Engineering Manager

Engineering Manager

Kansas City, MO | Direct Hire

Our client is a privately held manufacturing company with an established proprietary product line alongside its core business. The company is known for its engineering-driven culture and reputation for quality.

Position Summary

The Engineering Manager will lead product design, development, and testing for the company's proprietary product line, from initial concept through to launch and ongoing customer support. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will do your own design work in addition to guiding a small team of engineers, and will serve as the technical point of contact between sales, customers, and manufacturing. This role reports directly to company leadership.

Essential Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end product design, R&D, and testing for a proprietary product line, from concept through launch.
• Serve as technical point of contact for the sales team on customer applications and custom configurations.
• Manage and mentor a small engineering team, with plans to grow the team based on this person's input.
• Support ERP processes including BOM accuracy, drawing control, and inventory data used by purchasing.
• Balance multiple concurrent projects rather than working single, long-duration assignments.
• Travel occasionally (roughly 15% or less) for trade shows and on-site customer technical support.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline (mechanical or related) — required.
• Strong, current proficiency in SOLIDWORKS — required. Candidates without recent, hands-on SOLIDWORKS experience will not be considered.
• A track record of hands-on product design work combined with managing or mentoring other engineers.
• Demonstrated ability to juggle multiple active projects simultaneously.
• Self-directed work style — this role is not closely supervised day-to-day and requires someone who brings solutions rather than escalating problems.
• Experience level: candidates with meaningful product-design and project leadership experience are preferred; this is not an entry-level role, nor is it intended for someone nearing the end of their career.

Compensation & Process

Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience, generally in the $110,000–$130,000 range depending on background and team-management history.