Design Engineer Manager

Akona Process Solutions builds engineered-to-order equipment, which means every job is a little different and the drawings have to be right the first time. We are looking for an Engineering Manager based at our Monroe, NC site to lead the mechanical design engineering team and the site quality function across both our Monroe, NC and Marion and Oskaloosa, IA operations.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will own the timely release of accurate designs, drawings, and Bills of Materials; you will be accountable for product conformance at both sites; and you will be the primary owner of warranty and RMA resolution from the day a claim lands to the day it is closed. You will work through a Quality Lead at each site rather than running inspections yourself — but you will set the priorities, clear the roadblocks, and make the calls that exceed their authority.

If you like solving fabrication problems on the floor as much as you like building a team that can solve them without you, this is a good fit.

What You'll Own The Team

• Lead, mentor, and develop the mechanical design engineering teams and the site Quality Leads at Monroe and Oskaloosa.
• Set clear performance expectations, conduct reviews, and build bench strength through coaching, cross-training, and hiring.
• Make two sites operate as one function — consistent practices, shared priorities, and a communication rhythm that holds up over distance, supported by on-site visits to Oskaloosa roughly every two months.

Design and Documentation

• Review mechanical designs, models, and fabrication drawings against customer requirements, quality standards, cost targets, and design-for-manufacturability principles.
• Ensure accurate, on-time creation and maintenance of BOMs and routings in the ERP system so production scheduling, purchasing, and inventory stay clean.
• Apply and improve engineering design standards, drawing conventions, part numbering, and PDM and engineering change workflows so released documentation is complete, correct, and traceable at both sites.

Quality

• Direct the Quality Leads at both sites, holding each accountable for in-process and final inspection, first-article and pre-shipment inspection, nonconformance and material review, and corrective action — accurately and on schedule.
• Keep quality activities paced with production instead of becoming a constraint on shipment, and step in on disposition decisions that carry significant cost or customer impact.
• Ensure designs and as-built product comply with applicable industry standards, regulatory requirements, customer specifications, and company policy.

Warranty and RMA

• Serve as primary owner for warranty resolution and closure: review incoming claims, task the Quality Leads with inspecting returned parts and capturing evidence, and establish root cause and culpability.
• Coordinate disposition with field service, sales, customer service, and production, and drive each claim to a documented outcome — repair, replacement, credit, or denial — within target cycle time.
• Keep the warranty log current so open items stay visible and aging is actively managed, and convert recurring failures into permanent design, supplier, or process corrective action.

Planning and Performance

• Balance engineering and quality workload across both sites against order intake and production schedules; assign work to meet committed dates and elevate capacity constraints early.
• Manage labor, software, inspection equipment, and outside services within budget.
• Track and report on-time drawing and BOM release, design cycle time, first-pass yield, scrap and rework cost, nonconformance and corrective action closure, and warranty cost, closure cycle time, and open claim aging — and use Pareto analysis to go after the biggest recurring…