Manufacturing Engineering Manager
About The Position
The Manufacturing Engineering Manager leads the manufacturing engineering function at the Maple Grove/Dayton, Minnesota location, managing a team of manufacturing engineers and maintenance staff while remaining technically hands-on. The role is accountable for process design, tooling, plant layout, quality system support, and continuous improvement across Air Handling Unit, DX, Chiller, and CDU product lines. As the manufacturing engineering owner in new product introduction (NPI) programs, the manager ensures process readiness, tooling, and manufacturability at each program gate, partnering with Design Engineering and Program Management to support on-time launches. The role also drives plant-level automation, digital tooling, and Industry 4.0 adoption, putting network-level standards into practice. Gradian is an engineering-led thermal solutions provider with a vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing model serving data center and other mission-critical, commercial, and industrial markets.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 7–10 years of manufacturing engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership role.
- Demonstrated experience leading NPI from design release through production ramp.
- Strong working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing and 80/20 methodologies.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems and manufacturing documentation, including BOMs, routings, and work instructions.
- Proficiency with CAD/CAM software and manufacturing simulation tools.
- Proven ability to lead, develop, and manage a technical team.
Nice To Haves
- Experience manufacturing HVAC, thermal management, or data center cooling equipment, such as air handling units, chillers, or CDUs.
- Experience with pressure vessel and/or refrigerant-circuit manufacturing compliance, including UL, ASME, or AHRI.
- Six Sigma Green Belt, Black Belt, or equivalent certification.
- Experience with MES, automation, robotics, or Industry 4.0/smart factory deployment.
- Multi-site or plant start-up/site-readiness experience.
- Experience in a high-growth or scaling manufacturing environment.
Responsibilities
- Lead and develop manufacturing engineers and maintenance staff, setting goals, prioritizing projects, and building technical capability.
- Own manufacturing engineering contributions to NPI programs, ensuring process readiness, tooling, and manufacturability at each program gate and partnering with Design Engineering and Program Management for on-time launches.
- Implement Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFM/DFA) practices early in the design cycle.
- Design, build, and improve manufacturing processes, tooling, fixtures, and plant layout to maximize safety, quality, throughput, and cost efficiency.
- Develop and justify capital equipment requests and approve capital expenditures.
- Eliminate production bottlenecks using line balancing, time studies, and capacity planning.
- Lead Lean and 80/20 continuous improvement initiatives to improve yield, cycle time, first-pass quality, and OEE.
- Ensure manufacturing processes are qualified and controlled through PFMEA and control plans, partnering with Quality to identify critical characteristics.
- Maintain compliant manufacturing documentation, including routings, BOMs, work instructions, and process plans.
- Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for manufacturing and hardware nonconformances.
- Own safety risk assessment and sign-off for new or changed manufacturing processes, ensuring compliance with OSHA and applicable pressure-vessel and refrigerant-handling codes.
- Drive plant-level automation, digital tooling, and Industry 4.0 adoption, including connected equipment, dashboards, and visual management.
- Partner with Supply Chain on component manufacturability and tooling/vendor qualification.
- Adopt and contribute to manufacturing engineering best practices shared across Gradian's plant network.
- Report manufacturing engineering performance metrics to plant leadership and use data to guide decisions.
Benefits
- Medical, vision, and dental plans.
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance.
- Group term life insurance coverage.
- HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care plans available.
- 8 paid holidays and 4 floating holidays.
- Generous PTO policy.
- 401(k) matching.
- Company-paid events.
- Annual safety shoe allowance.
- Education assistance program.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
