Product Development Engineer

Location:

Chattanooga, TN

Type:

Full-time, Exempt

Reports To:

Chief Executive Officer

COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Branch Technology exists to create a beautiful built world, impacting a wide variety of industries including construction, aerospace, logistics, and more. Its patented technology utilizes the power of creative design, software, robotic automation, and lean manufacturing to provide solutions to our diverse customer base. We’re growing and are attracting top talent from all over the world. Our team includes seasoned leaders from 3D printing, software, architecture, robotics, manufacturing, design, material science, and product development.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Product Development Engineer (PDE) will lead Branch’s efforts on two prioritized fronts: primarily (1) moving new products from ideation stage to full commercialization; secondarily (2) find and implement solutions for optimizing and improving existing products and processes. The PDE will enable solutions for new product concepts through the integration of engineering, material science, and manufacturing principles, all with an eye toward long-term company growth and profitability. This team player is tenacious to overcome the many “known-unknowns” and be able to adapt quickly when “unknown-unknowns” arise. The PDE challenges the status quo on a daily basis, digs deep into the “why” with a continuous-improvement mindset, and considers how their work impacts all other areas in the company. We need someone who is an aggressive self-starter and who realizes the sense of urgency that comes with being a steward of nascent technology. This person is attentive to detail and motivated to exceed deadlines because of the greater impact on enterprise value. The best candidate is business-savvy, driven by the reality that the work they and their team does each day catalyzes the company to perform at its best. Most importantly, they exemplify our six core values of humble genius, other centered, relentless execution, designed beauty, intense collaboration, and wise stewardship.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• As a key member of the R&D team, engage in general product and process development that informs the direction of internal product manufacturing workflows through all of Branch’s current and future core manufacturing capabilities.
• Develop and implement the Product Development Roadmap that brings the highest value product to market in the shortest duration of time. This will be developed using market/customer data, collaboration with executives and sales team members, and knowledge of internal capabilities.
• Reach long term product development targets by methodically and consistently defining and executing daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Those goals are defined through intense collaboration that happens in those timeframes and during quarterly retrospectives, and strategic planning sessions.
• Design and engineer prototypes of new products, working from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) phase to scalable commercialization phase.
• Advocate for personnel, tooling, and financial resources needed to complete all tasks even while making progress within the context of current finite resources.
• Research and evaluate appropriate materials and methods for broadly applicable products that apply to wall panels, bespoke architectural products, temporary shelters, and consumer product framing. 
• Coordinate work with outside consultants, send/receive product samples, and correspond/coordinate with testing facilities and vendors to validate design assemblies.
• Work closely with the key internal stakeholders to ensure quality and timely production of test specimens, samples, prototypes, full scale mockups, and project-specific parts.
• Pursue relevant, nationally certified, 3rd party testing and building code certifications from the National Fire Protection Association, American Society for Testing and Materials, etc.
• Work with CFO to create departmental budgets appropriate for departmental goals and within the confines of the overall company budget.
• Participate in the hiring and retention efforts for the R&D team.

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCES:

• 5 years of experience in product development
• Undergraduate degree relevant to this role
• Deep knowledge around sourcing, specifying, qualifying, and costing materials used to make Branch products
• Proficiency with freeform and parametric modeling platforms (e.g. Rhino, Grasshopper, Solidworks, Catia, 3DS Max, Maya, Fusion 360)
• Ability to create design of experiments; read, compile, and provide actionable insight from test information to validate proposed product generations
• Experience with experimental, research-based fabrication methods
• Working knowledge of common workplace applications such as Google Workspace and Adobe Suite
• Excellent professional spoken and written communication skills

PREFERRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCES:

• Advance degree in relevant field of study
• Knowledge of architectural detailing around building systems
• Familiarity with algorithmic design, coding, and/or computer science
• Familiarity with construction means and methods for exterior building systems
• Familiarity with testing and certification methods to bring new architectural building materials to market
• Hands-on experience with building construction 
• Experience managing technical product development teams bringing new products to market