Manager, Manufacturing & Test Engineering

Manager, Manufacturing & Test Engineering Status:
Exempt (salaried)

Reports To:

Director, Manufacturing Engineering

The Manager, Manufacturing & Test Engineering leads the test engineering, process engineering, and manufacturing engineering technician functions supporting Plug Power’s production operations. The Manager directs a team of approximately twelve, including process engineers, test engineers, a test software developer, and manufacturing engineering technicians, and is accountable for the performance, development, and retention of that team while contributing personal technical depth to the work.

The position owns the responsiveness of engineering support to the production floor, drives standardization across test platforms and manufacturing documentation, and partners closely with Production, R&D, Supply Chain, Warehouse, and Quality to align priorities and deliver measurable improvements in quality, throughput, and cost.

• Team Leadership and Development Lead, develop, and mentor a team of test engineers, process engineers, and manufacturing engineering technicians; establish individual development plans for junior staff and structured onboarding for new team members
• Own the manufacturing engineering ticketing system: set response and closure expectations, establish the technician group as first responders with clear escalation paths to process and test engineering, and report on backlog, cycle time, and recurring issue themes
• Partner with Production leadership to set and continuously realign engineering priorities against the build schedule and floor constraints
• Develop and manage the engineering intern program within the function, including project scoping and mentorship assignment
• Own and manage the operating and capital budgets for both the process engineering and test engineering functions, including spend forecasting, prioritization, and justification of capital requests
• Define, track, and communicate team performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Test Engineering Own the development, maintenance, and lifecycle management of all production test assets, including digital test (device I/O interfacing) and physical test (flow rate measurement, pressure decay, and similar functional verification)
• Drive standardization of test platforms across product lines — hardware architecture, instrumentation, software structure, calibration, and documentation — to a common, sustainable baseline
• Provide technical direction to the LabVIEW software developer and to engineers building Python-based test and data analysis tools; ensure consistent practices for code structure, revision control, and documentation
• Manage external vendors and integrators for test fixtures, stands, and programs that exceed internal capability: define requirements, evaluate proposals, oversee execution, and conduct acceptance testing
• Ensure test coverage, repeatability, and measurement system integrity; use production test data to identify recurring failure modes and drive corrective action
• Process Engineering Own the development and maintenance of work instructions and standard operating procedures; drive the current initiative to bring all work instructions to a verified, current state
• Own ERP routing accuracy and maintenance; lead the verification and subsequent restructuring of bills of material to better support manufacturing execution
• Direct time studies, labor standards, line balancing, and capacity analysis to support throughput and staffing decisions
• Own control plans, process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA), and job hazard analyses (JHAs) for production processes
• Lead tooling and fixture design, procurement, and maintenance programs
• Drive Lean and 5S implementation on the floor, including Kaizen events, standard work, and visual controls
• Lead continuous improvement projects targeting cycle time, first-pass yield, scrap, rework, and ergonomics
• Cross-Functional Coordination Coordinate with R&D on new and changing product designs to ensure manufacturability, testability, and production readiness
• Partner with Supply Chain and Warehouse on material flow, BOM…