Director of Manufacturing Engineering

Job Summary:

The Director of Manufacturing Engineering is a hands-on leadership role and the process authority for how Butcher Power Products’ switchboard and switchgear products are built. The person in this role must be the subject-matter expert who can also do the work — capable of designing and improving manufacturing processes and line layouts, building routings and process documentation, and personally leading process and PFMEA reviews — so they can teach and develop the manufacturing engineering team and set the standard for process quality. This role owns how products are built rather than what is designed; however, deep familiarity with the product and the production floor is essential. The Director must understand the design intent released by Product Engineering and the realities of the floor in order to engineer processes that are efficient, repeatable, and capable. This role works hand in hand with Product Engineering as the manufacturing voice in the design process, partners with Quality on process controls, and supports Production and Planning rather than owning them.

Key Responsibilities:

• Hands-On Process Engineering: Personally design, document, and improve the manufacturing processes, routings, work instructions, and line layouts that build the product. This is a working role: the successful candidate stays actively engaged in process design and technical problem-solving alongside the team rather than delegating all hands-on work.

• Process Authority & Technical Review: Lead, critique, and approve the team’s process designs, routings, PFMEAs, and control plans; set and enforce the standard for process quality, capability, and engineering rigor through formal process reviews.

• Mentorship & Teaching: Coach, train, and develop manufacturing engineers and technicians in process design, tooling, DFM/DFA, Lean and Six Sigma, time studies, and structured problem-solving, raising the technical capability of the whole team.

• Leadership & Management: Lead and manage the manufacturing engineering team, including hiring, development, workload balancing, priorities, and performance.

• Process Strategy & Standardization: Own manufacturing process strategy and standardization across product lines, and define the tooling and capital equipment roadmap.

• Product Engineering Partnership (DFM): Work closely and continuously with Product Engineering as the manufacturing voice in the design process — provide manufacturability and assembly feedback at design reviews before release, jointly resolve producibility issues, and ensure released designs transition cleanly into production.

• Process Controls & Quality Partnership: Own the manufacturing side of PFMEAs and control plans in partnership with Quality Engineering; ensure processes are capable, controlled, and continuously monitored.

• Continuous Improvement: Drive Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen across the function to improve throughput, cycle time, yield, and cost.

• Capital, Tooling & Automation: Plan and justify capital equipment, tooling, and automation investments, and provide financial management of the manufacturing engineering capital and tooling budgets.

• New Product Introduction (NPI): Lead the process side of NPI — develop and validate the processes, tooling, and routings that bring newly released designs into production.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Production, Planning, Quality, Project Management, and Product Engineering on capacity, scheduling, and material flow, supporting these functions rather than owning them.

• Safety & Compliance: Ensure manufacturing processes across the function comply with safety, environmental, and regulatory standards, including UL 891, NEC, and ANSI.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Industrial, or Mechanical Engineering.

• 8+ years of progressive process engineering (or directly related) experience, including significant time spent personally developing and improving manufacturing processes.

• Hands-on proficiency in SolidWorks for process documentation, line layouts, and reviews; the ability to design tooling and fixtures in CAD is a plus.

• Strong proficiency developing routings, work instructions, process documentation, and process controls.

• Proven ability to lead formal process and PFMEA reviews and to mentor and train engineers and technicians.

• Experience hiring, developing, and managing a manufacturing engineering team.

• Strong working knowledge of PFMEA, control plans, SPC, and process capability (Cpk).

• Deep knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement methodologies.

• Strong understanding of the products being built and of how design intent translates into manufacturing process — sufficient product familiarity to engineer the right processes.

• Working knowledge of UL 891 and related standards (NEC, ANSI) as they affect manufacturing processes.

• Experience planning and justifying capital equipment and tooling investments, including financial management of budgets.

• Hands-on fabrication and machining experience is a plus.

• Automation experience is a plus.

• Experience with structured problem-solving methods such as 8D or A3 is a plus.

• Familiarity with ERP/MRP systems, particularly Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365).

• Excellent leadership, project management, and problem-solving skills.

• Strong communication and interpersonal abilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on manufacturing process design and improvement (CAD)

• Process authority and engineering quality standards

• Technical mentoring, teaching, and team development

• Close partnership with Product Engineering (DFM)

• Process strategy, standardization, and tooling roadmap

• Design-for-manufacturability partnership

• Process controls, PFMEA, and capability

• Continuous improvement and Lean/Six Sigma

• Capital planning, automation, and financial management

• New product introduction (process side)

• Cross-functional collaboration and communication

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