Engineering Manager

Fortifi•Gainesville, GA

About The Position

The Engineering Manager leads and develops the multidisciplinary Sustaining Engineering team, providing coaching, training, knowledge sharing, and technical guidance. The role establishes priorities, assigns ownership, allocates resources, and sets deadlines while balancing production and field issues, customer orders, engineered-to-order work, strategic initiatives, and planned product improvements. The position supports existing products by resolving technical issues and recurring failures to improve reliability, performance, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost. It controls engineering output, including drawings, bills of materials, specifications, and product configurations, and manages engineering changes from impact assessment and approval through release, implementation, and verification. The manager drives execution across multiple assignments and projects, oversees requirements definition, design reviews, prototyping, testing, and validation, and coordinates across manufacturing, quality, supply chain, service, sales, product management, and customers. The role also establishes engineering standards, tools, analysis methods, and structured problem-solving practices, using daily and visual management to improve engineering quality and efficiency. Work takes place in both an office setting and a manufacturing warehouse. Travel may be required up to 10% as needed. Employment is contingent on successfully completing a pre-employment background check and drug screening, and candidates must provide documentation of eligibility to work in the United States.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field from an ABET-accredited program.
At least five years of engineering leadership and management experience, including product improvement.
At least three years of experience designing and supporting capital equipment or industrial machinery; this experience may overlap with the leadership requirement.
Ability to lead multidisciplinary mechanical, electrical, and controls engineering teams, coach engineers, and develop technical capabilities.
Ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize competing demands, and allocate resources to meet schedule, quality, and cost objectives while balancing urgent support with planned improvements.
Strong analytical, communication, cross-functional collaboration, customer interaction, and financial decision-making skills.
Strong knowledge of equipment design, engineering analysis, materials, manufacturing methods, control systems, testing, and applicable industry standards.
Experience resolving engineering issues affecting manufacturing, assembly, installation, service, and installed equipment.
Experience managing engineering change impact assessment, approval, release, implementation, and verification for production and installed equipment.
Working knowledge of CAD/PDM or PLM systems, ERP integration, bills of materials, drawings, revision control, and product configuration management.
Experience using structured problem-solving and root-cause analysis to investigate failures and verify corrective actions using production, service, warranty, and customer feedback.
Demonstrated ability to improve manufacturing, assembly, serviceability, standardization, and product cost without compromising requirements.
Experience qualifying replacement components, resolving supplier-related technical issues, and managing component obsolescence.
Experience assessing design risks and defining verification and validation appropriate to the impact of equipment changes.
Ability to establish effective engineering practices, implement measurable process improvements, and make timely, informed decisions that balance customer needs and operational goals.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading embedded systems engineering and development.
Experience supporting standard equipment platforms and engineered-to-order configurations.
Experience transitioning products from development into production and sustaining support.
Experience using engineering performance measures such as change lead time, backlog aging, repeat failures, warranty trends, and cost-reduction results.
Experience with hygienic equipment design and washdown environments, where applicable to the product portfolio.

Responsibilities

Direct and develop the multidisciplinary Sustaining Engineering team through coaching, training, knowledge sharing, and technical guidance.
Establish work priorities, assign ownership, allocate resources, and set achievable deadlines for tasks and deliverables.
Balance urgent production and field issues, customer orders and engineered-to-order work, strategic initiatives, and planned product improvements.
Resolve technical issues and recurring failures to improve equipment reliability, performance, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost.
Ensure drawings, bills of materials, specifications, and product configurations are accurate, complete, and released on time.
Manage engineering changes through impact assessment, approval, release, implementation, and verification.
Establish scope, schedules, milestones, and risk mitigation for multiple engineering assignments, projects, and initiatives.
Review progress, hold the team accountable for deadlines, remove barriers, and take corrective action when delivery is at risk.
Coordinate priority or resource changes and communicate schedule risks early to meet quality, cost, and delivery commitments.
Oversee requirements definition, design reviews, prototyping, testing, and validation of equipment modifications against applicable safety, quality, performance, and industry standards.
Establish engineering standards, tools, analysis methods, and structured problem-solving practices.
Use daily and visual management to drive measurable improvements in engineering quality and efficiency.
Coordinate with manufacturing, quality, supply chain, service, sales, product management, and customers to resolve issues, clarify requirements, and support equipment throughout its lifecycle.