Engineer III, Mechanical

Work Schedule
Standard (Mon-Fri)
Environmental Conditions
Office
Job Description
At Thermo Fisher Scientific, you’ll do meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Our teams are united by our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. We provide colleagues with opportunities to grow while developing innovative solutions that address complex scientific and manufacturing challenges.
Position Summary
We are seeking a Engineer III – Mechanical to lead should-cost analysis and cost engineering activities across complex mechanical components, assemblies, and products. This role will develop robust, data-driven cost models that improve cost transparency, enable design-to-cost decisions, strengthen supplier negotiations, and identify sustainable value improvement opportunities.
You will partner with Design Engineering, Procurement, Category Management, Manufacturing, and suppliers to understand product cost drivers and evaluate alternative materials, manufacturing processes, and design concepts. The role requires strong manufacturing process knowledge, commercial awareness, and the ability to translate engineering data into actionable cost insights.
Key Responsibilities
Develop detailed should-cost and clean-sheet cost models for mechanical components, subassemblies, and complete products
Analyze cost drivers including raw materials, manufacturing processes, cycle time, tooling, labor, machine rates, overhead, yield, and logistics
Partner with Design Engineering to embed design-to-cost and value engineering principles throughout the product development lifecycle
Perform supplier quote analysis and cost breakdown assessments, identifying gaps between supplier quotations and should-cost estimates
Collaborate with Procurement and Category Management to provide fact-based cost insights that support supplier negotiations and sourcing decisions
Evaluate alternative materials, manufacturing processes, design concepts, and sourcing scenarios to improve cost competitiveness without compromising quality or performance
Assess supplier manufacturing processes and recommend opportunities to improve productivity, manufacturability, and cost efficiency
Build product-level cost models by consolidating component, assembly, tooling, processing, and supply chain costs
Perform cost-benefit, total cost of ownership (TCO), make-versus-buy, and manufacturing footprint analyses where applicable
Establish standard work, methodologies, assumptions, and validation practices for should costing
Improve cost-model accuracy by benchmarking estimates against supplier quotations, actual costs, and manufacturing data
Lead continuous improvement of costing methodologies, databases, tools, and analytical processes
Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers and cross-functional teams on cost engineering and design-to-cost practices
Communicate cost insights, opportunities, risks, and recommendations clearly to technical and business stakeholders
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
10+ years of experience in should costing, cost engineering, manufacturing cost analysis, or value engineering
Demonstrated experience developing detailed cost models for mechanical components and manufacturing processes
Preferred Qualifications
Deep manufacturing knowledge across CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, casting, forging, plastics/injection molding, composites, rubber, metal injection molding (MIM), and related processes
Strong understanding of secondary operations, heat treatment, surface treatments, coatings, finishing, and assembly processes
Ability to interpret complex engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerances, material specifications, and BOM structures
Working knowledge of engineering and drawing standards such as ASME, ANSI, ISO, DIN, JIS, and BS
Hands-on experience with should-cost and manufacturing cost tools such as aPriori, DFMA, Costimator, or equivalent platforms
Experience with TCO, NPV, make-versus-buy, supplier cost breakdown, and cost-driver analysis
Proficiency in interpreting 2D/3D engineering data using tools such as Creo, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or equivalent CAD platforms
Experience supporting VAVE, design-to-cost, teardown, benchmarking, and cost reduction initiatives
Strong understanding of global manufacturing economics, supplier capabilities, and regional cost drivers
Strong analytical skills with the ability to convert complex technical and commercial data into actionable recommendations
Demonstrated ability to influence Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supplier teams in a global, matrixed environment
Strong communication, presentation, negotiation-support, and stakeholder management skills
Key Skills
Should Costing, Clean-Sheet Costing, Design-to-Cost, VAVE, Cost Breakdown Analysis, Supplier Quote Analysis, Manufacturing Process Costing, Machining, Sheet Metal, Casting, Forging, Plastics, MIM, GD&T, aPriori, DFMA, Costimator, TCO/NPV, CAD Interpretation, Supplier Negotiation Support, Make-vs-Buy, Cost Benchmarking, Value Engineering
Key Competencies
Cost and commercial acumen
Manufacturing process expertise
Data-driven decision-making
Structured problem-solving
Cross-functional influence
Supplier collaboration
Continuous improvement
Ownership and execution discipline