Engineer

Engineer - Manufacturing Leadership Development Associate

Build Your Career in Manufacturing Leadership

A growing manufacturing organization is seeking an early-career professional interested in developing into a future operations leader. This structured development opportunity combines hands-on plant experience, cross-functional training, improvement projects, and progressive leadership responsibility. Our client is interested in recent graduates who have degrees in engineering, business, operations management, or similar degrees that translate to a manufacturing business.

You will learn how a manufacturing facility operates from the production floor outward, gaining exposure to production management, equipment reliability, quality, safety, engineering, and continuous improvement. As your knowledge develops, you will begin assisting with team coordination and serving as backup support for frontline supervisors.

What You’ll Do

Manufacturing Operations

• Support daily production activities and help the team achieve output, quality, efficiency, and safety goals
• Observe manufacturing processes, recognize potential problems, and communicate concerns to the appropriate leaders
• Assist with production priorities, labor coordination, scheduling, and workflow
• Develop a working knowledge of plant procedures, operating standards, and performance expectations
• Track operational measures such as equipment effectiveness, production output, scrap, downtime, and throughput

Leadership Development

• Help coordinate daily assignments and reinforce production priorities with employees
• Support frontline leaders with shift communication, workflow management, and team problem-solving
• Provide backup coverage for supervisors and team leads as experience and readiness increase
• Assist with new-employee onboarding and training
• Participate in discussions involving team performance, safety, quality, and productivity
• Build the communication, judgment, and accountability needed to lead a manufacturing team

Continuous Improvement

• Participate in Lean, Six Sigma, and other process-improvement efforts
• Evaluate workflows and identify opportunities to reduce waste, delays, downtime, and production losses
• Help investigate operational problems and develop practical solutions
• Support improvement projects from initial analysis through implementation and follow-up

Equipment and Maintenance Support

• Partner with maintenance personnel to address equipment problems and production interruptions
• Gain exposure to basic equipment troubleshooting and preventive maintenance practices
• Assist with equipment upgrades, new installations, and manufacturing process changes
• Coordinate communication among operations, maintenance, and engineering teams

Quality, Safety, and Compliance

• Reinforce established product-quality and process-control requirements
• Participate in root-cause investigations and corrective-action activities
• Promote safe work practices and demonstrate personal accountability on the production floor
• Assist with workplace inspections, safety reviews, and hazard-identification efforts
• Help ensure operating activities align with internal policies and applicable requirements

Development Opportunities

The program provides a combination of:

• Rotational experience across key plant functions
• Formal and hands-on leadership development
• Mentorship from manufacturing professionals
• Cross-functional project experience
• Increasing responsibility based on performance
• Progressive exposure to frontline supervision

Successful associates may be prepared for future opportunities in:

• Production supervision
• Manufacturing department leadership
• Plant and operations management
• Manufacturing or process engineering
• Continuous improvement leadership

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, operations management, business, manufacturing, or a related discipline
• Interest in building a long-term career within manufacturing operations
• Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving abilities
• Willingness to work directly within a plant environment and learn production processes firsthand
• Ability to collaborate with employees and leaders across multiple departments
• Comfortable taking initiative, accepting feedback, and assuming greater responsibility over time
• Previous manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, internship, co-op, or leadership experience is helpful but not required

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is curious, dependable, and comfortable balancing technical learning with people leadership. This opportunity is well suited for a recent graduate or early-career professional who wants broad exposure to manufacturing and a defined path toward greater operational responsibility.