Engineering Design Assurance Manager

Engineering Design Assurance Manager – Plymouth, MN
- Hybrid

Join the world's largest HVAC company, named by Forbes as one of America's Best-In-State Employers 2025!

Daikin Applied is seeking an Engineering Design Assurance Manager who will lead the Design Assurance (DA) function to ensure product quality is designed into products from concept through launch. The Manager will own design risk identification, assessment, and reduction by driving requirements quality, design robustness, validation effectiveness, and readiness for manufacturing. They will act as an embedded engineering partner to influence design decisions and ensure products meet performance, reliability, and compliance expectations at launch—not by inspection, but by shaping the design itself.

Come be a part of an exciting journey at Daikin Applied, where innovation and excellence drive our every endeavor!

Location:

Hybrid
- Plymouth, MN

Compliance (Gate Discipline) – Enable Quality Decisions

• Drive execution of NPI gate processes (DDR, ORR, BCRR) to ensure decisions are based on objective evidence
• Ensure deliverables are complete, accurate, and reflect true risk status—not checklist compliance
• Surface risks, gaps, and mitigation plans to support informed go/no-go decisions
• Act as a decision support partner for quality readiness, not a downstream gate inspector

Requirements Quality (Upstream Alignment) – Own "What Good Looks Like"

• Own requirements quality across programs, ensuring clarity, completeness, testability, and traceability
• Establish and enforce linkage between customer needs, system requirements, and engineering specifications
• Implement closed-loop feedback mechanisms (e.g., HQR) from validation, manufacturing, and field performance into requirements
• Ensure requirements are fully integrated into DFMEA and validation planning

Design Robustness (Engineering Design Quality) – Own Design Risk

• Own DFMEA quality, completeness, and effectiveness across all programs
• Ensure system understanding through boundary diagrams, interface analysis, and functional composition
• Lead identification, prioritization, and mitigation of design risks before design freeze
• Challenge assumptions, failure modes, and engineering trade-offs to improve robustness
• Drive use of modeling, simulation, and analytical methods to reduce risk early in development

Validation Effectiveness (Prove It Works) – Own Evidence of Performance

• Own validation strategy and ensure alignment to requirements and identified risks
• Ensure DVP&R provides adequate coverage of critical requirements, use conditions, and failure modes
• Evaluate validation results to confirm product performance, reliability, and safety
• Drive closure of validation gaps prior to key decision points
• Ensure validation demonstrates real-world use conditions, not just lab compliance

Manufacturing Readiness (Execution Risk) – Ensure Design Transfers Cleanly

• Ensure alignment between design intent and manufacturing controls (PFMEA, Control Plans)
• Partner with Operations and Quality to confirm critical risks are mitigated prior to launch
• Support pilot builds, ECS/MCS, and Safe Launch activities to validate production readiness
• Ensure learning from manufacturing and field issues is driven back into design and requirements

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Embed within engineering teams to influence design decisions from concept through launch
• Partner with Product Management, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality to align on risk and performance expectations
• Drive accountability for design quality across teams—not centralized within Design Assurance
• Lead structured, risk-based discussions in design and readiness reviews

Metrics & Continuous Improvement

• Define and manage leading indicators tied to:
• Requirements quality
• DFMEA effectiveness (risk identification and closure)
• Validation coverage and gap closure
• Launch readiness risk
• Use data to proactively identify design risks and drive early corrective actions
• Continuously improve Design Assurance methods, tools, and integration into NPI processes

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 6+ years of experience in product development, design…