Engineering Manager

Engineering Manager – Medium Voltage

Location: Addison, IL – Chicago Area

Additional Compensation: Bonus + potential equity

Work Schedule: Initially onsite; potential hybrid flexibility over time

About the Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Engineering Manager – Medium Voltage to lead and help build a growing engineering organization supporting medium-voltage switchgear, power distribution equipment, controls, and engineered electrical systems .

This role is ideal for a strong technical leader who understands not only electrical design and switchgear, but also how equipment is manufactured, tested, and delivered . The Engineering Manager will lead engineers and designers while partnering closely with manufacturing, operations, project management, sales, estimating, and other teams.

The successful candidate should be comfortable moving between the engineering office and manufacturing floor , resolving technical challenges, managing engineering schedules, and ensuring projects move successfully from customer requirements through design, manufacturing, testing, and final delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and build a team of engineers and designers supporting medium-voltage projects.
• Provide technical leadership for medium-voltage metal-clad and metal-enclosed switchgear , controls, and power distribution equipment.
• Manage projects from initial requirements and engineering through drawing release, manufacturing, factory testing, and delivery.
• Establish engineering priorities, schedules, workloads, and project deliverables.
• Provide technical direction involving switchgear configurations, components, protection, controls, and metering.
• Work closely with manufacturing and spend time on the production floor to resolve engineering and manufacturability issues.
• Review engineering requirements, drawings, BOMs, components, standard packages, and customer-specific configurations.
• Partner with manufacturing, operations, project management, sales, estimating, and other internal teams.
• Coordinate engineering resources across multiple locations and projects.
• Develop and improve engineering standards, processes, documentation, and repeatable product configurations.
• Utilize ERP/business systems to support engineering, materials, manufacturing, and project execution.
• Participate in customer discussions when technical or engineering support is required.
• Mentor and develop engineers and designers while building a strong engineering culture.
• Improve engineering efficiency, product quality, manufacturability, and overall project execution.

Ideal Background

• Strong experience with medium-voltage switchgear, electrical power distribution equipment, controls, or related engineered electrical products .
• Experience with a switchgear manufacturer, electrical equipment manufacturer, power distribution organization, controls environment, or similar engineered-product business.
• Strong knowledge of metal-clad and/or metal-enclosed medium-voltage switchgear .
• Understanding of the complete lifecycle from engineering/design through manufacturing, testing, and delivery .
• Experience working directly with manufacturing and resolving technical issues on the production floor.
• Approximately 3–5+ years of engineering, technical, project, or people leadership experience .
• Experience leading engineers, designers, or technical project teams.
• Strong project ownership skills, including engineering schedules, resources, priorities, and deliverables.
• Experience with BOMs, components, standard packages, and customer-specific configurations.
• Working knowledge of ERP/MRP systems and engineering-to-manufacturing processes.
• SAP experience is a strong plus.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to balance technical engineering responsibilities with leadership and project execution.

Preferred Technical Experience

Experience in several of the following areas is highly desirable:

• Medium-voltage switchgear and power distribution
• Metal-clad and metal-enclosed switchgear
• 5kV, 15kV, 27kV and/or 38kV equipment
• Fixed and drawout circuit breakers
• Main-main, main-tie-main, and automatic transfer configurations
• Utility interconnection and metering
• CTs, PTs, and CPTs
• Protective relays and metering
• Electrical controls and control schemes
• Generator and transfer-switch integration
• Transformers, motors, generators, and feeder protection
• Bus systems and secondary bus enclosures
• Bills of material and component selection
• Engineered-to-order / configure-to-order switchgear
• ERP/MRP systems and SAP
• Manufacturing engineering and design-for-manufacturability
• Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) and commissioning
• ANSI, IEEE, and NEMA switchgear standards

Leadership Profile

We are looking for someone who can bridge medium-voltage engineering, manufacturing, project execution, and leadership .

The ideal candidate will understand:

✔ What is being designed

✔ How the equipment will be manufactured

✔ What components are required

✔ How engineering decisions affect manufacturing and schedules

✔ How to troubleshoot technical issues

✔ How to lead and develop engineering talent

Candidates do not necessarily need to have managed a large department. Strong technical leaders who have successfully owned complex engineering projects, schedules, resources, and deliverables are encouraged to apply.

Education

A bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline is preferred.

Equivalent industry experience combined with significant experience in medium-voltage switchgear, power distribution, controls, or electrical equipment manufacturing may also be considered.