Product Development Engineer

Are you an engineer who loves turning ideas into real products? Do you enjoy taking a problem or opportunity, developing a solution, building prototypes, testing what works, and ultimately seeing your product make it into production?

At The Pond Guy, our Product Development Engineer owns products throughout the development lifecycle, from concept development and mechanical design through prototyping, testing, validation, manufacturing, and production launch.

This is an opportunity for someone who wants more than a traditional CAD or design role. You'll solve practical engineering problems, build and test ideas, collaborate directly with cross-functional teams and suppliers, and see the products you develop being built and used by customers.

The Pond Guy / Airmax, Inc. is the leading manufacturer of pond, lake, and water garden products, including aeration systems, fountains, and water treatments. The Pond Guy sells nationwide to both end-users and a network of Airmax distributors.
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As a Product Development Engineer, you will lead new products from concept through production launch while identifying opportunities to improve existing products. You'll turn customer needs, product opportunities, and engineering challenges into practical solutions that can be built, tested, manufactured, and scaled.

This is a hands‑on role where you'll work across mechanical design, prototyping, testing, validation, supplier collaboration, DFMA, and production readiness. You'll collaborate with cross‑functional teams to balance performance, quality, manufacturability, reliability, cost, and customer needs.

Here’s what that looks like day‑to‑day:

• Own multiple product development projects, leading products from concept through prototype, testing, validation, and production launch
• Work directly with suppliers, contract manufacturers, and external engineering partners to support product development, validation, manufacturability, and production launch
• Serve as technical lead for assigned projects, ensuring strong design execution, manufacturability (DFMA), and production readiness
• Design mechanical components and assemblies in Solid Works, ensuring performance, quality, manufacturability, and cost targets are met
• Lead and facilitate design reviews, ensuring design alignment with performance, quality, and product requirements
• Build and iterate prototypes using in‑house equipment, including a full machine shop and multiple 3D printing machines, performing testing and validation through structured plans and real‑world evaluation
• Improve existing products by using structured problem‑solving, root cause analysis, testing, and competitive benchmarking to improve performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost
• Provide engineering and technical support across multiple business entities and intercompany operations as needed
• Demonstrate ownership, curiosity, and persistence while identifying opportunities for product and process innovation

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means taking ideas beyond the drawing board and turning them into products that work in the real world. You'll move products from concept through successful production launch, develop solutions that balance performance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost, and become a trusted engineering partner across the organization.

You’ll thrive here if you're naturally curious, enjoy getting hands‑on, aren't afraid to test and improve an idea, and take ownership of solving problems from start to finish.

Don’t know about ponds? That’s ok! You’ll be trained to be proficient in your job. We utilize an interactive combination of hands‑on and visual training to ensure everyone has a complete…