Director of Engineering

Department: Engineering
Reports To: COO
Location: Cranberry Twp. PA
Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Summary

The Director of Engineering is responsible for leading and developing the engineering organization while providing technical and strategic leadership across Continental Tool Group’s product portfolio. This position oversees the design, development, improvement, documentation, and technical support of pneumatic air tools and related products serving the aerospace, industrial, and automotive markets.

The Director of Engineering works closely with Operations, Manufacturing, Quality, Sales, and leadership to ensure that products are technically sound, manufacturable, cost-effective, and delivered in alignment with customer and business requirements.

This role is both strategic and hands-on. The Director is expected to establish effective engineering processes and standards while remaining engaged in complex technical problems, product development, design decisions, and manufacturing challenges.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, manage, and develop the engineering organization, including setting priorities, allocating resources, and establishing performance expectations.
• Develop the capabilities of the engineering team through coaching, mentoring, training, and continuous improvement.
• Establish clear engineering standards, processes, and best practices.
• Manage engineering workload and resources to support company priorities and customer commitments.
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Identify and implement tools, technologies, and processes that improve engineering effectiveness.

Product Development & Design

• Lead the development of new products from concept through design, prototyping, testing, production release, and continuous improvement.
• Establish and maintain design standards for mechanical components, assemblies, pneumatic systems, and related products.
• Provide technical direction on complex design and engineering problems.
• Review and approve engineering designs, drawings, bills of materials, specifications, and other technical documentation.
• Ensure products meet applicable customer requirements, performance expectations, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Drive design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly principles throughout the product development process.
• Support product cost-reduction initiatives through design optimization, material selection, manufacturing improvements, and standardization.

Sustaining Engineering

• Provide engineering support for existing products throughout their lifecycle.
• Lead resolution of recurring product, manufacturing, quality, and field issues.
• Evaluate and implement engineering changes to improve product performance, manufacturability, cost, and reliability.
• Maintain product documentation, drawings, models, bills of materials, specifications, and engineering records.
• Establish effective Engineering Change Management processes and ensure changes are properly reviewed, approved, documented, and implemented.
• Identify opportunities to standardize components, designs, and manufacturing methods across the product portfolio.

Manufacturing & Operations Support

• Partner closely with Manufacturing and Operations to ensure engineering designs are practical, efficient, and manufacturable.
• Provide technical support for machining, assembly, inspection, and manufacturing processes.
• Work with Operations to resolve production issues and improve manufacturing processes.
• Participate in make-versus-buy, process selection, capacity, and manufacturing strategy decisions.
• Support the introduction of new products and engineering changes into production.
• Identify opportunities to improve manufacturability while maintaining product performance and quality.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Collaborate with Sales and Business Development to evaluate new opportunities, customer requirements, and technical feasibility.
• Provide technical input to quoting and estimating activities when engineering capability, manufacturing complexity, or product requirements are factors in the decision.
• Work with Quality to address customer complaints, nonconformances, corrective actions, and product quality issues.
• Partner with Operations and leadership to establish priorities based on customer requirements, capacity, cost, and business objectives.
• Communicate technical information clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Represent Engineering in leadership meetings and strategic business discussions.

Engineering Systems & Processes

• Establish and maintain effective engineering documentation and data-management practices.
• Own the engineering portion of the company’s product lifecycle and document-control processes.
• Develop and maintain standards for:
• Engineering drawings
• 3D CAD models
• Bills of materials
• Engineering specifications
• Engineering changes
• Customer drawings and documentation
• Product configurations and revisions

• Lead implementation and continuous improvement of CAD, PDM/PLM, ERP, and other engineering systems.
• Ensure engineering data is accurate, controlled, accessible, and aligned with manufacturing and business systems.

Strategic & Continuous Improvement

• Develop and execute an engineering strategy aligned with the company’s overall business objectives.
• Identify opportunities for new products, product improvements, technology development, and intellectual property.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, materials, manufacturing processes, and engineering tools.
• Establish engineering metrics and use data to drive improvements in engineering performance.
• Develop and manage the engineering budget.
• Support acquisition and integration activities by evaluating engineering capabilities, products, documentation, processes, and systems of acquired companies.
• Help establish scalable engineering processes that support continued company growth.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
• 8+ years of progressive engineering experience, with increasing levels of technical and leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience leading an engineering team or function.
• Strong mechanical design and engineering fundamentals.
• Experience with 3D CAD and engineering drawings.
• Experience with manufacturing processes, particularly machining and assembly.
• Strong understanding of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA).
• Experience with bills of materials, engineering documentation, and engineering change processes.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to balance technical requirements with cost, schedule, quality, and business considerations.

Preferred

• Experience with pneumatic systems, air tools, power tools, or related industrial equipment.
• Experience in aerospace, automotive, industrial, or other precision manufacturing environments.
• Experience with ERP, PDM, PLM, or other engineering data-management systems.
• Experience leading new product development programs.
• Experience with product cost reduction and value engineering.
• Experience integrating engineering functions following an acquisition.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license.

Leadership Expectations

The Director of Engineering is expected to:

• Lead: Build a high-performing engineering organization and develop future engineering leaders.
• Own: Take accountability for engineering decisions, priorities, deliverables, and outcomes.
• Collaborate: Work effectively across Engineering, Operations, Quality, Sales, and Executive Leadership.
• Solve: Approach technical and business problems with a practical, data-driven mindset.
• Improve: Continuously improve products, processes, systems, and engineering capabilities.
• Execute: Convert strategic objectives into clear engineering priorities and measurable results.
• Communicate: Provide timely, clear, and concise communication regarding engineering priorities, risks, and decisions.

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this position will be measured by the Director's ability to:

• Deliver engineering projects on schedule and within defined requirements.
• Improve engineering responsiveness to manufacturing and customer needs.
• Reduce recurring engineering and manufacturing-related issues.
• Improve product manufacturability and reduce product cost.
• Maintain accurate and controlled engineering documentation.
• Establish and consistently follow effective Engineering Change Management processes.
• Improve engineering team productivity and utilization.
• Develop and retain a strong engineering team.
• Successfully launch new and improved products into production.
• Improve collaboration between Engineering, Operations, Quality, and Sales.
• Establish scalable engineering processes and systems that support company growth.
• Contribute to profitable growth through new products, product improvements, and technical support of new business opportunities.

Physical Demands, Working Conditions, and Occupational Exposure

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee:

• Will frequently sit at a desk, stand and walk for prolonged periods on concrete
• Must be able to lift up to 25 lbs. and wear appropriate PPE while in plant
• Operates and handles a computer, equipment and tools using hands and fingers frequently to complete tasks
• Will use specific vision abilities required by this job which include close vision and ability to adjust focus.
• Occasional exposure to extreme heat, hot, dust/fumes, cold outdoor and indoor conditions.

EOE