Director of Engineering
About The Position
The Director of Engineering provides strategic and operational leadership for Engineering, Research & Development, and New Product Introduction (NPI) at Screen & Shade Innovations. The role owns the end-to-end engineering lifecycle for existing products and new screen and shade platforms, from concept and requirements definition through validation, industrialization, launch, and sustaining support. Engineering uses structured systems-engineering practices, disciplined reviews, and clear documentation to reduce risk and improve execution and manufacturing readiness without unnecessary bureaucracy. This is a hands-on, player-coach leadership role. The Director is expected to contribute personally to design, architecture, and technical problem-solving while leading a multidisciplinary team. The role has direct ownership of control systems, motor systems, motor controllers, and embedded communications electronics. The Director has full accountability for product development and R&D, NPI execution, systems engineering and requirements ownership, configuration management and technical data, manufacturing readiness and sustaining engineering, and engineering portfolio prioritization, resourcing, and budget ownership. The role partners with Manufacturing, Procurement, SIOP, Logistics & Warehousing, Business Systems, Quality, Finance, and Commercial teams to turn product concepts into manufacturable, scalable, and profitable designs.
Requirements
- Master’s degree in engineering required; Electrical Engineering is strongly preferred.
- At least 8 years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment.
- At least 5 years of engineering leadership experience managing multidisciplinary teams.
- Experience developing high-custom consumer products and supporting live manufacturing environments.
- Proven success as a hands-on, player-coach engineering leader in a small or mid-sized organization.
- Strong background in Electrical Engineering, controls, and embedded systems.
- Demonstrated experience leading motor-driven systems, motor controllers, and embedded communications boards from concept through production.
- Working knowledge of Mechanical Engineering and electromechanical integration.
- Experience with motor and motor controller design.
- Hands-on experience with Windchill or an equivalent PLM system.
- Strong working knowledge of PDR, CDR, TRR, MRR, and Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
- Systems-first, execution-oriented mindset and strong business and financial judgment.
- High ownership and accountability, clear communication, and ability to influence across functions.
- Comfort operating without large support teams, consultants, or layers of management, and working at the whiteboard, in design tools, and on the manufacturing floor.
Nice To Haves
- Electrical Engineering degree specialization.
- Experience with motor and motor controller design below 100W.
- Professional Engineer (PE) certification.
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
- INCOSE or equivalent Systems Engineering certification.
- Lean / DFMA certification.
- Digital Engineering or PLM certification.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and day-to-day leadership across Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Firmware, and Systems Engineering.
- Build, develop, and retain a multidisciplinary engineering team supporting high-mix, high-custom consumer products; establish engineering standards, development practices, documentation requirements, and review discipline.
- Personally contribute to system architecture, design decisions, detailed design work, design reviews, requirements definition, trade studies, and root-cause investigations as needed.
- Lead engineering work during prototypes, pilots, production issues, and field escalations.
- Own Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), Functional Requirements Specifications (FRSs), and system-level specifications; translate customer, market, regulatory, and operational needs into clear, testable requirements and maintain traceability through production release.
- Own and evolve a stage-gate NPI process from concept through full-rate production; lead PDR, CDR, TRR, and MRR reviews, define gate deliverables and exit criteria, apply TRLs, and support predictable, on-time, on-budget program delivery.
- Own end-to-end development and lifecycle management of motors, motor controllers, drive electronics, communications and control boards, and embedded electronics.
- Develop and evolve electrical and controls architectures supporting RF, PoE, Zigbee, Josh.AI, and other smart-home or commercial control protocols; ensure designs meet performance, safety, compliance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost targets.
- Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and suppliers to industrialize electronics for reliable, scalable production.
- Design products for manufacturability, testability, serviceability, reliability, and scalability; support prototype, pilot, ramp, and steady-state production and resolve design-related production issues and quality escapes.
- Own EBOMs, Technical Data Packages (TDPs), revision control, configuration management, Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes, and PLM as the system of record; coordinate changes with Manufacturing and Procurement.
- Identify and reduce cost drivers; lead design-to-cost, margin improvement, and value-engineering initiatives; own engineering budgets, resource planning, and portfolio prioritization; develop business cases for investments and roadmap tradeoffs.
- Lead the design, development, validation, documentation, revision control, and lifecycle ownership of jigs, fixtures, special tooling, gauges, and test equipment.
- Partner with Manufacturing on tooling requirements for NPI, prototype builds, pilot runs, and production readiness; implement tooling solutions that improve ergonomics, quality, throughput, repeatability, and operator safety.
- Identify tooling opportunities that reduce variation, scrap, rework, and operator dependency.
- Provide engineering leadership and technical support to after-market customer support across product lines; investigate field issues, complaints, and failures with Customer Support, Quality, and Manufacturing.
- Develop corrective actions, including design changes, service procedures, technical documentation updates, and product improvements; incorporate field failure data, warranty trends, and customer feedback into sustaining engineering and future development.
- Ensure engineering decisions account for lifecycle cost, margin, and warranty exposure.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
