Sales Application Engineering Manager

The Sales Application Engineering Manager owns the technical and commercial evaluation of new business opportunities, from initial customer inquiry through quoting, program award, and production launch. This role serves as the primary technical liaison between customers, internal engineering, tooling, and manufacturing teams, ensuring that new programs are accurately estimated, feasible to build, and successfully transitioned into production. This is a hybrid sales-engineering role requiring strong technical acumen in stamping and roll forming processes combined with commercial judgment and project leadership skills.

Key Responsibilities

Quoting & Estimating

• Lead the quoting process for new tooling, production parts, and prototype/sample requests, including cost modeling for tooling design/build, press tonnage and equipment selection, material utilization, secondary operations, and piece-part pricing.
• Develop detailed cost estimates and quotes for progressive dies, transfer dies, and roll form tooling, incorporating vendor/toolroom input where applicable.
• Analyze customer RFQs, prints, and 3D models to determine part feasibility, tooling approach, and process routing.
• Prepare and present formal quotations, proposals, and program pricing summaries to customers and internal stakeholders.
• Collaborate with purchasing and operations to validate raw material, outside processing, and packaging cost inputs.

Layout & Application Engineering for New Business

• Develop preliminary part and strip layouts, die layout concepts, and roll form pass schedules to support feasibility studies and quotes.
• Partner with tool design/engineering to refine tooling concepts, station counts, and process sequences prior to program award.
• Identify design-for-manufacturability (DFM) opportunities and communicate recommendations to customers during the quoting stage.
• Evaluate press capacity, tonnage requirements, and equipment fit against current plant capabilities.

Project Management & Program Launch

• Serve as program/project manager for awarded new business, coordinating timelines across tool design, tool build, tryout, sampling, and PPAP.
• Lead APQP activities and ensure launch milestones (kickoff, design reviews, tryout, first article, PPAP submission, production release) are met on schedule.
• Act as the primary point of contact for customers throughout the launch process, managing expectations, timelines, and open issues.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with quality, tooling, manufacturing engineering, and production to resolve tryout and launch issues.
• Track and report program status, risks, and open action items to internal leadership and customers.

Customer & Sales Support

• Work directly with outside sales and account managers to support customer visits, technical discussions, and program reviews.
• Build and maintain strong technical relationships with customer engineering and purchasing contacts.
• Support new business development efforts by identifying opportunities for additional part families or program expansion within existing accounts.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, or Industrial Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience in metal stamping/roll forming.
• 5+ years of experience in application engineering, quoting/estimating, or program management within a metal stamping, roll forming, or precision metal fabrication environment.
• Strong working knowledge of progressive die stamping and/or roll forming processes, tooling design principles, and press operations.
• Demonstrated experience quoting tooling and production parts, including cost modeling and pricing strategy.
• Experience managing new program launches, including APQP, PPAP, and tryout processes.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering prints, GD&T, and 3D CAD models.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to interface confidently with customers, engineering, and shop floor personnel.

Preferred

• Experience with die layout/design software (AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or similar).
• Familiarity with roll form tooling and pass design.
• Automotive, appliance, or industrial OEM customer-facing experience.
• Prior experience in a hybrid sales/technical or account management capacity.

Key Attributes

• Comfortable operating at the intersection of sales, engineering, and operations.
• Strong analytical and cost-modeling skills paired with practical shop-floor knowledge.
• Self-directed program/project manager who can juggle multiple concurrent quotes and launches.
• Customer-facing presence and confidence presenting technical and commercial information.