Engineering Manager - Assembly Technology

Summary
Target Department: Sustaining & Modification Engineering (Conveyance Systems)
Primary Focus: Team leadership, sustaining engineering, standard modifications (MODI), production support, cost innovation, and regional/global supply localization support.
Key Interfaces: Main technical liaison to the MODI Team (Germany) and the Application Engineering Team (USA).
Role Purpose & Goal
The Engineering Manager for Mechanical Conveyance (Sustaining & MODI) is responsible for leading, mentoring, and developing a highly skilled engineering team focused on the lifecycle management, local manufacturing support, and customization of mechanical conveyance systems.
Your mission is to maintain a seamless technical bridge between developers, purchasing, manufacturing, and global partners.
You will ensure standard products are modified efficiently under the MODI framework, production lines remain operational without technical bottlenecks, and products are continually optimized for cost and local sourcing.
Key Responsibilities
Team Leadership & Development
People Management: Direct, coach, and inspire a multidisciplinary mechanical engineering team.
Define clear roles, target expectations, and capacity plans.
Culture Carrier: Foster a continuous learning environment, feedback culture, and innovative thinking.
Resource Management: Manage team capacity and technical competency matrices to support ongoing production and pipeline requests.
Global Interface & Collaboration
German MODI Team: Serve as the primary technical and process interface to the central MODI team in Germany to ensure standard design guidelines and engineering changes align with core global standards.
US Application Team: Work in lockstep with the US Application team to understand customer-specific requirements, translating regional field inputs into localized engineering changes.
Production Support: Act as the first line of engineering escalation for the localized production plant, ensuring quick issue resolution, safety compliance, and minimum downtime.
Sustaining & Customization (MODI) Engineering
Modification Architecture: Oversee the mechanical modification and design changes of standard mechanical conveyance assemblies to meet client-specific layouts.
BOM & SAP Control: Ensure high-quality execution of BOM (Bill of Materials) setups, configuration management, and the release of engineering changes in PLM/SAP databases.
Change Management: Implement structured engineering change management (L3) processes to keep drawings, documentation, and tooling synchronized.
Cost Innovation & Local Sourcing
Cost Innovation Design: Champion "Design-to-Cost" (DTC) and Value Engineering initiatives on existing product lines to reduce material and manufacturing costs.
Supply Localization Support: Act as the technical partner to the localized purchasing/procurement teams.
Support local vendor qualification when needed, review technical capabilities, and validate raw material or component substitutions without compromising quality and safety.
Main Tasks & Activities
Lead and coordinate day-to-day sustaining engineering work packages and local customer custom-modification requests.
Synchronize regularly with the DE MODI and US Application teams through structured joint reviews to maintain cross-border alignment.
Analyze value streams and production feedback to close the development loop, applying learnings to future standard product updates.
Evaluate and sign off on mechanical designs, tolerance analyses, and material selection for cost-reduction initiatives.
Support technical auditing of new localized supplier parts to facilitate smooth component localization and purchasing success.
Report department performance, engineering release status, and cost-saving metrics to the Department Head.
Education
Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or equivalent.
Experience and Know-how
8+ years of total experience in mechanical design or engineering within the mechanical conveyance or heavy industrial machinery industries.
3+ years in a leadership, technical project lead, or supervisory role within engineering.
Extensive background in Sustaining Engineering and Design-to-Cost (DTC)/Value Engineering.
Proficiency in 3D CAD platforms (e.g., Creo/SolidWorks) and PDM/PLM database management (e.g., Windchill/SAP).
Strong understanding of mechanical fabrication, assembly lines, metal casting, and tooling.
Demonstrated experience with software development lifecycles, agile methodologies, and modern engineering practices
Strong background in resource planning, organizational development, and competence management
Experience managing project portfolios and balancing multiple initiatives
Proven track record of hiring, onboarding, and building high-performing teams
Experience collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders such as Product Management, Project Management, and Technical Leadership
Budget management and financial planning experience
Experience tracking and analyzing performance metrics and KPIs
Familiarity with change management and organizational transformation initiatives
Experience in international or distributed development environments is highly desirable
Domain knowledge in software development, embedded systems, or related technical fields is considered an advantage
Personality and Working Style
Strong people leadership and coaching mindset with genuine passion for developing talent
Strategic thinker capable of balancing long-term organizational development with short-term business needs
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence across all organizational levels
Strong decision-making, prioritization, and conflict-resolution abilities
Proactive, results-oriented, and highly collaborative approach to work
Detail-oriented with strong organizational and time management skills
Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data and make informed decisions
Resilient and adaptable in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
Transparent communicator who builds trust through open dialogue
Inclusive leadership style that values diverse perspectives and fosters psychological safety
Innovative thinker who encourages creative problem-solving and continuous improvement

Employment type
Full-time

Work arrangement
Hybrid