Pay: $120,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
ENGINEERING MANAGER
Position Summary
The Engineering Manager is responsible for leading our engineering team for the design, development, testing, documentation, and continuous improvement of architectural and commercial LED lighting products. This role connects product design and engineering with manufacturing, quality, sourcing, sales, and customers to deliver innovative, reliable, cost-effective, and manufacturable lighting solutions.
This position provides both technical and people leadership, ensuring engineering projects are executed on schedule while maintaining high standards for product performance, quality, safety, regulatory compliance, and manufacturability. The ideal candidate understands the integration of LED technology, optics, electronics, mechanical design, thermal management, controls, manufacturing processes, and customer requirements.
Key Responsibilities: Engineering & Product Development
- Lead the engineering team responsible for current product design, product enhancements, sustaining engineering and new product development.
- Manage the complete product development process from concept and design through prototyping, testing, production release, and continuous improvement.
- Translate customer, sales, architectural, and market requirements into practical engineering solutions.
- Provide technical direction for LED, electrical, mechanical, optical, thermal, and controls-related product development.
- Ensure products are designed for manufacturability, reliability, serviceability, and cost effectiveness.
- Review engineering designs, drawings, specifications, BOMs, and technical documentation.
- Establish engineering standards, procedures, and documentation practices; identify opportunities to improve performance, simplify designs, reduce cost, and increase manufacturing efficiency.
Manufacturing & Production Support
- Partner with Manufacturing and Operations to ensure new and existing products can be produced efficiently and consistently.
- Support production with timely resolution of engineering issues, design changes, and manufacturing problems.
- Lead or support Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) initiatives.
- Investigate recurring production issues and implement permanent corrective actions.
- Collaborate with manufacturing engineering on tooling, fixtures, assembly processes, automation, and process improvements.
- Support engineering change orders (ECOs), revisions, and production documentation while balancing performance, availability, lead times, and cost.
Quality, Testing & Compliance
- Establish engineering practices that support consistent product quality and reliability.
- Oversee product validation, qualification, reliability, and performance testing.
- Work closely with Quality to investigate product failures, customer issues, warranty concerns, and field performance.
- Lead root-cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions for significant engineering issues.
- Ensure products meet applicable UL/ETL, energy-efficiency, electrical safety, and other applicable industry or regulatory requirements.
- Maintain awareness of changing lighting-industry standards, codes, technologies, and certification requirements.
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, mentor, and develop the engineering team; establish clear priorities, objectives, responsibilities, and performance expectations.
- Conduct regular one-on-one meetings, performance reviews, and career-development discussions.
- Recruit and onboard engineering talent as the organization grows and develop technical leadership within the organization.
- Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, quality, and continuous improvement.
- Ensure engineering resources are appropriately allocated across new products, customer requests, sustaining engineering, and operational priorities.
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Work closely with Product Management, Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchasing,
Supply Chain, and Operations.
- Provide engineering input into product roadmaps, customer opportunities, cost targets, and product strategies.
- Support Sales and Applications Engineering with technical expertise for complex customer requirements and architectural projects.
- Evaluate custom-product requests and determine technical feasibility, development requirements, risks, and costs.
- Communicate engineering priorities, project status, technical risks, and resource requirements to company leadership.
Technical Expertise
Working knowledge of LED lighting systems and fixtures; LED drivers and power supplies; AC/DC electrical systems; dimming and lighting controls; thermal management; optical performance and LED optics; mechanical design and materials; relevant manufacturing processes; CAD and engineering documentation; product testing and validation; UL/CSA/ETL and applicable lighting certifications; photometric performance and lighting standards; BOM and engineering change management; manufacturing processes and quality systems; and cost reduction/value engineering.
The Engineering Manager does not need to be the technical expert in every discipline, but must have sufficient technical depth to evaluate engineering decisions, understand trade-offs, challenge assumptions, manage risk, and provide effective leadership to specialists.
Qualifications Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- 7+ years of engineering experience, preferably within lighting, electrical products, electronics, or related manufacturing industries.
- 3+ years of engineering leadership or people-management experience.
- Demonstrated experience taking physical products from concept through production.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing and product-development processes; strong problem-solving, analytical, project-management, and communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple engineering projects and competing priorities.
Preferred
- Experience with architectural and/or commercial LED lighting products; LED drivers, controls, optics, thermal management, or lighting electronics.
- Familiarity with UL/CSA/ETL, DLC, FCC, energy-efficiency, and applicable lighting standards.
- Experience with DFM/DFA, value engineering, CAD/PDM/PLM systems, engineering change processes, ERP/MRP systems, and engineering BOM management.
- Experience supporting domestic or offshore manufacturing partners.
Key Performance Expectations
- Successful new product launches delivered on schedule and within established cost and performance targets.
- High levels of product quality, reliability, and regulatory compliance; effective resolution of manufacturing and field issues.
- Reduced engineering-related production problems and rework; continuous improvement in product cost, manufacturability, and performance.
- Accurate and timely engineering documentation and change management.
- Strong collaboration between Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Sales, and Product Management.
- Development, retention, and performance of a capable engineering team.
- A disciplined, repeatable product-development process and improved responsiveness to customer and market requirements.
Reporting & Organizational Relationships
Reports directly to owner
Direct Reports: Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineers, Production Engineer, Engineering Technicians, and/or related engineering personnel.
Primary Partners: Fabrication, Assembly, Product Management, Sales & Marketing, Purchasing, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations.
Role Expectations
The Engineering Manager is both a technical leader and a business partner. The successful candidate will create an engineering organization that can rapidly develop innovative lighting products while maintaining disciplined control of quality, cost, schedule, compliance, and manufacturability.
The ultimate objective is to ensure the company consistently delivers high-quality architectural and commercial LED lighting products that meet customer requirements, perform reliably in the field, are efficient to manufacture, and provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
