high-volume production.
- Evaluate product designs for manufacturability, process capability, cost, quality, and production feasibility.
- Determine appropriate manufacturing sequences, forming operations, tooling strategies, equipment requirements, and process parameters.
- Translate customer requirements and product designs into repeatable and scalable manufacturing processes.
- Develop technical solutions that balance product performance, manufacturability, tooling complexity, cycle time, quality, and cost.
- Evaluate existing manufacturing processes and recommend improvements to increase efficiency, capability, and product quality.
Tooling Development & Simulation
- Lead the design and development of tooling using 3D CAD software.
- Utilize cold-forging and metal-forming simulation software to evaluate material flow, forming loads, tooling conditions, potential defects, and overall process feasibility.
- Work closely with internal and external tooling resources to develop, manufacture, modify, and validate production tooling.
- Review tooling concepts and designs for manufacturability, durability, serviceability, and production effectiveness.
- Support tooling trials and identify necessary modifications based on actual manufacturing results.
- Participate in tooling optimization efforts focused on improving tool life, part quality, throughput, and process stability.
Prototype Development & Manufacturing Trials
- Plan and coordinate prototype builds and manufacturing trials.
- Develop trial objectives, process parameters, tooling requirements, inspection criteria, and documentation.
- Provide hands-on engineering support during press trials, prototype runs, tooling prove-outs, and production validation activities.
- Analyze trial results and determine necessary tooling, equipment, material, or process adjustments.
- Work directly with manufacturing personnel to troubleshoot forming and production issues.
- Document lessons learned and incorporate findings into final production processes.
New Product Launch
- Support new programs from engineering development through successful production launch.
- Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, engineering deliverables, and launch requirements.
- Coordinate engineering activities with manufacturing, quality, tooling, suppliers, and customers.
- Identify potential technical and manufacturing risks early in the development process and establish appropriate mitigation plans.
- Support production ramp-up and resolve technical issues that could impact quality, throughput, delivery, or cost.
- Ensure manufacturing processes are properly validated and capable of consistently meeting customer requirements prior to full production release.
Process Troubleshooting & Continuous Improvement
- Provide technical leadership for complex manufacturing and product-related problems.
- Lead structured root cause analysis and corrective-action activities.
- Investigate dimensional, material-flow, tooling, process, and quality concerns.
- Utilize data and manufacturing results to determine root causes and implement sustainable corrective actions.
- Identify opportunities to improve:
- Apply Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma principles to product and process improvement initiatives.
- Support continuous-improvement activities across engineering and manufacturing operations.
Customer & Supplier Collaboration
- Work directly with OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, tooling suppliers, and other technical partners throughout product development and launch.
- Participate in customer technical reviews, design discussions, and manufacturing feasibility evaluations.
- Provide technical recommendations regarding product design, material selection, tooling, and manufacturing processes.
- Prepare and deliver technical presentations, engineering reviews, and product/process demonstrations.
- Communicate project status, technical risks, trial results, and recommended actions to customers and internal stakeholders.
- Coordinate with suppliers to resolve tooling, material, equipment, and manufacturing concerns.
CNC & Secondary Manufacturing Processes
- Apply knowledge of CNC machining and metal processing to support prototype development, tooling manufacture, secondary operations, and process optimization.
- Evaluate machining requirements associated with forged or formed components.
- Collaborate with machining personnel to ensure upstream forming processes support downstream machining requirements.
- Identify opportunities to reduce secondary machining, material removal, processing time, and overall manufacturing cost.
Project Leadership
- Manage assigned engineering projects to established cost, quality, performance, and schedule objectives.
- Coordinate cross-functional project activities involving Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Tooling, Purchasing, suppliers, and customers.
- Establish priorities and drive technical activities to completion.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to engineering and manufacturing personnel when appropriate.
- Participate in product-development and continuous-improvement teams.
- Maintain accurate engineering documentation throughout the development and launch process.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline; equivalent relevant experience may also be considered.
- 5–10+ years of experience in product development, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, tooling development, or a related engineering discipline.
- Demonstrated experience with cold forging, stamping, extrusion, metal forming, or similar high-volume manufacturing processes.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing process development and new product introduction.
- Experience developing or supporting tooling used in metal-forming applications.
- Proficiency with SolidWorks or comparable 3D CAD software.
- Experience supporting prototype builds, tooling trials, process validation, and production launches.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
- Ability to read and interpret complex engineering drawings, specifications, and technical documentation.
- Strong project-management and organizational skills.
- Ability to manage multiple engineering projects and priorities simultaneously.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively with customers, suppliers, engineering teams, manufacturing personnel, and senior leadership.
