Launch Engineer

Your Job

As a Launch Engineer, you will lead the successful transition of new product designs from development into production by driving manufacturing readiness, launch execution, process validation, and issue resolution activities. This role provides technical guidance and leadership during new product launches, helping design centers and manufacturing plants successfully support plants and customers through NPI and production ramp-up.

You will serve as a key technical interface between Product Design Engineering, Development Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Operations, customer-facing teams, and global manufacturing teams. You will help bridge product design knowledge, test knowledge, customer application requirements, and manufacturing process capability so the team can reliably deliver new products on time and with strong launch performance.

The Launch Engineer is part of the Product Development Engineering organization and works closely with Design Engineering, Development Engineering, plant launch teams, manufacturing engineering, quality, testing, ASQE, and global manufacturing stakeholders. The team bridges design intent with manufacturing execution and ensures lessons learned from launch and ramp-up are transferred back into future designs and development processes.

• Lead plant launch readiness reviews and coordinate cross-functional launch readiness activities.
• Provide real-time technical support and communication between the design center and manufacturing plants during launch and ramp-up.
• Drive structured problem solving and issue resolution for manufacturing yield, quality, testing, and process-related concerns during launch including escalation to management
• Develop and work through Design of Experiments (DOE) to isolate process variables, improve manufacturability, and optimize launch performance.
• Perform statistical analysis of process data to identify trends, isolate issues, evaluate process capability, and verify corrective actions.
• Evaluate dimensional and functional risk when reviewing out-of-specification conditions, deviations, and manufacturing issues.
• Collect, analyze, and interpret manufacturing, quality, and test data to support data-driven decisions.
• Partner with Design Engineering and Development Engineering to transfer lessons learned and improve future product designs, test plans, and manufacturing readiness.
• Support continuous improvement activities focused on First Pass Yield, ramp-up performance, launch KPIs, quality, delivery, cost, and productivity.
• Support DFMEA, PFMEA, Control Plans, process validation, and other risk mitigation activities.

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in electro-mechanical product design, manufacturing experience, quality experience and development with proven technical leadership
• Experience applying structured problem-solving and root cause analysis methods to resolve technical issues.
• Experience with products manufactured using all the following processes: progressive die stamping, injection molding, die casting, plating, laser welding, soldering and insert molding.
• Strong understanding of engineering tools including FEA, GD&T or Tolerance Analysis.
• Effective communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical information to diverse audiences, including non-technical stakeholders, to drive actionable outcomes.
• Ability to travel internationally to support plant launches, manufacturing readiness reviews, ramp-up activities, and cross-functional issue resolution up to 40% of the time.

• Experience supporting high-volume manufacturing launches or production ramp-up in a plant environment.
• Experience developing and launching products at Automotive Tier 1 / 2 suppliers
• Experience with DFMEA, PFMEA, Control Plans, APQP, PPAP, process validation, or related launch quality systems.
• Experience creating, executing, and interpreting DOE studies.
• Knowledge of statistical analysis, process capability, yield analysis, and manufacturing data analytics.
• Experience with Measurement System Analysis, Gage R&R, and measurement process validation.
• Experience with connector, interconnect, electronic, electromechanical, or precision manufacturing processes.
• Experience collaborating with global manufacturing teams and cross-regional launch stakeholders.
• Quality or continuous…