Production Engineering Manager

We are seeking an experienced Production Engineering Manager to lead manufacturing engineering, maintenance, tooling, and facilities functions within a high-volume automotive manufacturing environment. This role is responsible for optimizing manufacturing systems, equipment, tooling, automation, and plant infrastructure while driving safety, quality, productivity, reliability, and continuous improvement.

• Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate Production Engineering personnel.
• Provide strategic direction for Production Engineering, Maintenance, Tool & Die, and Facilities functions.
• Establish departmental objectives, performance metrics, and development plans.
• Build a high-performance culture focused on safety, quality, delivery, cost, and continuous improvement.
• Develop succession plans, technical capabilities, and workforce development programs.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives focused on operational efficiency, equipment uptime, cost reduction, and plant competitiveness.

• Direct engineering activities supporting HVAC and automotive manufacturing operations.
• Oversee injection molding, automated and manual assembly, leak testing, functional testing, vision inspection, and robotic manufacturing systems.
• Develop, validate, and improve manufacturing processes to meet customer and operational requirements.
• Drive improvements in cycle time, scrap reduction, labor efficiency, machine utilization, and equipment reliability.
• Support process engineering, automation, and manufacturing technology initiatives.

• Direct maintenance, tooling, skilled trades, and facilities operations across all shifts.
• Establish preventive, predictive, and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programs.
• Improve equipment reliability, uptime, OEE, asset life-cycle performance, and maintenance response.
• Oversee tooling design support, maintenance, repairs, refurbishment, and production readiness.
• Manage facility systems including electrical, HVAC, compressed air, water systems, building infrastructure, and utilities.
• Lead troubleshooting of critical equipment, tooling, and facility issues.
• Manage contractors, equipment suppliers, and service providers.

• Lead manufacturing readiness activities for new product launches and engineering changes.
• Support APQP activities, including PFMEA, Process Flow Diagrams, Control Plans, Capacity Studies, Run-at-Rate activities, and production validation.
• Manage equipment procurement, tooling readiness, process validation, ramp-up, and launch timing.
• Coordinate launch activities with customers, suppliers, and internal teams.

• Lead root cause analysis and corrective actions for production, quality, and equipment issues.
• Monitor KPIs such as OEE, first-pass yield, throughput, downtime, MTBF, and MTTR.
• Lead Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, TPM, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Implement manufacturing best practices and appropriate Industry 4.0 technologies.
• Drive plant-wide cost reduction and process improvement projects.

• Develop and manage engineering operating and capital budgets.
• Prepare capital expenditure requests and equipment justifications.
• Lead the specification, sourcing, installation, and commissioning of production equipment and automation systems.
• Manage capital projects to ensure completion on schedule and within budget.
• Plan equipment utilization and production capacity according to business requirements.
• Develop capital investment strategies for automation, equipment modernization, infrastructure, and capacity expansion.

• Support compliance with IATF 16949, ISO 14001, customer-specific requirements, and internal standards.
• Ensure manufacturing processes meet quality, traceability, and process capability requirements.
• Support customer and internal audits and corrective action activities.
• Ensure engineering activities comply with EHS requirements.
• Lead risk assessments for new processes, equipment, and tooling.
• Support safe manufacturing systems and ergonomic improvements.

• Partner with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Maintenance, and Design Engineering.
• Coordinate engineering activities to ensure production capacity, equipment readiness, and workforce capability meet customer demand.
• Coordinate maintenance shutdowns, facility projects, and major equipment installations.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Plastics Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive manufacturing or production engineering experience in an automotive manufacturing environment.
• Alternatively, an advanced degree with approximately 8+ years of relevant experience.
• 5–8 years of leadership experience managing engineering personnel and manufacturing projects.
• Demonstrated experience leading Production…