Tooling Engineer

With more than 100 years of experience, Sika is a worldwide innovation and sustainability leader in the development and production of systems and products for commercial and residential construction, as well as the transportation, marine, automotive, and renewable energy manufacturing industries.

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a globally leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protection in the building sector and industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 103 countries around the world, produces in over 400 factories, and develops innovative technologies for customers worldwide. In doing so, it plays a crucial role in enabling the transformation of the construction and transportation industries toward greater environmental compatibility.

Approximately 33,000 employees generated CHF 11.20 billion in sales in 2025.

Position Summary

The Tooling Engineer specifies, sources, and approves all new production injection mold tooling for parts designed by the automotive application engineering group, and supports those tools from kickoff through launch and into production. The role centers on complex multi-shot tooling, including 2-shot and 3-shot rotary and index molds, run on 500 to 1,300 ton presses. The Tooling Engineer works with design engineering, process engineering, quality, and a network of domestic and international tool shops to deliver tools that make parts to print, on time and on budget.

In the plant, the Tooling Engineer partners with the tooling supervisor, tooling technicians, tool setters, and molding operators to provide technical oversight of production molds and resolve tooling issues.

The plant runs 2-shot and 3-shot rotary and index molds, family tools, and valve gate, thermal gate, and cold runner manifold systems on presses ranging from 500 to 1,300 tons. Most parts are molded in nylon and Sika proprietary materials.

The Tooling Engineer typically manages 20 or more new tool builds and 10 or more engineering changes or repairs at the same time, working with tool shops in Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Canada, China, and Portugal.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

New tool development and launch

• Review all injection molded part design concepts with design engineering for tooling feasibility, cavitation, and manufacturability, and recommend part and tool design changes.
• Develop tooling estimates covering cost, timing, cavitation, and press size based on program needs, and solicit, compare, and recommend tool shop quotes.
• Participate in part and tool design reviews to reach final designs capable of meeting customer requirements.
• Kick off and track all new injection mold tooling, lead tool design reviews with tool shops, approve tool design details, and ensure Sika molding standards are applied.
• Set up and attend molding trials at domestic and international tool shops and in the plant; review tool and part dimensional layouts and drive corrections to tooling and process discrepancies until the tool produces parts to print.
• Partner with process engineering on the setup, verification, and launch of all new injection mold tools, including support of customer part approval (PPAP) requirements.
• Serve on program launch teams and report tooling status, issues, timing, and cost to team members.
• Manage 20 or more tool builds at the same time from kickoff through production, and track tooling spend against quotes and program budgets.

Engineering changes and production tooling support

• Manage engineering changes (ECs) to existing tools, including scope, quoting, tool shop coordination, trial, and approval.
• Provide technical oversight of production molds, working with the tooling supervisor, tooling technicians, tool setters, and molding operators.
• Assist process engineering and production in troubleshooting current production tools; determine, schedule, track, and confirm the results of corrective actions.
• Input and maintain the history of all mold maintenance and repairs on assigned tools, and use that history to guide repair, refurbishment, and replacement decisions.
• Apply lessons learned from production tooling performance (downtime, scrap, repair trends) to the design of new tools.

Standards and continuous improvement

• Develop and update Sika tooling standards as part of the tooling group.
• Identify and implement current tooling technologies and techniques that improve tool performance, cost, or lead time.
• Follow…