What are the responsibilities and job description for the Innovation & Design Engineer-Cooking Appliances position at Midea?
Cooking Appliances -Innovation & Design Engineer
Midea America Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary within Midea Group, the Fortune 500 giant known for making life easier for millions around the globe. As the world’s top maker of home appliances, Midea is proud of its 166,000 employees and presence in 200 countries, including here in the U.S.
Headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., with an innovation hub in Louisville, Kentucky, Midea America provides practical innovations that surprise and delight, creating moments to cherish at home.
Midea's lineup of appliances - from refrigerators to air conditioners, laundry solutions and floor care are high quality, reliable, and affordable. By thoughtfully engineering performance, convenience, and design into every product, Midea delivers on the promise of every appliance.
Job Summary
This role is responsible for leading the design, testing, and implementation of innovative ideas, concepts, and products. It involves proposing novel solutions, identifying and addressing customer pain points, and creating compelling value propositions to enhance Midea’s cooking appliance portfolio.
Success in this position requires close collaboration with cross-functional teams including engineering, consumer insights, manufacturing, quality, and product management, to drive continuous improvements in product structure, features, components, and performance.
The role also entails driving solutions from ideation through to mass production and product launch, with a focus on the North American market.
Essential Job Responsibilities
- Lead the development of innovative concepts directly applicable to cooking appliances such as free-standing ranges, wall ovens, combi ovens, microwaves, and toaster ovens.
- Identify and address unmet customer needs, competitor gaps, and market opportunities to design and propose new systems, features, or appliances that enhance Midea’s product competitiveness.
- Validate concepts through prototype design, fabrication, laboratory testing, and detailed 3D modeling to ensure seamless integration into product roadmaps.
- Support product development from ideation through mass production, including 3D modeling, detailed drawings, supplier selection, testing, and close collaboration with manufacturing and R&D teams.
- Develop and implement standardized testing procedures to improve product validation and quality documentation.
- Actively contribute to the development and revision of industry standards in partnership with Quality and R&D teams, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations (e.g., AHAM, DOE, CPSC, UL, CSA).
- Collaborate cross-functionally with internal teams and external partners to ensure product quality, regulatory compliance, and customer satisfaction throughout the product lifecycle.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electromechanical Engineering or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
- 3 to 5 years of relevant industry experience in Electric and Gas major cooking appliances.
- Strong background in detailed component and system design, particularly within cooking appliances.
- Strong experience on 3D modeling design software (CREO, SOLID WORKS, ETC), use of finite element analysis is a plus.
- Hands-on attitude, with qualified testing experience for cooking appliances to comply with UL-858 and ANSI Z21.1, etc.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Chinese (Mandarin) language proficiency is a plus.
- Willingness to travel: up to 25% of time domestically and international.
Feature Benefits
- Insurance package.
- 401(k).
- Work life balance.
- Comprehensive benefit package, to learn more, please visit Careers Page (midea.com).
Midea America Corp. is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
