NPI Mechanical Engineer

Pentair•Apex, NC

About The Position

Pentair is seeking an NPI Mechanical Engineer to join its Apex, North Carolina team. The role supports launching new products into full-scale production by driving manufacturability, scalability, and continuous improvement from early design through production ramp-up. The engineer leads the end-to-end new product introduction process and helps ensure a smooth transition from product development to manufacturing. The position collaborates with product development, design, supply chain, quality, and operations teams to meet cost, quality, and delivery targets. Travel of 25% is preferred as business demand requires.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or industrial engineering, or equivalent.
At least 5 years of NPI engineering experience in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
Strong understanding of manufacturing process development, capacity planning, and production line scaling.
Ability to work globally with engineering staff in remote locations while respecting and understanding different cultures.
Drive for results and willingness to take initiative.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
High self-motivation and urgency, with the ability to meet deadlines.
Ability to engage, inspire, motivate, and influence others.

Nice To Haves

Lean knowledge.
Experience with controls PLCs, robotics, AGVs, AMH, AMRs, HMIs, DC tools, or vision systems.
Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% as demand requires.

Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end NPI process and ensure a seamless handoff from product development to manufacturing.
Partner with NPD and design teams to drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Test (DFT).
Plan and manage pilot builds, pre-production runs, and production ramp-up activities.
Develop, document, and refine scalable manufacturing processes, work instructions, and line layouts aligned with Lean principles.
Drive process standardization, cycle time reduction, and throughput improvement.
Lead cross-functional problem-solving to identify and eliminate process inefficiencies and quality issues; own and drive PFMEA activities throughout the process life cycle.
Collaborate with supply chain, quality, and operations teams to meet cost, quality, and delivery targets.
Use Lean tools such as value stream mapping, 5S, Kaizen, and mistake-proofing to support continuous improvement.
Conceptualize, design, fabricate, and deploy manufacturing equipment and tooling focused on safety, quality, and cost.
Communicate project status to stakeholders and follow up to ensure project results are sustained.