Engineering Team Lead

Engineering Team Leader

*Must be US Citizen, permanent resident, Green Card holder.

Our client is a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced equipment and technologies serving the plastics and packaging industries. They are seeking an Engineering Team Leader to lead a multidisciplinary design team responsible for the development of new products and technologies.

This position will provide both technical and people leadership, guiding engineering projects from early concept development through design, validation, and product release. The ideal candidate brings strong hands-on design engineering experience combined with the ability to lead projects, develop engineers, manage resources, and drive a disciplined product development process.

The Engineering Team Leader will play a key role in creating an innovative engineering environment while ensuring projects are delivered on schedule, within budget, and to a high standard of quality.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering & Product Development

• Lead the engineering design team through the complete new product development lifecycle, from concept through product release.
• Support product definition, requirements development, specifications, project scope, and customer/market requirements.
• Lead concept development, technical evaluation, and recommendation of design solutions.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks through lessons learned, historical service issues, risk assessments, and formal design reviews.
• Provide system-level design leadership with strong attention to engineering detail, quality, and established design standards.
• Lead engineering analysis using hand calculations, spreadsheets, CAE/FEA, and other engineering tools.
• Oversee design execution and ensure engineering documentation meets required quality standards.
• Develop and coordinate product validation plans.
• Ensure appropriate design documentation and engineering records are maintained throughout development.
• Lead preparation for product release and commercialization.

Team Leadership & Development

• Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, mentoring, and technical direction to engineering team members.
• Establish challenging goals and development plans while providing engineers with opportunities to expand their technical and leadership capabilities.
• Participate in interviewing, hiring, onboarding, performance management, and employee development.
• Build a collaborative and innovative engineering environment.
• Encourage open communication across engineering, manufacturing, sales, service, and other functional teams.
• Conduct regular design reviews, project planning meetings, and team prioritization sessions.
• Develop and maintain a high-performing engineering team focused on quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Project & Resource Management

• Develop project plans, resource requirements, schedules, and budgets.
• Estimate engineering effort and project costs.
• Proactively monitor project status, budgets, timelines, and resource utilization.
• Identify project risks and implement mitigation plans when necessary.
• Communicate project and team status, risks, and opportunities to engineering leadership and senior management.
• Ensure projects consistently meet time, cost, quality, and performance objectives.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives through metrics, root-cause analysis, lessons learned, and implementation of corrective actions.

Cross-Functional Support

• Partner with Sales and Service teams to provide technical support and resolve customer-related engineering issues.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and other functions throughout the product development process.
• Translate customer and market requirements into practical engineering solutions.
• Provide technical leadership during customer, supplier, and internal discussions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related engineering discipline preferred.
• Approximately 5 years of engineering experience with hands-on product/design engineering experience.
• Previous experience providing technical leadership or team leadership within an engineering environment.
• Strong understanding of structured product development and stage-gate processes.
• Strong knowledge of engineering design principles and supporting engineering disciplines.
• Experience with engineering analysis, including CAE/FEA, calculations, modeling, or simulation tools.
• Strong project management and time-management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize work, allocate resources, delegate responsibilities, and manage multiple projects.
• Strong decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.
• Excellent verbal, written, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Previous experience with project management, new product development, or commercialization is highly valued.
• Experience with quality methodologies, design reviews, risk analysis, or DFMEA/QFD is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and develop engineering talent.
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail.
• Adaptable and comfortable managing changing priorities in a fast-paced engineering environment.
• High level of integrity, accountability, and professionalism.

What You'll Bring

The successful candidate will be a hands-on engineering leader who can move comfortably between technical problem-solving, project management, and people leadership. This person should be capable of challenging design decisions, developing engineers, coordinating across departments, and keeping complex product-development initiatives moving toward successful commercialization.

Leadership experience is preferred, but strong technical engineers with demonstrated project leadership and mentoring experience will also be considered.