Director of Engineering

Leggett & Platt•Carthage, MO

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

Leggett & Platt Inc. is seeking a Director of Engineering to join their engineering team and support their bedding business. This role serves as a player-coach, focused on improving equipment performance, building engineering capability, establishing practical engineering standards, strengthening project discipline, and fostering collaboration between Product Development, Quality, Manufacturing, internal engineering teams, key branches, and external engineering partners. The position directly impacts the business by enhancing engineering and manufacturing execution across business unit operations. Key responsibilities include leadership for capital planning, machinery development, industrial and process engineering, controls, automation, electrical engineering, technical documentation, and the transition of new products into stable manufacturing performance. The team is described as collaborative, innovative, and values challenging work and diversity of thought. This role offers a relocation opportunity to Carthage, MO.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Manufacturing, or related discipline).
12-15+ years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment, including meaningful leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated success leading engineering teams, machinery development, automation, manufacturing process improvement, and launch readiness activities.
Strong project/program management capability with demonstrated ownership of schedules, resources, cost, risk management, cross-functional alignment, and stakeholder communication.
Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, value stream mapping, TPM, capital project execution, SPC, Six Sigma, PFMEA, PPAP, and structured root-cause problem solving.
Ability to work effectively across operations, quality, product development, engineering partners, suppliers, and multiple manufacturing sites.
Proven ability to balance hands-on technical involvement with leadership, coaching, organizational development, and disciplined execution.

Nice To Haves

Additional education and/or certifications.

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and develop a multi-disciplinary engineering organization spanning machinery development, industrial and process engineering, controls, automation, electrical engineering, and drafting.
Establish and reinforce clear engineering standards, documentation expectations, design rigor, decision rights, and project discipline across all supported sites.
Own the transition from new product development to stable, capable, and mature manufacturing performance, including planning and preparing for manufacturing through the product development stage gate process.
Ensure Design for Manufacturability (DFM), process capability, control plans, equipment readiness, tooling, documentation, training, and service/support requirements are addressed early to prevent launch friction.
Provide disciplined project leadership with respect to timing, resources, cost, scope, risk, and cross-functional accountability for engineering and manufacturing readiness initiatives.
Establish project plans with visible milestones, owners, constraints, decision points, and escalation paths for proactive management of launch and capital work.
Maintain clear communication around project status, tradeoffs, risks, cost impacts, and expected business outcomes.
Maintain regular presence in manufacturing operations to understand equipment, process flow, quality, reliability, and operator challenges firsthand.
Provide hands-on technical leadership on high-impact equipment, process, tooling, automation, and control issues.
Partner with manufacturing and maintenance leaders to improve equipment reliability, maintainability, operational stability, and responsiveness to production needs.
Support and sustain Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) strategies.
Drive continuous improvement using Lean manufacturing principles, value stream thinking, level loading, practical material flow improvements, and structured problem solving.
Apply SPC, process capability analysis, root-cause analysis, and disciplined experimentation to improve quality, consistency, and predictability.
Lead automation and manufacturing technology initiatives that deliver measurable operational, quality, safety, and financial benefit.
Use ACE principles to make continuous improvement part of daily work, reinforce common language and methodology, and build capability through real business problems.
Lead and review major capital projects, ensuring strong project rigor, schedule discipline, resource planning, cost control, and return on investment.
Support capital planning and prioritization, including project justification, execution oversight, commissioning, and post-implementation review.
Ensure engineering standards, specifications, spare parts planning, and technical documentation support long-term asset performance, maintainability, safety, and lifecycle cost.