Staff Engineer, NPI
Work Mode:Onsite
Location:?Onsite, four days per week - Kohler, WI
Opportunity
As a Staff Engineer, New Product Integration (NPI) provide technical and operational leadership for New Product Integration (NPI) initiatives, serving as a manufacturing subject matter expert and thought partner to Product Development, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality teams. This role will drive outcomes through influence, deep expertise, and systems-level thinking rather than positional authority, while synchronizing with plant NPI and Operations teams to ensure new products are ?Right the First Time,? achieving Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost.
Specific Responsibilities
- Act as the primary manufacturing engineering authority on assigned NPD/NPI programs, shaping manufacturing strategy, process design, and execution models to ensure products are Right the First Time across Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost.
- Lead advanced Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFMA), FMEA, process capability analysis, and design reviews, identifying systemic risks and recommending design or process changes with enterprise impact.
- Define and standardize manufacturing process requirements, tooling concepts, and engineering specifications, ensuring alignment with global manufacturing standards and regulatory expectations.
End-to-End NPI Ownership
- Own and integrate Operations deliverables within the Global Kitchen & Bath NPD process, ensuring manufacturing readiness, launch robustness, and proactive risk mitigation across all phases of development.
- Serve as the operations integrator across quality, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, data services, and materials, resolving complex cross-functional tradeoffs and aligning execution plans across multiple plants and regions.
- Develop and maintain plant-level execution strategies and timelines, synchronizing local manufacturing plans with enterprise program milestones and launch commitments.
Cost, Capacity & Supply Chain Strategy
- Build and maintain robust product cost models, actively influencing design, sourcing, and process decisions to meet cost, margin, and launch targets
- Cash cost modeling, capacity assessment, and global asset optimization, providing clear recommendations to operations and sourcing leadership.
- Partner with Supply Chain, Purchasing, and Supplier Quality to define long-term fulfillment strategies, including PFEP development, supplier readiness, and supply chain resilience.
Execution Excellence & Risk Management
- Drive time-to-market improvements through process optimization, parallel development strategies, and elimination of systemic inefficiencies.
- Apply advanced engineering judgment to complex, ambiguous problems, independently making decisions, justifying risk, and escalating appropriately based on business impact.
Influence, Communication & Knowledge Leadership
- Present clear, data-driven recommendations and project status to senior operations leadership (Manager, Director, VP level), translating technical complexity into actionable insights.
- Mentor and provide technical guidance to engineers and cross-functional partners, strengthening organizational capability without direct supervisory responsibility.
- Improvement of engineering standards, best practices, and knowledge systems, ensuring lessons learned are captured and reused across the enterprise.
- Liaise closely with all levels of production, engineering, NPD, purchasing, and marketing providing clear information where necessary. Use relationships to maintain a network to support Production Strategies.
- Present project status and escalations to multiple levels of operations leadership including Managers/Directors/VP.
- This position will coordinate the development of systematic tool design and engineering functions required for production of products at Kohler Co. utilizing CAD technology.
Skills/Requirements
- B.S. degree from an engineering discipline from an ABET accredited engineering
- 8+ years of experience in industrial, mechanical, manufacturing engineering, project management, or new product development engineering role.
- Knowledge of or exposure to manufacturing processes that could include cast-iron, stainless-steel drawing and fabrication, acrylics, gel coats, epoxy resins, thermoforming
- Must be able to independently manage multiple projects of a complex nature that are in various stages of development.
- Experience of communicating information at all levels across various functions written & verbally, concisely and accurately.
- A tenacious, enthusiastic, results driven individual with excellent time management skills.
- Experience with Microsoft office software & SAP
- Must be structured and organized, with an ability to work on their own, within a team, and influence a small team when required. Management experience would be beneficial.
- Experience in creating and managing Microsoft Projects
- Experience in ProE/CREO is a benefit but not required.
- Must be skilled in leading conversations across platforms and driving conflict resolution.
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Why Choose Kohler?
We empower each associate to #BecomeMoreAtKohler with a competitive total rewards package to support your health and wellbeing, access to career growth and development opportunities, a diverse and inclusive workplace, and a strong culture of innovation. With more than 30,000 bold leaders across the globe, we?re driving meaningful change in our mission to help people live gracious, healthy, and sustainable lives.
About Us
It is Kohler?s policy to recruit, hire, and promote qualified applicants without regard to race, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. If, as an individual with a disability, you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact . Kohler Co. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
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