Director of Engineering

The Director of Engineering provides strategic leadership for manufacturing engineering and quality across a multi-plant manufacturing organization. This role partners closely with executive leadership to drive scalable growth, operational consistency, and long-term capital strategy. The ideal candidate comes from a growth-minded manufacturing environment, is company-goal-oriented, and serves as a voice of reason, coaching both technical teams and senior leadership.

This leader is responsible for building and advancing engineering and quality processes, procedures, and quality management systems, while aligning automation, material movement, and production flow to ensure manufacturing consistency. The role oversees capital planning and execution, ensuring investments are supported by sound ROI analysis and clear executive-level recommendations.

This role is ideal for a strategic engineering leader who can balance vision with execution, coach teams through change, and influence capital and operational decisions at the highest levels of the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute manufacturing engineering and quality strategy aligned with company growth objectives.
• Lead, mentor, and coach engineering and quality teams, fostering accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
• Build, standardize, and scale quality processes, procedures, and quality management systems across multiple plants.
• Drive automation, production scheduling, and material movement strategies to improve throughput, consistency, and lead times.
• Lead capital project planning and execution, including feasibility analysis, ROI modeling, and C-level presentations to support investment decisions.
• Partner with executive leadership to translate business objectives into technical roadmaps, priorities, and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and track KPIs for engineering, quality, and operational performance.
• Support advanced troubleshooting, process optimization, layout improvements, and waste elimination initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, safety, and quality standards across all manufacturing sites.

Ideal Background

• Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or related discipline.
• 10 years of manufacturing engineering experience within a growth-oriented manufacturing company.
• Proven experience building and leading engineering and quality organizations in multi-plant environments.
• Demonstrated success designing and implementing quality systems, standard work, and process controls.
• Strong experience with automation, manufacturing flow, scheduling, and material movement.
• Executive-level stakeholder experience, including capital strategy research, ROI justification, and board or C-suite presentations.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance technical rigor with financial and strategic priorities.
• Expertise in Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies.