Engineering and Maintenance Director

Gestamp • US Gestamp South Carolina, SC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

This position is responsible for reinforcing a culture of safety, quality, and continuous improvement while delivering best-in-class performance in a fast-paced Tier 1 automotive environment. The role heavily demands a strong technical focus, overseeing advanced manufacturing engineering projects and complex plant maintenance systems to maximize equipment effectiveness and ensure seamless serial production.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Manufacturing, Electrical, Industrial, or Metallurgy), Business, or related technical field.
• Progressive leadership experience in automotive manufacturing, with a strong focus on high-volume metal forming or stamping plants.
• Deep technical background in high-tonnage mechanical/servo presses, advanced progressive/transfer dies, and automated assembly line configurations.
• Strong experience managing maintenance departments utilizing computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) to execute predictive, preventative, and corrective maintenance.
• Familiarity with robotic automation (e.g., Fanuc robots, automated transfer line components, and arc/spot welding technologies).
• Strong understanding of Tier 1 automotive customer requirements and OEM-specific engineering and delivery standards.
• Demonstrated success in driving Lean manufacturing, OEE optimization, and root-cause breakdown analysis.
• Working knowledge of IATF 16949, APQP, PPAP, and automotive quality validation tracking.
• Strong leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills with the ability to influence and align production, maintenance, and engineering teams.

Nice To Haves

• Direct exposure to hot stamping (press hardening) processes, including roller hearth furnaces, rapid water-cooling quenching dies, and laser cutting equipment.
• Experience within Gestamp or a similar global automotive structural components supplier environment.

Responsibilities

• Support overall plant operations across production, maintenance, quality, logistics, and engineering to achieve targeted operational excellence.
• Drive performance against key metrics, including safety, quality, cost, delivery, equipment uptime (OEE), and employee engagement.
• Champion Gestamp’s safety-first culture and ensure full compliance with all regulatory, environmental, and corporate standards.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives aligned with the Gestamp Production System (GPS), Lean Manufacturing, and Industry 4.0 Smart Factory standards (predictive maintenance, data-driven optimization).
• Ensure strict adherence to customer requirements, IATF 16949 standards, and Gestamp quality systems for Body-in-White (BiW) and chassis components.
• Oversee Manufacturing & Tooling Engineering by partnering with program management to manage successful product launches (APQP/PPAP), optimize stamping dies, and refine multi-step hot mechanical or servo press sequences.
• Direct Advanced Plant Maintenance systems, implementing rigorous preventive and predictive maintenance strategies for high-tonnage cold stamping presses, hot stamping lines (furnaces and quenching dies), and automated robotic welding cells.
• Manage tool & die reliability programs, tracking die wear, optimizing engineering changes, and ensuring the die shop is equipped to rapidly troubleshoot and repair complex progressive and transfer tooling.
• Support financial performance through scrap reduction strategies, energy efficiency tracking, maintenance cost control, and strategic capital expenditure (CapEx) engineering projects.
• Develop, mentor, and strengthen leadership capabilities within the engineering, maintenance, and production teams to build deep technical expertise.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager