End-to-End Project Ownership
- Own the full lifecycle of new projects, from quoting and concept development through launch and ongoing production support.
- Lead and actively manage high-profile, complex customer programs, ensuring successful execution against cost, quality, timing, and performance objectives.
- Establish and maintain clear project plans, milestones, risk management strategies, and communication routines.
- Serve as the engineering escalation point for project challenges, ensuring rapid issue resolution.
Project Estimating & Sales Support
- Play a hands-on role in project estimating, including labor, tooling, automation, capital equipment, and process assumptions.
- Partner closely with Sales to support technical proposals and feasibility assessments.
- Ensure estimates are accurate, competitive, and aligned with manufacturing capabilities and business objectives.
- Support customer-facing technical discussions as needed.
Automation & Process Improvement
- Drive manufacturing automation initiatives to improve safety, efficiency, quality, and cost competitiveness.
- Guide and manage plant renovations, expansions, and capital projects, including coordination with external contractors and vendors
- Identify, prioritize, and execute process improvement and automation opportunities across engineering and manufacturing.
- Lead the evaluation, justification, and implementation of automation, tooling, and advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced project management software.
- Champion standardization and best practices across programs and facilities.
- Support testing and evaluation of new or advanced materials for processability.
- Partner with manufacturing managers and leadership to align priorities and drive cross-departmental initiatives.
Resource & Priority Management
- Plan and allocate engineering resources to align with customer commitments, operational priorities, and strategic initiatives.
- Balance short-term production support with long-term improvement, automation, and growth-focused projects.
- Establish clear prioritization frameworks to ensure optimal focus and throughput.
- Monitor and report on cost savings and efficiency gains from implemented projects
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Ensure tight integration between Sales, Engineering, Tooling, Production, Supply Chain, Quality and Support teams, creating a seamless and accountable project delivery model.
- Facilitate effective handoffs between quoting, design, launch, and production phases.
- Promote transparency, accountability, and disciplined execution across all project stakeholders.
Team Leadership & Development
- Model and reinforce LINDAR’s core values of initiative, integrity, relationships and teamwork by setting clear expectations, holding the team accountable and leading by examples in all interactions and decisions.
- Instill and foster a customer-focused mindset within the engineering team, reinforcing the importance of responsiveness, transparency, and delivering on commitments.
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team.
- Set clear expectations, performance goals, and development plans for direct reports.
- Support hiring, onboarding, training, and succession planning within the engineering organization.
- Promote and uphold a positive safety culture, ensuring personal and team compliance with all safety protocols, including those involving vendors and contractors.
- Foster a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
Qualifications & Experience
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, Electrical, or related field).
- 7+ years of engineering experience in a manufacturing environment.
- 3+ years of engineering leadership or management experience.
- Proven track record managing complex, customer-facing manufacturing projects.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, tooling, automation, and production systems.
- Experience developing project estimates and managing capital budgets.
Preferred
- Experience in plastics manufacturing, metal stamping, forming, assembly, or automated manufacturing environments.
- Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement experience.
- Proven experience in thermoforming or plastics manufacturing strongly preferred;
- Familiarity with robotics, PLCs, controls, or advanced automation technologies.
- Project Management Professional (PMP) or similar certification.
Key Competencies
- Strong project and program management skills
- Strategic thinker with hands-on execution capability
- Excellent cross-functional communication and leadership skills
- Data-driven decision-making and financial acumen