Director of Engineering

Description

Director of Engineering Job Description

Exempt

Summary (Position Description)

The Director of Engineering at BITZER US is a critical executive leadership role responsible for directing, strategic planning, and overseeing all engineering activities across the organization. This position provides technical and operational leadership to a robust engineering department—including problem resolution and system development—to ensure design integrity, innovation, production efficiency, and compliance with BITZER’s world-class quality benchmarks.

Executing these duties to align with broader company objectives, the Director partners closely with executive management to establish strategic technical direction and implement rigorous controls. By driving accountability through a structured team of Engineering Managers and Supervisors, the Director champions operational excellence from initial concepts all the way through to final production.

Key Information

Reports To: Vice President of Operations

Direct Reports: Engineering Managers, Engineering Supervisors

Location: In Office at 4080 Enterprise Way, Flowery Branch, GA 30542

There will be some traveling, including to Europe 2-3 times a year

Travel Requirements: Domestic and international travel required, including traveling to European corporate headquarters 2–3 times per year.

Who We Are

Bitzer Us Inc. is a leading manufacturer of key components used in commercial and industrial refrigeration and air conditioning systems. These key components include compressors, pressure vessels such as condensers and evaporators, compressor packages, and condensing units. Other products include waste heat-to-power equipment that converts excess heat to low-cost electricity.

You partner with others to get work done while gaining insight into customers' needs and deliver solutions that exceed customer expectations. You create Raving Fans. You set objectives aligning with organization and prioritize accordingly.

Conveniently located in Flowery Branch, Georgia 5 minutes off I-985 The Company is wholly owned by Bitzer SE (located in Germany), the Company is a private company and serves as Bitzer SE’s flagship North American subsidiary. On a global basis, Bitzer SE has 3,400 employees in 60 locations with global sales approaching 700M €.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Provide overarching leadership and strategic vision to the entire engineering department, aligning engineering goals with BITZER US operational and corporate objectives.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture focused on continuous improvement, technical excellence, and professional development.
• Manage and optimize the engineering department budget, resource allocation, and project pipelines to meet strict production deadlines.

Technical & Design Oversight

• Hold overall responsibility for Engineering activities across the business, including: Product Sustaining Engineering, Development Engineering, Advanced Technology, and Engineering Services
• Oversee the creation, modification, and strict configuration control of highly technical, part-specific engineering drawings, specifications, and Bills of Materials (BOMs).
• Ensure absolute design integrity, compliance with global BITZER standards, and adherence to relevant industry regulations (e.g., ASME, UL, ISO).
• Create and implement best practice engineering vision, strategy, policies, processes, and procedures to aid and improve business performance
• Ensure that engineering strategies and processes are in place to meet business objectives and operational needs in terms of price, quality, and delivery targets and which enables the company to function and compete effectively in the market
• Drive the optimization of engineering software, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), and CAD systems to maximize department efficiency and accuracy.
• Collaborate closely with Quality Assurance and Manufacturing Engineering to resolve complex design-related production issues and execute precise Engineering Change Notices (ECNs).

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner tightly with the VP of Operations to streamline the transition of products from design/prototype stages into full-scale manufacturing.
• Function as a key technical liaison with global engineering teams at corporate headquarters, ensuring alignment on product platforms and technology sharing.
• Work alongside Procurement and Supply Chain to evaluate vendor capabilities and technical compliance for component manufacturing.

Competencies (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities)

• Expertise in industrial engineering drawing standards, GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing), and PLM systems.
• Proven record of managing complex engineering pipelines for products with high part counts and specialized component configurations.
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear operational milestones for leadership.
• Experience navigating cross-functional systems (such as SAP or similar advanced ERP architecture) is highly beneficial.
• Strong understanding of Business Financial Management and departmental budgeting.
• Strategic thinker with a proven ability to solve complex problems through data analysis.
• Commitment to corporate ethics and professional conduct.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related technical field is required. A Master’s degree or MBA is highly desirable.
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive engineering experience in a highly technical, precision manufacturing environment (experience with compressors, pressure vessels, or HVAC-R systems is a significant plus).
• Leadership: 5+ years of formal leadership experience managing multi-tiered engineering teams (including managing other engineering managers/supervisors).
• Ability to effectively meet and communicate with employees, the public, and vendors using courtesy, discretion, and sound judgment.
• Solid professional PC skills, including advanced proficiency with the Microsoft Office Suite.
• Strong written communication skills and effective, corporate-level organizational abilities.
• Proven ability to work collectively and collaboratively with leadership across all arms of the organization.

Work Environment

This job is primarily performed in a professional office environment utilizing standard computer equipment. Periodically, the role requires time spent on the production and assembly floor, which requires adherence to all safety protocols and the consistent use of proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, bend, stoop, reach with hands and arms, and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee may occasionally be required to lift or move technical components weighing up to 50 pounds during floor evaluations.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Other Information

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Employees are required to follow any job-related instructions and to perform job-related duties requested by management. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required.

This Job Description does not imply an employment contract. BITZER US is an at-will employer.

BITZER US is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and as such we recruit, hire, train, and promote persons in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristics protected by law.