Job Summary/OverviewThe Engineering Manager leads the design function for Magnetek operations in Menomonee Falls. This role provides technical and people leadership for the safe, accurate, and timely execution of customer-specific engineered solutions from order handoff through release to production and shipment support. The manager establishes priorities, balances engineering capacity, strengthens design and review processes, and develops the technical capability required to meet customer, quality, delivery, and cost objectives.
This leader partners closely with Operations, Project Management, Customer Service, Sales, Quality, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering, and Product Management to translate customer requirements into manufacturable designs. The role is accountable for improving lead time, on-time completion, first-pass quality, change control, and visibility of engineering status while building a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement aligned with the Columbus McKinnon Business System (CMBS).
Essential Duties and Responsibilities- Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary engineering organization; establish clear expectations, documented standard work, technical training, cross-training, accountability, and succession plans.
- Prioritize, schedule, and assign engineering work based on customer commitments, project complexity, available capacity, technical risk, and production needs.
- Own the design execution process from order handoff and requirements clarification through design, review, approval, release, and production support.
- Establish capacity planning and visual management practices that identify workload constraints, competing priorities, schedule risk, and recovery actions before customer commitments are missed.
- Drive measurable improvement in engineering lead time, on-time completion, first-pass quality, rework, engineering changes, and customer response time.
- Drive value engineering and design-to-cost activities that reduce material, labor, complexity, and lifecycle cost without compromising safety, quality, performance, or customer requirements.
- Ensure customer and application requirements are translated into complete, accurate, safe, and manufacturable drawings, bills of material, specifications, calculations, and technical documentation.
- Maintain disciplined technical review and design verification practices appropriate to project complexity and risk; ensure issues and lessons learned are incorporated into standards and future designs.
- Provide technical direction and escalation support for complex applications, design questions, production issues, field concerns, and customer-specific requirements.
- Own engineering change and release discipline for designs, including accurate configuration, revision control, documentation, approvals, and timely communication to affected functions.
- Partner with Operations and Manufacturing Engineering to improve design for manufacturability, assembly, test, service, and cost while reducing downstream disruption and non-value-added work.
- Partner with Project Management, Customer Service, and Sales to clarify scope, assumptions, deliverables, technical risks, and timing for customer orders and changes.
- Support root cause and corrective action for design-related quality issues, production failures, warranty concerns, and late deliveries; verify corrective actions are effective and sustained.
- Develop and maintain engineering standards, templates, tools, workflows, and knowledge-management practices that improve consistency, speed, and traceability.
- Use data and structured problem solving to identify trends, prioritize improvement work, and communicate performance, constraints, and countermeasures to site and business leadership.
- Prepare and manage departmental objectives, staffing plans, training plans, and budget inputs; make effective use of internal and external engineering resources.
- Carry out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with company policies and applicable laws, including hiring, onboarding, goal setting, performance management, recognition, and issue resolution.
- Perform other duties and lead special projects as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Abilities- Demonstrated ability to lead and develop technical teams in a high-mix, customer-configured, or engineer-to-order environment.
- Strong engineering judgment with the ability to guide complex design decisions, manage technical risk, and know when deeper subject-matter expertise is required.
- Working knowledge of electrical, controls, mechanical, embedded/software, or related engineering disciplines relevant to industrial products and systems.
- Strong understanding of design controls, configuration management, engineering change processes, bills of material, drawings, specifications, and product documentation.
- Working knowledge of applicable electrical, machinery, functional safety, product safety, and material-handling codes and standards, with the judgment to determine when specialist review, testing, or certification is required.
- Maintains current knowledge of relevant technologies, engineering methods, product applications, codes, standards, and industry developments.
- Ability to convert demand and project data into practical workload priorities, capacity plans, commitments, and recovery actions.
- Experience applying Lean, Kaizen, root cause analysis, corrective action, and standard work to engineering or transactional processes.
- Excellent cross-functional communication and influence skills, from engineers and shop-floor teams to customers, business leaders, and senior leadership.
- Ability to manage competing priorities with urgency while maintaining technical quality, process discipline, and customer focus.
- Strong organizational, project-management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and familiarity with ERP, CAD, PLM/PDM, workflow, and project or capacity-management systems.
Required QualificationsRequired Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field
- Experience with design controls, engineering changes, configuration management, and release of technical documentation
- Experience supporting manufactured industrial products in a customer-configured or engineer-to-order environment
- Seven or more years of progressive engineering experience
- Minimum 3 years of experience leading engineers or other technical professionals
Preferred Qualifications: - Experience with industrial controls, variable-frequency drives, radio controls, crane or material-handling applications, or custom electrical systems
- Experience with design verification, functional safety, regulatory compliance, or applicable industrial product standards
- Experience with ERP and CAD/PLM/PDM systems
- Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, or structured problem-solving experience
About Columbus McKinnon:Columbus McKinnon is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations and digital power and motion control systems. We are focused on commercial and industrial applications that require the safety and quality provided by our superior design and engineering know-how. Columbus McKinnon is a publicly traded company that has been in business for almost 150 years - proud of our heritage, where we come from, and where we're going. As Columbus McKinnon grows globally, so does our need for driven and inspired employees. Join our winning team!
Columbus McKinnon Corporation promotes a diverse and inclusive workforce and is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, marital status, or any other Federal or State legally-protected classes. We also value the safety of all associates and work hard to maintain a Drug Free Workplace.
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