AI Innovation Engineer

All ELLWOOD Groups•New Castle, PA

22h•Onsite

About The Position

The AI Innovation Engineer identifies, evaluates, develops, and implements technology solutions, processes, and products aligned with organizational strategic goals. The role supports improvements in efficiency and quality and helps drive competitive advantage in a manufacturing environment. It monitors emerging trends, supports pilot projects, and collaborates with cross-functional partners on digital transformation. The position is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and requires occasional travel to manufacturing sites for on-site support (10%). The engineer leads innovation projects from concept through implementation, helps maintain an IT innovation roadmap and pipeline of ideas, evaluates vendors and buy-versus-build options, and supports pilots and proofs of concept. The role works with business and technical stakeholders to identify opportunities, assess feasibility and risks, measure results, communicate recommendations to leadership, and support adoption of new technologies while adhering to company compliance and IT security standards.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Strong understanding of IT systems, digital tools, and project lifecycles.
Familiarity with governance, privacy, and security practices.
Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
Ability to critically evaluate technical designs, vendor proposals, and solution architectures to identify risks, gaps, feasibility issues, and unrealistic assumptions.
Ability to translate business needs into clear technical concepts, high-level requirements, or prototype workflows.
Ability to investigate technical details and diagnose issues across applications, integrations, data flows, and automation platforms, and propose pragmatic solutions.
Strong analytical thinking and ability to evaluate ROI, scalability, long-term maintainability, and operational impact of new technologies.
Willingness to travel occasionally to manufacturing sites for on-site support (10%).

Nice To Haves

Exposure to data analysis, automation tools, or continuous improvement concepts.
Experience with AI/ML platforms.
Exposure to programming or scripting such as Python, C#/.NET, SQL, or similar for automation and integrations.
Familiarity with Azure services and Microsoft Power Platform, including Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Dataverse.
Knowledge of AI agent frameworks.
Understanding of REST APIs and JSON structures.
Experience with OCR, Intelligent Document Processing, or AI-assisted workflow automation.

Responsibilities

Research, evaluate, and analyze emerging technology trends and manufacturing methods to identify innovation opportunities that improve productivity, reduce costs, or enhance product quality.
Evaluate tools, methodologies, and practices for their potential to improve operational efficiency and business outcomes.
Lead innovation projects from concept through implementation.
Collaborate with engineering, production, quality, and finance teams to identify process inefficiencies and develop solutions.
Support digital transformation initiatives, including automation, robotics, IoT integration, and data-driven manufacturing.
Collaborate across departments to generate and manage an innovation idea pipeline.
Scout vendors and recommend buy-versus-build approaches.
Develop and maintain documentation for innovation projects, prototypes, and intellectual property considerations.
Build and maintain an IT innovation roadmap.
Understand business challenges with internal stakeholders and propose technology-driven solutions.
Facilitate brainstorming sessions, workshops, and innovation labs.
Collect and analyze data to measure the effectiveness of new technologies and solutions.
Map current processes and baseline KPIs.
Support the planning, execution, and evaluation of pilot projects, proofs of concept, and innovation initiatives.
Work with development, infrastructure, and security teams to ensure solutions are feasible, compliant, and scalable.
Prepare presentations, reports, and business cases to communicate findings and recommendations to leadership.
Assist with change management and communications to support adoption of new technologies.
Maintain confidentiality and comply with company compliance and IT security standards.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Travel occasionally to manufacturing sites to provide on-site support (10%).