Mechanical Engineer (Associate, Professional, Senior)

Company Overview

Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM), headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa (BSEMEA), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, operate collectively as a “Bridgestone West” strategic region. This region services the strategic business needs of teams across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa. BSAM and BSEMEA are subsidiaries of Bridgestone Corporation, globally headquartered in Japan. Bridgestone and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand products and solutions to address the needs of a broad range of customers and industries.

Business Unit

BAMG - Aiken PSR

Management Level

Individual Contributor

Job Category

Engineering & Science

Position Summary

At Bridgestone Americas, we are committed to creating a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. We are seeking talented Mechanical Engineers at the Associate, Professional, and Senior levels to join our engineering team at the Aiken PSR Plant.

Whether you are an early-career engineer looking to grow your technical skills, an experienced engineer ready to lead significant projects, or a seasoned engineering professional passionate about driving plant performance, we offer opportunities to make an immediate impact while developing your career.

As a Mechanical Engineer, you will support the design, development, installation, optimization, and reliability of manufacturing equipment and systems. You will partner with production, maintenance, quality, and engineering teams to improve safety, reliability, productivity, and cost performance across the plant.

Responsibilities

Engineering & Technical Leadership

• Research, plan, design, develop, and implement mechanical systems, equipment, and manufacturing processes.
• Provide mechanical engineering support for production equipment, utilities, and auxiliary systems.
• Analyze equipment performance and identify opportunities to improve safety, reliability, efficiency, quality, and throughput.
• Develop solutions for equipment-related issues through troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and corrective actions.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives focused on waste reduction, scrap reduction, downtime reduction, and process optimization.
• Provide technical support and guidance to manufacturing, maintenance, and operational teams.

Project Management

• Lead or support capital and continuous improvement projects ranging from equipment modifications to major machine installations.
• Develop project scopes, budgets, schedules, and implementation plans.
• Coordinate internal and external resources to ensure projects are completed safely, on time, and within budget.
• Manage procurement activities including vendor selection, RFQs, capital requests, and project cost tracking.
• Oversee equipment installation, startup, testing, validation, and project closeout activities.

Safety & Compliance

• Promote a strong safety culture by ensuring safety requirements are incorporated into all engineering activities.
• Participate in risk assessments, machine safeguarding evaluations, and implementation of safety improvements.
• Ensure compliance with company standards, regulatory requirements, and engineering best practices.
• Support contractor safety and quality compliance during project execution.

Reliability & Continuous Improvement

• Evaluate existing equipment and systems to identify opportunities for performance improvement.
• Lead reliability improvement efforts and corrective action projects.
• Utilize engineering principles and data analysis to improve operational performance and reduce losses.
• Support preventative and predictive maintenance initiatives.

Responsibilites

• Responsible for Mechanical expertise in manufacturing
• Lead continuous improvement and corrective action activities & projects with emphasis on Scrap & Waste improvement activities.
• Provide technical support to internal customers.
• Provides input into the design for new or modified systems, processes or technologies.
• Manage major projects such as New Machine installation, upgrades, etc. The Projects range from $50K to $1M.
• Analyze project requirements, identify and address design parameters, engineering challenges and to ensure solutions are implemented accurately, timely and within budget. Serve as technical lead, planning and organizing portions of a project. Budget, manpower and equipment utilization.
• Oversee project workflow and support internal and external resources to ensure on-time delivery of projects, meeting quality standards and within budget.
• Ensure all relevant safety objectives and legal requirements, for all activities, are observed and implemented.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluating the performance of existing systems, processes and technologies and recommends modifications and enhancements to improve quality and/or efficiency.
• Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

Associate Mechanical Engineer

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering field.
• Internship, co-op, or up to 2 years of engineering experience.
• Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication and teamwork abilities.
• Desire to learn manufacturing processes and project management.

Mechanical Engineer (Professional Level)

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering field.
• 3-5 years of engineering experience, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing engineering projects and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong troubleshooting, problem-solving, and project management skills.
• Ability to work independently and lead cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Senior Mechanical Engineer

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering field.
• 7+ years of engineering experience with increasing technical and project leadership responsibilities.
• Demonstrated success leading capital projects, equipment installations, and reliability initiatives.
• Experience providing technical leadership and mentoring less experienced engineers.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing systems, machine design, and engineering project execution.

Preferred Qualifications

• Manufacturing experience in a high-volume production environment.
• Experience with machine design and equipment modernization.
• AutoCAD, Inventor, SolidWorks, or other CAD software experience.
• Knowledge of industrial automation, robotics, hydraulics, pneumatics, and mechanical systems.
• Experience with SAP or similar systems for procurement and project cost management.
• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement experience.
• Project management experience managing budgets, schedules, and resources.

What Makes You Successful

• Strong technical curiosity and a passion for solving complex problems.
• Ability to balance technical detail with business objectives.
• Strong organizational and project management skills.
• Collaborative mindset and ability to build partnerships across departments.
• Commitment to safety, quality, and continuous improvement.

Why Bridgestone?

At Bridgestone, you'll join a team that values innovation, teamwork, safety, and personal growth. You'll have opportunities to work on impactful projects, develop new skills, and advance your career in a world-class manufacturing environment.

We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience does not align perfectly with every qualification listed. We are committed to building diverse teams and believe different experiences and perspectives make us stronger.

Come help shape the future of manufacturing and engineering at Bridgestone.

At Bridgestone, you are Free to Be

We believe people can only provide superior service and quality to others when they feel safe bringing their chosen version of themselves to work. We believe in championing all perspectives, individuals and teams because we understand the importance of seeing the world and our business through many different lenses. So, show us what you are made of, because who you are is what we need.

What we offer

At Bridgestone, what really matters is to foster co-creation opportunities and empowering you to be creative and curious to make mobility safer, more efficient, and more sustainable for future generations. Whatever role you fill, when you represent Bridgestone, you are a valued teammate, and part of our larger mission to “Serve Society with Superior Quality”, for that, we offer you more than just a competitive compensation; we will provide you:

• A supportive and engaging onboarding experience to ensure a smooth transition into our team.
• The opportunity to develop and grow, through training and regular mentorship.
• Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
• A truly global, dynamic and challenging work environment.
• Agility and work/life effectiveness and your long-term well-being.
• An effective and inclusive team.

Bridgestone is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is our policy to consider all individuals for employment based on their unique merit and without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Employment Eligibility

If hired, a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification must be completed at the start of employment. Temporary work authorization or the need for sponsorship may disqualify you from employment.