Global Product Engineering Director

* Drive the engineering lifecycle for new and existing physical products, ensuring robust design, testing, validation, and technical delivery.
* Translate strategic product innovation priorities into clear engineering roadmaps, plans, and work streams aligned with organisational outcomes.
* Lead global engineering teams across product categories, providing coaching, direction, and support to deliver consistently high‑quality outputs.
* Oversee global testing and experimentation activities, ensuring appropriate test design, accurate data collection, and rigorous technical analysis.
* Manage escalations related to technical decisions, resource constraints, and operational challenges, ensuring continuity and delivery of engineering programmes.
* Partner with commercial, marketing, operations, and strategy teams to deliver customer‑focused solutions and support collaborative innovation projects.
* Manage engineering budgets, optimising utilisation of internal resources and external partners, including suppliers, consultancies, and test facilities.
* Strengthen engineering governance by defining success metrics, ensuring high‑quality reporting, and promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams and regions.
* ** Strategic alignment & planning:
** Support the Global Head of Product Innovation and GPI Category Leads in strategic directions and goals; convert GPI outcomes into actionable engineering plans, deliverables, success metrics, and governance (in partnership with GPI Product Operations).
* ** Lifecycle ownership:
** Drive the end‑to‑end development of new and existing
** physical products**, ensuring market fit, sustainability impact, commercial viability, and compliance with standards.
* ** Innovation & collaboration:
** Foster a high‑performing, innovative culture across engineering, testing, product operations, Sales, Marketing, and Leadership; accelerate growth via experimentation, rapid prototyping, and data‑driven decision‑making.
* ** Engineering leadership:
** Line‑manage engineers across
** Core and Specialty
** categories; set clear objectives, remove impediments, resolve technical and resource escalations, and coach for performance.
* ** Metrics & performance:
** Define engineering success metrics aligned to overall GPI outcomes; monitor and report progress, risks, and course‑corrections.
* ** Program & facility leadership:
** Lead the global product innovation support team and facility (IC), acting as a role model in program management of critical technical programs for product development, testing, and experimentation.
* ** Global programs & delivery:
** Lead complex global engineering programs; supervise personnel and ensure on‑time delivery of diverse mechanical engineering and testing work streams.
* ** Capacity expansion:
** Grow GPI capacity in innovation—product launches, testing throughput, and external collaboration—to meet strategic demand.
* ** Customer impact:
** Partner with CHEP Sales, Marketing, and Leadership to scope and deliver customer projects at the Innovation Center from definition through execution, ensuring measurable value.
* ** Global collaboration:
** Manage and collaborate across countries; delegate effectively and contribute directly to cross‑functional teams.
* ** Budget ownership:
** Manage and optimize budgets for
** Innovation Center (IC)
** and
** Product Testing Team (PTT)**; track spend, ROI, and value creation.
* ** Talent management:
** Develop engineers and support staff; drive succession planning, skills growth, and engagement.
* ** Data leadership:
** Establish core data collection and reporting for product design and testing; ensure high‑quality technical documentation and traceability.
* ** External partnerships:
** Collaborate seamlessly with external engineering service providers for specialized analyses, testing, and scale-up.
* ** Test program development:
** Define robust test programs—select the right tests, sample sizes, timelines, resources, and budget requirements.
* Bachelor’s degree in
** Mechanical Engineering
** preferred, Master’s in Engineering beneficial.
* 3+ years managing technical staff.
* Demonstrated strength in
** data analysis**, experimental…