Midea America Corp., is one of the world’s largest home appliance brands, offering the most comprehensive selection of products in the world to fully serve the needs of day-to-day living at home, at work, or anywhere else you go. In North America we strive to aim high, put the customer first, transform and innovate the marketplace, utilizing our commitment, dedication, inclusion, and partnership with our teams. Midea America is a subsidiary of the Midea Group, a global company with over 150,000 employees and operations in more than 195 countries. As a publicly listed company, we are ranked #245 as a Fortune Global 500 company and offer one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry.

Job Summary 

This new position will lead all product safety and field return activities for the Residential Air Conditioning team – including the Retail AC team and the Unitary/Ductless AC team. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of R&D and product safety experience, preferably in consumer products/appliances/HVAC segments. This candidate will work closely with the R&D teams regarding product safety – including field surveillance, root cause analysis, product safety training, and third-party safety regulatory requirements (i.e., UL, CSA, etc.) This is a full-time position. Some domestic and international travel is required.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Monitor reports of safety allegations from multiple streams of data.
• Develop a new and improved database system to track all reported safety allegations.
• Establish a new field return lab to investigate product safety allegations related to all Residential Air-Conditioning products.
• Work closely with the quality organization to determine which units to return to the lab for further evaluation. 
• Work with external forensic investigators, on allegations associated with property damage beyond the product, to understand the narrative of the event and findings from both scene and lab exams. 
• Travel to third party lab and/or scene exams as needed to investigate safety allegations resulting in property damage, to determine cause and origin of the event. 
• Summarize and report out findings from all streams of data on a monthly and/or ad hoc basis. 
• Provide insights and feedback to R&D team regarding construction and testing requirements for future products under development.
• Be a champion to further establish and define product safety processes and procedures for the team to follow.
• Lead product safety training for an international team of engineers on an annual basis.
• Mentor other engineers regarding product safety best practices
• Manage various action items & day-to-day communication with various internal/external parties – including local engineering team, international teams, legal department, investigators, etc.
• Develop a thorough understanding of existing and upcoming safety regulation changes affecting these products.
• Work with the R&D teams to ensure future compliance & that the necessary design work is being achieved to meet regulations.
• Be a hands-on engineer who can work in the lab to test units and root cause failures.
• Maintain excellent communication with global colleagues – including taking occasional weekend/evening calls or meetings, helping track project milestones, deliverables, action items, etc.
• Ability to travel domestically & internationally.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, preferably Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering
• 5-7 years’ engineering experience, preferably in consumer electronics/appliances/HVAC segments
• Extensive experience investigating insurance claims & failure modes specific to Retail AC products (including PTACs, Portable ACs, Window ACs, Dehumidifiers)
• Awareness of dehumidifier recall constructions and failure modes.
• Knowledge of arc tracking failure modes and experience testing PCB designs to limit the propagation of such failure modes.
• A general understanding & familiarity with the construction of heat pump water heaters
• Experience conducting forced failure testing, including NiCr wire, locked rotor, and UL flammability testing.
• Goal-oriented & self-managed
• Excellent communication & organization skills
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative team-environment.
• Be a self-starter with excellent organizational skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in engineering, preferably Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering
• Direct product safety experience in consumer electronics/appliances/HVAC segments
• Certified Fire & Explosion Investigator (CFEI)
• EPA 608 certified
• History of collaborating with global colleagues