Manager, Engineering

Whirlpool•Saint Joseph, MI

16d

About The Position

As the Lead System Integrator for the Cooking Category, this role serves as the primary technical program leader and structural bridge between Business Units, engineering subsystems, and manufacturing execution. The position owns end-to-end technical execution of complex electro-mechanical platforms—including built-in ovens, freestanding ranges, cooktops, and microwaves—and drives multi-million-dollar architectural refreshes from early concept selection through factory production validation. The role integrates stakeholders across electronics, software, electrical, mechanical structures, quality, and procurement to deliver robust cooking products that delight consumers and meet business key performance indicators. It oversees new product introduction, system-level design decisions, validation, engineering builds, bills of materials, budgets, and cross-functional execution through start of production.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, such as Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, or Aerospace Engineering.
10+ years of hands-on experience.
Proven track record managing end-to-end product architecture development, complex subsystem interfaces, engineering project management, technical design, and systems engineering.

Nice To Haves

Strong knowledge of cooking appliance architectures, including gas combustion components, electrical or induction heating, thermal dynamics, or embedded camera and smart sensor integration.
Deep proficiency in systems engineering toolsets, including DFMEA, root cause analysis, tolerance stack-up tools, PPAP validation, and Opex-Six Sigma methodology.
Demonstrated leadership presence and ability to drive technical design and process issue lists to closure with cross-functional stakeholders without direct reporting authority.
Comfort managing project engineering expenses, capital expenditure budgeting, and engineering spend forecasting.

Responsibilities

Oversee and execute New Product Introduction projects using the WPD 2.0 framework, meeting On Cost, On Time, and On Quality KPIs and Open to Ship milestones.
Evaluate system-level design, cost, quality, and timing trade-offs for thermodynamics, gas and electric power delivery, and smart-appliance user interfaces within project guardrails.
Conduct technical design reviews with subsystem teams, verification and validation strategists, and architects to assess alignment with architectural and product plans.
Formulate the Design Validation Plan & Report (DVP&R) and collaborate with the V&V team to ensure compliance with global safety standards, FMEAs, and regulatory codes, including UL, CSA, DOE, and ANSI.
Drive Virtual Product Development for early-stage virtual testing and coordinate physical verification through test plans.
Partner with subject-matter experts to achieve product attribute leadership and collaborate with marketing, product, and legal teams to validate product claims.
Oversee Critical Parameters Measurement with Quality Leads, including physical part measurement and documentation ahead of engineering builds.
Create, release, and manage Engineering Bills of Materials (EBOM) using internal PLM systems, including Windchill and SAP, across development phases.
Own engineering, development, and industrialization builds through start of production, including travel to manufacturing plants in Tulsa and Cleveland.
Manage project expenses and prototype budgets.
Represent engineering in cross-functional core team meetings and stage/gate reviews.