Engineering Team Lead

Are you looking to elevate your career by taking full leadership of a team? This stable organization may be the place to bring your early career experience and give you a place to grow today and continue to build a career into the future, including:

• Build and shape a new engineering leadership structure from the ground up (make hiring decisions)
• Clear ownership over budget, projects and team development
• Opportunity to learn and grow by having a visible role with local and company leadership
• Operate in a small, collaborative team environment (Facility headcount is 200+)
• Stable, mission-critical work supporting national defense programs (current clearance not required)
• Permanent position with competitive salary and benefits

Our client is looking for an early-career Engineering lead (must have experience leading others) to join a growing manufacturing operation at their Camden Arkansas location. They are a leading manufacturer of defense systems.

In this role, you will serve as the technical authority for an engineering group within an Integrated Product Team, leading 2-3 direct reports. Ready to own your area of responsibility and run it like your own business, including balancing team development, cost improvement and operational excellence in a fast-paced, safety-critical environment.

• 3 – 5 years of experience in a manufacturing plant environment; defense/aerospace manufacturing experience preferred.
• Prior experience managing direct reports or leading a team. This is not an individual contributor role.
• Demonstrated safety-first mindset. Experience with hazardous materials or energetic/pyrotechnic systems is a plus.
• Strong proficiency in Excel is a must, working knowledge of Power BI is a strong plus and Power Automate is a bonus.
• Must be a US Citizen and able to pass a Federal background check and obtain required security clearances (ITAR/CUI).
• Lean Six Sigma background preferred

• Serve as primary technical point of contact for your Integrated product team, coordinating engineering efforts across design, process and automation.
• Lead and mentor team members, including Industrial Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer and other Technical Staff.
• Maintain rigorous documentation and record-keeping standards for projects, expectations and performance tracking.
• Own value stream mapping and lead Kaizen events to identify and eliminate sources of defects, waste and inefficiencies.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective action for process, product and lot acceptance failures; working closely with Quality to ensure rapid, sustainable resolutions.
• Analyze production metrics and trends (first-pass yield, scrap, throughput, cost per unit, OEE) to identify KPIs, risks and improvement opportunities.
• Present regular status reporting to leadership.
• Identify, define and vet your own productivity improvement and cost-savings projects. Responsibility spans beyond implementing projects that come in.
• Manage Cap Ex budget and cost-savings target for your area and drive meaningful productivity gains relative to team cost.
• Review and audit manufacturing procedures for technical feasibility and program alignment.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Quality, Safety, Production and Maintenance peers as part of an integrated leadership team.