Tooling Shift Leader

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Tooling Shift Leader for a temp-to-hire opportunity in Buffalo, NY. This role is ideal for a hands-on tooling professional with strong injection mold maintenance experience and the leadership ability to guide technicians in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

The Tooling Shift Leader will oversee mold maintenance activities, support production uptime, coordinate technician work, and help drive improvements in tooling reliability, safety, quality, and process efficiency. This is a strong opportunity for someone who enjoys solving technical problems, mentoring others, and working with precision tooling in a stable production setting.

Candidates can expect a team-focused environment with supportive leadership, opportunities to build technical and leadership skills, and a culture centered on safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and support tooling technicians in mold troubleshooting, safe work practices, equipment knowledge, and hands-on skill development.
• Coordinate and perform injection mold maintenance, mold changes, inspections, repairs, preventative maintenance, and production floor troubleshooting.
• Support tooling readiness for production needs, new project launches, equipment improvements, and process optimization initiatives.
• Maintain accurate tooling records, work orders, downtime logs, mold histories, inventory information, and shift handover documentation.
• Manage parts ordering, spare tooling inventory, cleaning supplies, and tooling-related cost improvement opportunities.
• Promote compliance with safety, quality, food safety, environmental, lockout/tagout, and maintenance standards.

Compensation and Benefits

• Pay rate: $29 to $31 per hour.
• Job type: Temp-to-hire.
• Location: Buffalo, NY.
• Work environment: Onsite manufacturing and production setting.

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Lead tooling shift activities and coordinate work assignments for tooling technicians.
• Perform injection mold troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, inspection, and mold change activities.
• Support preventative and predictive maintenance programs to reduce downtime and improve tooling reliability.
• Communicate tooling status, production issues, corrective actions, and shift priorities to maintenance leadership and production teams.
• 3 to 5 years of experience in mold troubleshooting and repair, injection molding, tooling maintenance, or a related manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of injection molds, hot runner systems, close-tolerance components, mold cavitation, and injection molding process troubleshooting.
• Ability to use or support machine shop equipment such as lathes, mills, surface grinders, measurement tools, and basic injection molding machine functions.
• Competency in several technical areas such as blueprint reading, pneumatics, hydraulics, mechanical principles, metal fabrication, basic math, and machine shop practices.
• Basic rigging skills for handling assembled molds and mold plates.
• Working knowledge of computerized maintenance management systems.
• Basic computer skills for documentation, recordkeeping, and maintenance tracking.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to lead shift handovers and communicate priorities clearly.
• Strong commitment to safety, quality, housekeeping, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Preferred Qualifications

• Technical college diploma in a related field or industrial trade license.
• Experience in an ISO or similar quality system environment.
• Experience in an SQF or similar food safety system environment.
• Basic welding skills.
• Knowledge of geometry, trigonometry, or mechanical calculations.
• Prior experience leading or mentoring tooling technicians in a manufacturing or injection molding environment.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disabled / Protected Veterans

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For temporary assignments lasting 13 weeks or longer, AppleOne is pleased to offer major medical, dental, vision, 401k and any statutory sick pay where required.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact your staffing representative who will reach out to our HR team.

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We also consider for employment qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements, including, if applicable, the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. Pursuant to applicable state and municipal Fair Chance Laws and Ordinances, we will consider for employment-qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, including, if applicable, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. For Los Angeles, CA applicants: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

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