Lead Extrusion Engineer

Are you an experienced Extrusion Engineer ready to take the next step toward leadership while remaining hands-on with the technology?
We are supporting a medical device client of ours who is seeking an Extrusion Engineer to serve as the technical authority for a growing medical extrusion operation. This role is ideal for a senior engineer who wants to expand into leadership responsibilities without moving into a traditional management position. While this position includes oversight of one engineer, the primary focus remains technical leadership, customer engagement, process development, and operational excellence.
The successful candidate will be a key member of a small, highly collaborative team and will play a critical role in developing new products, improving manufacturing processes, and supporting customer programs from concept through commercialization.

Job Title: Engineering Manager- Extrusion
Location: Brooklyn Park, MN
Salary: 130-150k + Bonus

Position Summary
As the Technical Lead, you will provide hands-on leadership for medical extrusion processes and new product development activities. You will work directly with customers, operators, technicians, quality, and engineering teams to solve complex challenges, drive process improvements, and establish best practices across the operation.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone who has built a strong technical foundation in extrusion and is looking for a natural progression into a leadership-track role with greater influence and visibility.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the site's technical subject matter expert for medical extrusion.
• Lead process development, optimization, and troubleshooting efforts.
• Develop and execute process characterization studies and Design of Experiments (DOE).
• Lead and support process validation activities, including OQ and PQ protocols.
• Drive New Product Introduction (NPI) projects from development through production launch.
• Interface directly with customers to support technical discussions, development programs, and project execution.
• Provide mentorship, guidance, and technical oversight to one extrusion engineer.
• Collaborate closely with operators, technicians, quality engineers, and manufacturing personnel.
• Develop tooling, systems, standards, and documentation that improve operational performance.
• Lead root cause investigations and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Support project coordination activities across engineering, quality, and operations.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
• Direct experience operating, setting up, troubleshooting, or developing extrusion processes. (MUST)
• Strong background in OQ/PQ execution and process validation within a regulated environment.
• Experience conducting process characterization studies and DOE analysis.
• Demonstrated success supporting customer-facing engineering projects.
• Strong technical problem-solving and communication skills.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams and lead through technical expertise.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with:
  • Single-lumen tubing
  • Multi-lumen tubing
  • Bump tubing
  • Tight-tolerance medical tubing
• Experience working with tubing diameters ranging from approximately 0.015" to 0.350".
• Prior experience as an Extrusion Technician, Process Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, or Senior Extrusion Engineer.
• Experience supporting medical device product development and NPI programs.
• Informal leadership, mentoring, or supervisory experience.

Why This Role?

• Leadership-track opportunity without moving away from engineering.
• Direct influence on technology, process development, and customer success.
• High visibility with leadership and customers.
• Opportunity to mentor and develop another engineer.
• Small, collaborative team environment where your expertise will have an immediate impact.
• Significant involvement in new product development and advanced medical extrusion applications.
• Flexible paid time off policy with approximately five weeks commonly utilized.
• Competitive compensation package including bonus opportunity.

If you're a hands-on extrusion expert who enjoys solving challenging technical problems, partnering with customers, and leading through expertise, this is an exceptional opportunity to grow your career while remaining closely connected to the manufacturing process and technology.