Product Design Engineering Manager - Heavy Haul Trailers
Waterloo, IA | $80,000 to $90,000 per year plus 15% bonus
A manufacturer of heavy haul trailers and fabricated mobile equipment in Waterloo, Iowa is seeking a Product Design Engineering Manager to lead a team of product design engineers supporting production and in-market products. This role owns product architectures, standards, and design intent across heavy haul trailer platforms, focusing on standardization, continuous improvement, and lifecycle support of existing product lines while ensuring designs remain manufacturable, cost-effective, compliant, and scalable. This position works closely with other Senior Engineering Managers leading sub-teams within the department and supports Manufacturing, Warranty, Customer Service, and occasionally Sales functions.
Schedule
Full-time, on-site with regular hands-on engagement.
Compensation
$80,000 to $90,000 per year, plus 15% bonus.
What You\'ll Do
In this role, you will lead, develop, and manage a team of product design engineers, prioritizing and assigning engineering work based on production needs, product improvements, cost-reduction initiatives, and field feedback. You will serve as engineering owner for sustaining engineering, product changes, and platform evolution, ensuring rapid resolution of design, quality, and manufacturability issues in support of production. You will partner with Manufacturing Engineering and Production to improve weldment, fabrication, and assembly methods, as well as BOM accuracy, drawings, and release quality, and you will lead structured design reviews, approve engineering changes, and oversee ECN and ECO execution to ensure timely, accurate, and well-documented product changes. You will ensure compliance with FMVSS, DOT, and internal engineering and quality standards, applying DFMEA, lessons learned, warranty data, and field feedback to improve durability, safety, and product reliability. You will drive design-for-manufacturing, design-to-cost, and continuous improvement initiatives, support sales, service, and operations with clear engineering guidance, maintain and improve engineering documentation and design tools, and assist in developing standard, pre-engineered product offerings to reduce custom engineering demands and improve schedule execution.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor\'s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline
- Experience in heavy haul trailers, heavy equipment, or fabricated mobile equipment
- Strong background in mechanical systems, structures, hydraulics, and manufacturing processes
- Proven experience supporting products in production environments
- Strong problem-solving and root-cause analysis skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior people management or team leadership experience
- Experience with FMVSS or DOT compliance requirements
To apply, submit your resume through Indeed and a member of the hiring team will follow up regarding next steps.
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