Senior Manager of Design Engineering & R&D

Senior Manager of Design Engineering & R&D

Company: Virginia Transformer Corp.

Location: Roanoke, VA

Job Type: Full-Time | On-Site

On the Heels of Achieving 3X Growth, Virginia Transformer Is Hiring to Do It Again!

Virginia Transformer is the largest U.S.-owned manufacturer of power transformers in North America, delivering custom-engineered power solutions to utilities, industrial customers, renewable energy providers, and data centers.

After achieving 3X growth, we are preparing for our next 3X growth cycle, expanding our manufacturing capabilities, strengthening our leadership teams, and investing in the people and processes that will drive our continued success.

With multiple manufacturing facilities across North America and continued investment in additional capacity, Virginia Transformer offers an opportunity to join a rapidly growing organization where accountability, execution, and customer commitment are essential.

We are looking for experienced professionals who thrive in fast-paced, engineered-to-order manufacturing environments and are ready to help drive the next phase of our growth.

One Team. One Mission. One Source.

Position Summary

Lead assigned electrical and/or mechanical design engineering teams responsible for accurate, timely release of customer-specific power transformer designs. The Senior Manager is accountable for engineering execution, technical review, manufacturability, production support, and focused design improvements within established product and R&D priorities. This role works daily with sales engineering, procurement, winding/core and assembly operations, quality, and testing to minimize design errors and avoid production disruptions.

Key Responsibilities

Transformer Design & Technical Review

• Assign and review custom transformer designs against customer specifications, approved exceptions, applicable IEEE/ANSI or IEC requirements, and agreed order scope.
• Coordinate electrical calculations for core/winding configuration, impedance, losses, dielectric insulation, thermal performance, and short-circuit strength with qualified design engineers.
• Oversee mechanical drawings for tanks, cooling arrangements, bushings, lead exits, lifting/transport provisions, clearances, and related assemblies within assigned scope.
• Conduct design and peer reviews on technically complex orders; escalate nonstandard performance commitments or unresolved engineering risks.

Engineering Releases & Factory Support

• Maintain a detailed design-release schedule for calculations, customer approval drawings, manufacturing drawings, BOMs, and engineering changes.
• Verify drawing and BOM accuracy before release for coil winding, core stacking, tank fabrication, active-part assembly, and final assembly.
• Provide fast technical disposition of shop questions, fit-up problems, material substitutions, test abnormalities, and nonconformances with documented approvals.
• Partner with project management and manufacturing planning to protect production starts, identify engineering bottlenecks, and communicate release risks.

Applied R&D & Team Development

• Execute approved product-improvement work on material use, loss performance, insulation systems, design standardization, manufacturing simplicity, and reliability.
• Review factory test results and field feedback to identify design-related root causes and incorporate lessons into calculations, templates, and standards.
• Manage workload, review quality, training, and technical mentoring for assigned engineers and designers.
• Track design cycle times, change causes, shop-floor support requests, and design-originated rework for continuous improvement.

Detailed Design Verification & Customer Compliance

• Review engineering checks for voltage and MVA ratings, winding connections, impedance and loss targets, temperature rise, insulation coordination, BIL, clearances, and short-circuit withstand criteria within assigned product scope.
• Validate that core and winding configurations, tank dimensions, radiator and cooling arrangements, bushing locations, lead routing, clearances, lifting features, and transportation envelope are coordinated between electrical and mechanical designs.
• Track customer drawing approvals and specification clarifications, ensuring approved deviations are recorded and that unapproved changes do not flow into production drawings or purchase specifications.
• Conduct design-review checkpoints before release of winding data, core details, insulation parts, tank fabrication drawings, critical purchased items, and final assembly instructions.

Shop Engineering Support & Design Change Discipline

• Provide timely technical dispositions for coil-winding dimensional differences, core-stack fit-up concerns, lead assembly conflicts, insulation issues, tank interference, and component placement problems raised by the factory.
• Coordinate engineering change notices with planning, procurement, production, quality, and project management; identify affected work orders, purchased materials, labor, testing, and contract commitments.
• Investigate recurring rework and manufacturing deviations linked to unclear drawings, incomplete bills of material, poor tolerancing, or late design decisions; issue standard corrective updates.
• Support testing personnel with technical interpretation of winding resistance, turns ratio, impedance, losses, dielectric tests, and temperature-rise results; escalate design integrity decisions to authorized technical reviewers.

Applied Engineering Improvements & Team Development

• Run targeted validation of alternate conductor, core steel, insulation, cooling, or fabrication approaches using documented design analysis, controlled trials, quality approval, and measurable cost or performance outcomes.
• Use manufacturing and test feedback to prioritize repeatable improvements in winding practices, part commonality, documentation templates, electrical loss prediction, and assembly access.
• Maintain engineering workload and release forecasts by transformer order; prioritize critical-path drawings and assign peer checking so production does not begin with incomplete data.
• Coach design engineers on IEEE/IEC application, transformer calculation and drawing review practices, shop issue resolution, and complete technical records, while reserving major product-platform decisions for engineering leadership.

Documentation & Engineering Capacity

• Maintain order-level drawing lists, design review logs, customer approvals, calculation records, verified bills of material, and issue-specific technical responses.
• Coordinate detailed mechanical and electrical interfaces with factory planning so winding details, tank fabrication, accessories, and insulation components are available before scheduled shop operations.
• Balance design engineer assignments against complex transformer projects, required independent checking, engineering release dates, and shop-floor support requests.
• Prepare regular engineering performance reports on on-time releases, late customer approvals, revision causes, test-related findings, and completion of validated design improvements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical or mechanical engineering.
• 8 years designing power transformers or closely related high-voltage electrical equipment; 3 years in lead or management responsibilities.
• Demonstrated command of transformer design calculations, drawings, BOMs, design reviews, and engineering change control within the assigned discipline.
• Ability to interpret customer electrical specifications and translate design decisions into manufacturable instructions.
• Strong collaboration with manufacturing, quality, test engineering, purchasing, and project management.
• Technical background reviewing transformer or comparable power-equipment drawings and coordinated electrical/mechanical interfaces.
• Experience responding to shop-floor design issues and executing documented engineering change control on customer-specific products.

Preferred Qualifications

• Large liquid-filled power transformer design experience and knowledge of IEEE C57 / IEC 60076 as applicable.
• Exposure to core/winding, mechanical assembly, insulation, thermal analysis, and factory testing.
• Experience with transformer design tools, CAD, and product cost-reduction projects.
• Direct liquid-filled transformer engineering experience involving core/winding designs, thermal/cooling systems, tank layouts, or dielectric insulation.
• Experience with transformer factory test data, drawing approval cycles, and IEEE C57 or IEC 60076 requirements as applicable.

Key Performance Indicators

• On-time manufacturing and customer drawing/BOM releases
• Design-related manufacturing rework and engineering change frequency
• Technical closure time on shop and test issues
• Verified performance of approved design improvements
• Engineering releases achieved before scheduled manufacturing starts
• Shop rework attributable to drawing/BOM error
• Technical issue response and engineering change cycle time

Scope note: Assigned location(s), reporting line, direct reports, delegated authority, and specific performance targets remain subject to executive approval.

Work Location & Expectations

This is a full-time, on-site position based in Roanoke, Virginia. The Senior Manager will work closely with design engineering, manufacturing, quality, testing, procurement, and project management teams.

Why Join Virginia Transformer?

Join Virginia Transformer during our next 3X growth cycle and help strengthen the engineering execution, manufacturing support, and product improvements behind custom power transformer production.