Global Product Engineering Director

Brambles•Orlando, FL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Join CHEP’s Global Product Innovation (GPI) team to lead the engineering backbone that turns ideas into scalable, sustainable physical products. You’ll own the end-to-end development lifecycle, elevate mechanical engineering excellence, and foster a culture of innovation and cross functional collaboration that drives growth, customer impact, and competitive advantage. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of CHEP’s physical product portfolio within a global, mission driven organization known for sustainability leadership and real customer impact. You’ll operate at the nexus of innovation, engineering rigor, and commercial outcomes—empowering teams and delivering products that perform in the world’s most demanding supply chains.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering preferred, Master’s in Engineering beneficial.
~7+ years’ mechanical engineering design and analysis experience in a high‑performance product development environment with strong exposure to product testing and performance analysis; 3+ years managing technical staff.
Demonstrated strength in data analysis, experimental design, technical documentation, and stakeholder communication.
Hands‑on experience with mechanical equipment, especially laboratory and materials testing equipment.
Strong 3D CAD background (Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks) with CAE tools to optimize designs.
Broad project management experience, interfacing with diverse stakeholders; proven ability to manage staff and a large project portfolio with composure and professionalism.
Broad product design experience across materials and applications, with emphasis on plastics/composites components and assemblies; ability to evaluate material suitability based on mechanical properties.
Statistics‑driven data analysis (e.g., Minitab, SAS, Statistica) in the context of experimentation, tolerances, and performance metrics.
Data management (databases, Product Data Management); technical presentations, analysis, documentation.
Strong 3D CAD proficiency (Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks); mechanical design, product testing, and evaluation.
Project management & leadership; customer‑facing credibility.
Deep understanding of material properties for design & optimization; predictive engineering techniques (CAE), FMEA, statistical analysis, and data interpretation.
Some experience with structural analysis (FEA) in mechanical engineering design.
Strategic and original thinker; strong leadership and people management.
Desire and ability to lead and grow technical and non‑technical staff.
Outstanding verbal and written communication, including strong presentation skills and customer service.
Skilled with office productivity tools—especially advanced MS Excel.

Nice To Haves

Design/analysis with composites and laminates; packaging design.
Diverse manufacturing process experience; complex product assembly/configuration management; product data management.
Product and materials regulatory experience; intellectual property exposure.
Cost estimating, spend management, and project financial analysis, knowledge of wood as an engineering material.
Experience leading remote production/design engineering across multiple countries

Responsibilities

Drive the engineering lifecycle for new and existing physical products, ensuring robust design, testing, validation, and technical delivery.
Translate strategic product innovation priorities into clear engineering roadmaps, plans, and workstreams aligned with organisational outcomes.
Lead global engineering teams across product categories, providing coaching, direction, and support to deliver consistently high‑quality outputs.
Oversee global testing and experimentation activities, ensuring appropriate test design, accurate data collection, and rigorous technical analysis.
Manage escalations related to technical decisions, resource constraints, and operational challenges, ensuring continuity and delivery of engineering programmes.
Partner with commercial, marketing, operations, and strategy teams to deliver customer‑focused solutions and support collaborative innovation projects.
Manage engineering budgets, optimising utilisation of internal resources and external partners, including suppliers, consultancies, and test facilities.
Strengthen engineering governance by defining success metrics, ensuring high‑quality reporting, and promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams and regions.
Support the Global Head of Product Innovation and GPI Category Leads in strategic directions and goals; convert GPI outcomes into actionable engineering plans, deliverables, success metrics, and governance (in partnership with GPI Product Operations).
Drive the end‑to‑end development of new and existing physical products, ensuring market fit, sustainability impact, commercial viability, and compliance with standards.
Foster a high‑performing, innovative culture across engineering, testing, product operations, Sales, Marketing, and Leadership; accelerate growth via experimentation, rapid prototyping, and data‑driven decision‑making.
Line‑manage engineers across Core and Specialty categories; set clear objectives, remove impediments, resolve technical and resource escalations, and coach for performance.
Define engineering success metrics aligned to overall GPI outcomes; monitor and report progress, risks, and course‑corrections.
Lead the global product innovation support team and facility (IC), acting as a role model in program management of critical technical programs for product development, testing, and experimentation.
Lead complex global engineering programs; supervise personnel and ensure on‑time delivery of diverse mechanical engineering and testing workstreams.
Grow GPI capacity in innovation—product launches, testing throughput, and external collaboration—to meet strategic demand.
Partner with CHEP Sales, Marketing, and Leadership to scope and deliver customer projects at the Innovation Center from definition through execution, ensuring measurable value.
Manage and collaborate across countries; delegate effectively and contribute directly to cross‑functional teams.
Manage and optimize budgets for Innovation Center (IC) and Product Testing Team (PTT); track spend, ROI, and value creation.
Develop engineers and support staff; drive succession planning, skills growth, and engagement.
Establish core data collection and reporting for product design and testing; ensure high‑quality technical documentation and traceability.
Collaborate seamlessly with external engineering service providers for specialized analyses, testing, and scale-up.
Define robust test programs—select the right tests, sample sizes, timelines, resources, and budget requirements.