Program Engineer

Designed Conveyor Systems•Franklin, TN

About The Position

The Program Engineer supports successful delivery of projects across a customer portfolio with diverse building and project types. The role serves as a technical and program-level integrator across Engineering Delivery, Program Management, Controls, Applications, and Solutions and Growth, ensuring alignment from early opportunity through execution and go-live. It provides engineering oversight across concurrent precontract opportunities and active projects, helping ensure solutions are well-defined, executable, and aligned with DCS standards and customer expectations. The position requires functional design expertise, commercial awareness, proactive risk management, and the ability to align stakeholders across project phases. The Program Engineer supports design integrity, estimation, resource and workload planning, proposals, customer specifications, vendor assessment, testing, site activities, and go-live execution. The role also serves as an engineering point of escalation for projects within the program portfolio and may provide on-site or remote support during critical execution phases. Travel is expected to be 30–40% of a typical year.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience in material handling system design and delivery engineering.
Strong engineering and design expertise and understanding of how systems translate from concept to execution.
Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities while balancing detail with broader program alignment.
Strong cross-functional communication skills and ability to influence without direct authority.
Commercial awareness, including estimating, proposal support, and cost evaluation.
Proactive approach to identifying risks and driving alignment before issues affect execution.
Highly organized, with the ability to track multiple workstreams, stakeholders, and deliverables simultaneously.
Willingness to travel 30–40% of a typical year.

Responsibilities

Act as a technical and program partner across projects and opportunities within a vertical, supporting alignment, visibility, and execution readiness.
Maintain participation in heartbeat meetings to track project updates, risks, and resourcing needs.
Coordinate PMs, Controls, and Engineering teams to align priorities for upcoming and active projects.
Participate in coordination meetings and forecast reviews to align workload and resource planning.
Own the program lessons-learned process and drive improvements based on recurring engineering, vendor, and execution risks.
Identify future resource constraints and communicate staffing, skill, and capacity risks to leadership.
Evaluate and support increasing engineering team capability and capacity to support customer-profile growth.
Review program dashboards, trackers, and reporting tools covering project status, engineering demand, risks, customer requirements, and execution readiness.
Mentor engineers and project team members on customer standards, program expectations, and lessons learned.
Share customer, program, and engineering knowledge across project teams to improve consistency and execution quality.
Facilitate feedback and growth of the program team, including program managers, sales, and program engineers.
Advise sales, applications, and program management on pursuit strategy, solution fit, execution risk, and customer priorities.
Review risk and consult leadership on new expansions within the customer portfolio.
Attend and advise system design reviews, providing guidance on functional design and execution best practices.
Participate in internal and customer design reviews and firm engineering calls to ensure alignment on solution intent and standards.
Support development of functional design breakouts for firm engineering phases.
Provide input and pushback as needed to maintain design integrity and adherence to DCS standards.
Develop an expert-level understanding of customer specifications and requirements and support creation of specifications when they are not provided.
Increase engagement and visibility with assigned vertical customers to support alignment and confidence in solutions.
Communicate changes to customer standards, specifications, engineering practices, and program requirements across the portfolio.
Own engineering-hour estimates for opportunities, including mechanical engineering, project engineering, product design, and site-related costs.
Support ROM pricing evaluations and validate labor and material assumptions.
Review proposals and contribute to functional scope definition and mechanical clarifications.
Participate in precontract reviews, including Go/No-Go, Vendor Bid Reviews, and Financial Reviews, clarifying costs, mitigating risks, and supporting capture strategy from a technical perspective.
Review and consult on project schedules, validating durations for firm engineering, execution, procurement, and controls integration.
Support go/no-go evaluations by assessing RFPs, sales inputs, and associated risks.
Ensure execution readiness by aligning scope, schedule, and engineering deliverables.
Participate in design reviews and customer firm engineering calls throughout the project lifecycle.
Maintain a forward-looking view of engineering demand, testing support, travel requirements, and go-live activities across the program portfolio.
Support testing plans, site activities, and go-live execution as needed, including on-site or remote support during critical phases.
Serve as the Engineering point of escalation and support for projects within the program portfolio.
Evaluate proposed vendors and provide input on technical fit and execution risk for bidding and backlog projects.
Support vendor training and knowledge sharing across the engineering team.
Partner with Supplier Development to onboard and assess vendors and suppliers based on project needs and past performance.