Engineering Manager-Advanced Research & Development

About the Role

We are seeking an Engineering Manager to build and lead a cross‑functional Advanced Research & Development team shaping the future of industrial automation. In this role you will develop a deep understanding of customer operations, emerging market needs, and adjacent warehouse automation trends to identify the most meaningful opportunities for innovation. You will translate those insights into clear problem statements, a focused technology vision, and a roadmap for pursuing high‑value solutions.

Working across technical and commercial domains, you will guide the team from early discovery through validated prototypes and successful handoff to the business. The ideal candidate is a commercially oriented engineering leader with genuine technical depth who can turn promising ideas into meaningful business impact. We prefer this person to be based in our Baltimore, Maryland office.

• Identify unaddressed friction points in global logistics and adjacent automation markets, focusing on customer pain points most worth solving.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer operations, workflows, and unmet needs through direct engagement with customers, commercial teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Translate customer pain points into clear, actionable problem statements that can guide technical development.
• Identify adjacent market opportunities where new technologies or adaptations of existing capabilities could create value.
• Actively track emerging technologies to feed new capabilities into the funnel.

• Synthesize inputs from across the business into a coherent technology roadmap aligned with strategy.
• Own the technology idea funnel, ensuring ideas, customer pain points, and market opportunities are captured, evaluated, and prioritized.
• Frame technical tradeoffs and work with technical teams to build a complete picture of feasibility, solution cost, and development path.
• Maintain strong partnership with commercial teams to ensure sufficient customer access, opportunity discovery, and market input.

• Recruit and protect an elite team focused on needle‑moving innovation in industrial automation.
• Build and lead a high‑performing cross‑functional team that may include Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Controls Engineers, Project Managers, Business Development Engineers, and other roles as needed.
• Create clarity around priorities, roles, and objectives so the team can focus on the most impactful innovation.
• Develop team members through coaching, mentoring, and challenging assignments that accelerate both their technical growth and their ability to operate in ambiguity.
• Foster a culture of ownership, rapid learning, technical rigor, and thoughtful risk‑taking.

• Build strong partnerships across engineering, commercial, product management, and business leadership to keep innovation efforts connected to real customer value and strategic direction.
• Engage downstream stakeholders early and often—building confidence, gathering input, and advancing ownership so that handoff feels inevitable, not surprising.
• Guard against innovation suffocation by establishing clear boundaries between the Advanced R&D team and the demands of the core business.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience in engineering, product development, application engineering, or a related technical role, with progressive movement into commercial, strategic, or business leadership responsibilities.
• Experience in industrial automation, logistics, warehouse automation, or material handling, with exposure to AI, robotics, controls, software‑enabled automation, or other emerging technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize customer pain points, market signals, and broad inputs into clear problem statements, actionable requirements, and a coherent technology roadmap.
• Strong commercial judgment grounded in genuine engineering experience—able to evaluate technical feasibility, guide development direction, and earn credibility with a highly technical team.
• Strong communication and…