Director of Engineering and Technical Sales

Mission

The Director of Engineering & Technical Sales is a key member of the San Leandro leadership team, responsible for shaping and executing the site’s technical vision across product engineering, process engineering, quality engineering, and customer‑facing technical initiatives. This leader ensures the plant’s technical capabilities, manufacturing processes, and product performance evolve to meet current and future business needs.

The Director partners closely with Sales, Operations, and customers to support continuity of supply, lead new product and process introductions, and strengthen the plant’s competitive position. They champion data‑driven improvement, reduction of scrap and rework, and the development of robust, scalable processes that elevate overall plant performance. Success in this role is measured by contributions to the site’s P&L, long‑term capability building, and the establishment of strategies that position the business for future growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy for the San Leandro site, integrating product, process, and quality engineering into a cohesive, forward‑looking function.
• Use advanced analytical tools (statistical methods, DOE, Six Sigma, mathematical modeling) to identify sources of variation and drive sustainable improvements in product and process performance.
• Oversee engineering programs and cross‑functional technical projects, including new product introduction, customer‑driven initiatives, and internal capability development.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with Sales, Planning, Operations, and customers to ensure alignment on technical requirements, supply continuity, and product performance expectations.
• Strengthen the plant’s process control systems, ensuring data collection, monitoring, and analysis are accurate, effective, and used to drive decision‑making.
• Establish and maintain permanent corrective actions and yield‑improvement systems in collaboration with operations and plant engineering.
• Drive cost‑reduction initiatives across materials, processes, and product design, with a focus on scrap reduction, rework elimination, and variable‑cost improvement.
• Maintain a strong presence on the manufacturing floor, fostering collaboration, building credibility with frontline teams, and ensuring real‑time visibility into process performance.
• Serve as a technical authority for both internal teams and customers, providing expertise on product and process variability, manufacturability, and capability.
• Lead and develop the Process Engineering, Product Engineering, Quality Engineering, and Continuous Improvement teams, ensuring talent growth and alignment with business goals.
• Deliver annual cost‑takeout results equivalent to at least 3x department salary expense through engineering and process improvements.
  
  

Qualifications

• A Bachelor of Science Engineering degree is required, major area of study preferably materials, industrial, or mechanical. Background knowledge in PLC programming, electronics, and statistics desired.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in a technology driven, manufacturing and design industry such as aerospace, telecommunications, electronics, gas turbines or automotive.
• The successful candidate’s career will show increasing levels of responsibility and customer focus with proven cost-reduction projects.
• Proven success in getting team cohesion and performance in achieve an establish business vision across a multi-disciplinary team.
• Assertive, energetic, self-starting, risk-taker with the ability to break through historical barriers and paradigms for out-of-the-box, data driven problem solving techniques.
• Tremendous desire to be an independent change leader by establishing proven results.