Director of Engineering

Swagelok Company • Solon, OH

21d

About The Position

The Director of Engineering is a senior leader responsible for shaping Swagelok’s engineering strategy across new product development and lifecycle management. This role drives innovation, execution, and alignment to deliver high-quality, profitable fluid system solutions that meet evolving customer and market needs. The individual leads both new product development and product engineering teams—ensuring speed, quality, and financial performance. They collaborate across the business, including Commercial Marketing, Operations, Sourcing, and SSCs, to address technical challenges, support capacity planning, and prioritize opportunities that maximize enterprise profitability. The ideal candidate is a visionary leader with strong commercial expertise and business acumen. They inspire high-performing teams, communicate a compelling vision, and consistently deliver results through strategic thinking and cross-functional collaboration.

Requirements

• An undergraduate degree in an engineering discipline is required.
• 15 years of progressive experience in a premium design and manufacturing environment, including 5+ years in a leadership or management role.
• Deep understanding of engineering principles, product development lifecycle, discrete manufacturing, and quality systems
• Demonstrated history of successful product development, commercialization, and ongoing product management with a focus on driving new revenue and maximizing profitability.
• Demonstrated track record of developing and sustaining effective and energized working relationships with leaders to align people at all levels with the organization’s strategic objectives.
• Experience in strategic planning, translating high level objectives into actionable plans, and presenting to senior executives.
• Ability to recruit high level talent; read people accurately, diagnose strengths, weaknesses, potential and hire the best.
• Ability to lead, motivate, coach, and develop the team to improve individual and overall group performance.
• Strong prioritization and project management skills, including resource allocation, budgeting, and timeline management

Nice To Haves

• MBA
• Masters Degree in a technical field
• Experience with industry-specific tools, technologies, and methodologies (e.g., CAD, FEA, Agile, Lean, Six Sigma)

Responsibilities

• Build and mentor high-performing engineering teams.
• Participate in executive strategy discussions and cross-functional planning.
• Communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders, including customers, distributors, and partners.
• Ensure deliverables meet performance, cost, quality, and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and translate strategy into actionable execution across the organization.
• Understand and apply corporate strategic objectives to position engineering as a problem-solving partner across target markets.
• Develop and execute the R&D strategy aligned with corporate growth objectives.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies and trends for integration into future products.
• Lead cross-functional teams in the design, development, and validation of new products.
• Champion design for manufacturability, reliability, and sustainability.
• Stay abreast of advanced product development tools (e.g., FEA, CFD, PLM) to drive innovation and cost efficiency.
• Lead corporate innovation initiatives and engage with universities and third-party partners on new technologies.
• Develop and optimize testing capabilities to meet evolving customer needs.
• Drive the product roadmap and lifecycle strategy.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Sales, and customers to define product requirements and value propositions.
• Monitor market trends, competitive landscape, and customer feedback to guide product evolution.
• Manage and optimize the product development process to ensure timely, high-quality, and profitable launches.
• Ensure ongoing development of technical skills and engineering best practices across the organization.
• Lead remote teams responsible for product design on IoM platforms.
• Develop and execute the organization’s intellectual property (IP) strategy.
• Co-lead the Product Commercialization Committee and the Engineering Project Management Office.
• Work with functional leaders to prioritize opportunities and allocate resources that drive revenue growth through new products, modifications, and services.
• Collaborate with Marketing to understand key markets and lead road mapping efforts.
• Partner with distributors and customers to understand current and future product needs.

Benefits

• Swagelok provides a comprehensive package of valuable benefits called Total Rewards focused on health and wellness, compensation, retirement planning, and supplemental rewards.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 51-100 employees