Engineering Project Team Leader

Caterpillar Inc.•Lafayette, IN

4d•$128,470 - $192,710•Onsite

About The Position

As a Cylinder Pack Engineering Project Team Leader, you will provide technical leadership and strategic direction for cylinder pack products and systems across the Large Power Systems Division. You will lead a team of engineers responsible for the design, development, validation, and lifecycle management of critical engine components, including pistons, rings, and liners, while ensuring alignment with platform, business, and customer objectives. In this role, you will serve as the primary technical focal point for cylinder pack systems, establishing product strategies, technology roadmaps, and long-term development plans that support diesel, natural gas, and alternative fuel reciprocating engines serving customers around the world. You will provide engineering leadership across multiple programs and platforms, guiding key technical decisions, managing technical risk, and ensuring designs meet performance, durability, manufacturability, quality, and cost objectives. You will coach, mentor, and develop engineers across varying levels of experience, fostering technical excellence, accountability, and professional growth within the team. You will help engineers strengthen their technical capabilities, expand their understanding of engine systems, and successfully navigate increasingly complex engineering challenges and leadership opportunities. Working closely with global engineering teams, suppliers, manufacturing facilities, and cross-functional stakeholders, you will drive alignment across product platforms and organizations, ensuring effective execution from concept development through production launch and ongoing product support. You will provide oversight of critical engineering activities, facilitate issue resolution, champion best practices, and ensure the successful delivery of strategic business objectives. As a recognized technical leader, you will identify emerging technologies, assess future customer and market needs, and shape the direction of cylinder pack products and systems for future engine platforms. You will influence engineering standards, develop organizational capability, and build strong partnerships across Caterpillar’s global engineering and manufacturing organizations to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an accredited Engineering, Computer Science, or Materials Science curriculum.
Experience with engine system or component design, engine testing, calibration, simulation, or controls development
Products and Services: Extensive knowledge of major products and services and product and service groups; ability to apply knowledge of product and service appropriately to diverse situations.
Technical Excellence: Extensive knowledge of a given technology and various application methods; ability to develop and provide solutions to significant technical challenges.
Influencing Through Expertise: Extensive knowledge of effective influencing tactics and strategies; ability to use these to deepen own expertise and impact or challenge decisions within and outside own organization.
Project Management: Expert level knowledge of effective project management strategies and tactics; ability to plan, organize, monitor, and control projects, ensuring efficient utilization of technical and administrative resources to achieve project objectives.
Team Management: Extensive knowledge of effective team building techniques; ability to form and manage effective teams.
Requirements Analysis: Extensive knowledge of tools, methods, and techniques of requirement analysis; ability to elicit, analyze and record required business functionality and non-functionality requirements to ensure the success of a system or software development project.
Troubleshooting Technical Problems: Extensive knowledge of troubleshooting approaches, tools and techniques; ability to anticipate, detect and resolve technical problems in a manufacturing or product management environment.
Product Design and Development: Extensive knowledge of product features; ability to design, build, and develop a new product, technology, or service from concept through to production.

Nice To Haves

The ability to work on and lead multiple projects simultaneously and make sound priority decisions
Master’s degree (or higher) in Engineering from an accredited curriculum
Excellent communication, interpersonal and collaboration skills
Cylinder pack, engine components design background
Validation testing definition experience using FMEA and DVP&R methods
Engine performance and component testing experience
Engine platform and customer application understanding
APQP, PPAP and design release experience

Responsibilities

Build expertise as the technical owner for PRL cylinder pack components, leveraging knowledge from current subject matter experts while assuming responsibility for the design, development, validation, and lifecycle management of assigned cylinder pack products.
Lead a team in the execution of New Product Introduction, New Source Introduction, New Technology Introduction, and Continuous Product Improvement programs
Communicate results to customers, suppliers, team members, and other business units
Acts as the voice of the team in meetings with multiple levels of management and with customers.
Setting project-level strategy and solving problems relating to a technology, component, product, or process.
Ability to draw upon foundational product development skills such as conceptual design, development of product and/or process, data analysis & extraction, failure resolution & prevention, and requirements management is required
Skill in technical project management, development of product internal and external requirements management, and cost management.
Accountable for pulling together a team of individuals across multiple teams to solve technical problems and develop solutions across functional areas
Gather input from a broad team to formulate decisions and develop the output for the project. Key areas of responsibility are: plan and manage the job/project; manage the business/financial aspects of the job or project; provide a supportive work environment for the team; mentor, coach, and develop others; and manage one’s own development.
Direct and/or conduct analytical simulation work, providing boundary conditions, load inputs, and evaluation of results.