Senior Manufacturing Engineering Technician

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories • Lake Zurich, IL

2d

About The Position

The Senior Manufacturing Engineering Technician supports manufacturing operations, complex engineering changes, new product introductions, production lines, and manufacturing process improvements. The role coordinates prototype and pilot builds, plans materials and resources, assesses risks, manages cross-functional execution, and addresses roadblocks to meet project deliverables. It influences designs using data and feedback aligned with design-for-manufacturing guidelines and supports solution analysis and process planning activities.

The technician independently manages manufacturing data and documentation across business systems, including parts, products, bills of materials, routing steps, specifications, work instructions, and change orders. The role maintains technical evidence for product and process validations and issue resolutions, ensures manufacturing processes and equipment operate optimally, and leads structured root-cause analysis for complex issues.

The position applies World Class Manufacturing principles, work measurement, flow analysis, and quality assessment to recommend process improvements and workflow or workcell designs, including automation, and supports implementation in Production. It contributes to complex solutions and may independently manage basic to moderately complex solutions under engineering supervision. The role also supports product quality, quality actions, customer feedback resolution, statistical process control, and improvements to systems and work processes. Employees are expected to follow SEL Values, Principles of Operation, and World Class Manufacturing.

Requirements

• Two-year technical degree, or an equivalent combination of training and relevant work experience.
• Demonstrated technical competence in all core curriculum areas: drawing and schematic interpretation, technical writing, problem solving (such as DOE and 8D), safety risk assessments, World Class Manufacturing, mathematics (geometry, trigonometry, and college algebra), statistics, and applied physics.
• Demonstrated technical competence in at least four of seven pathways, or recognized expertise beyond the candidate's peer group in at least two pathways: continuous improvement methodologies; electronic circuits and components; machine operation, instrumentation, and control; mechanical design, statics, CAD, tolerance analysis, and rapid prototyping; metal forming, cutting/machining, finishing, and joining processes; programming, scripting, data structures, data mining, and analysis tools; or project management.
• Typically, at least 6 years in a technical role supporting manufacturing processes and using MES/ERP systems to create or update bills of materials, change orders, process documentation, routes, work instructions, and related materials.
• Ability to work cooperatively in a team environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Satisfactory background check results.
• Negative drug test results.

Nice To Haves

• Mechanical aptitude.
• Expert use of MS Dynamics AX and MS Office applications.
• Expert use of SEL applications such as BluePrint, FDWeb, FactoryCore, and FactoryVision.
• Expert use of project management tools such as Confluence and JIRA.

Responsibilities

• Support new products and highly complex engineering change orders by developing project timelines, managing prototype and pilot builds, ensuring materials and resources are available, assessing risks, planning contingencies, coordinating cross-functional execution, removing roadblocks, and applying lessons learned.
• Influence product designs through data and feedback in accordance with design-for-manufacturing guidelines, and support analysis of alternatives.
• Coordinate process planning, risk assessment, and process capability analysis activities.
• Manage parts, products, bills of materials, route steps, specifications, and work instructions across multiple business systems.
• Peer review change orders before release.
• Create and maintain technical evidence for product and process validations and issue resolutions relating to prototypes, pilots, and other experiments.
• Support manufacturing operations, specific technologies, and production lines; ensure processes and equipment function optimally in assigned areas.
• Resolve highly complex issues and lead root-cause analysis using structured problem-solving methods.
• Apply World Class Manufacturing principles, work measurement, flow analysis, and quality assessment to recommend process improvements and workflow or workcell designs, including automation, for Production consideration.
• Support Production implementation efforts.
• Contribute to highly complex solutions and independently manage and develop basic to moderately complex solutions in accordance with engineering procedures and under engineering supervision.
• Support product quality through engineering requirements, specifications, IPC workmanship, IEC compliance, and other standards.
• Support internal quality action requests, external customer feedback resolution, and statistical process control implementations to drive continuous improvement.
• Seek input, specify, drive, and implement system developments or enhancements to improve communications and optimize work processes.
• Follow and apply SEL Values, Principles of Operation, and World Class Manufacturing.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Employer-funded employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and personal 401(k) options.
• Medical, prescription, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance.
• 10 paid holidays.
• Annual vacation accrual starting at 12 days.
• 9 paid sick days.
• Paid family and medical leave covering 90% of pay.
• STEM courses, apprenticeships, tuition assistance, and engineering development programs.
• Wellness, fertility, adoption, and flexible spending benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree