Sr Manufacturing Project Engineer

Job Summary

The Senior Manufacturing Project Engineer is a hands-on engineering and project execution role responsible for supporting the startup of new manufacturing facilities and replicating established manufacturing processes for electrical conducting bar (busbar) products. Safety is the first consideration in every layout, equipment, tooling, contractor, installation, commissioning, and startup decision. The role translates proven manufacturing concepts into safe, efficient facility and work-cell designs, equipment and tooling specifications, installation plans, and commissioned production assets.
The position is expected to take an end-to-end view of each work cell: from incoming material through processing, handling, inspection, and finished-part transfer. Designs should minimize unnecessary movement and handling, improve ergonomics and maintainability, and incorporate practical automation wherever it improves safety, repeatability, quality, throughput, or total operating effectiveness. The role emphasizes disciplined execution and replication rather than unnecessary reinvention of established manufacturing processes.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

• Champion a safety-first engineering culture. Apply risk reduction at the design stage and ensure layouts, equipment, tooling, guarding, utilities, access, material handling, installation, and commissioning activities support safe operation and maintenance.

• Develop and maintain detailed 2D/3D CAD facility layouts incorporating manufacturing equipment, work cells, utilities, material handling, operator access, maintenance clearances, safety zones, and future expansion requirements.

• Design end-to-end work-cell flow around the established manufacturing process, optimizing the movement of people, raw material, work-in-process, finished product, tooling, and information through the cell.

• Identify and develop opportunities to reduce manual handling, excess travel, congestion, and non-value-added movement, while incorporating automation or mechanized handling where technically and economically appropriate.

• Ensure work-cell designs consider ergonomics, safe access, maintainability, quality inspection points, material presentation, equipment interfaces, automation integration, and practical production support requirements.

• Translate established manufacturing requirements into equipment, tooling, utility, infrastructure, controls, and installation specifications.

• Develop technical scopes of work, equipment specifications, bid packages, and RFQs; participate in supplier evaluation and technical selection.

• Coordinate equipment manufacturers, integrators, electrical contractors, mechanical contractors, installation contractors, and internal stakeholders, with clear expectations for safety, technical compliance, schedule, and quality.

• Manage assigned capital projects through planning, procurement, installation, commissioning, startup, and handover, with disciplined control of scope, schedule, budget, risk, change, and safety.

• Provide hands-on technical leadership during equipment installation, troubleshooting, commissioning, and production ramp-up.

• Identify site, equipment, automation, and contractor-interface risks early and drive practical corrective actions to protect safety, schedule, and startup readiness.

• Support the consistent replication and scaling of established manufacturing concepts across multiple North American facilities.

• Maintain appropriate project documentation, drawings, equipment records, technical specifications, risk assessments, punch lists, and handover documentation.

• Ensure engineering and installation activities comply with applicable safety requirements, codes, company standards, and site requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.

• 8+ years of relevant manufacturing, equipment, facilities, automation, or capital project engineering experience.

• Demonstrated experience personally developing manufacturing facility and work-cell layouts using CAD software such as AutoCAD or equivalent.

• Demonstrated ability to design practical end-to-end work-cell flow with consideration for material movement, operator movement, ergonomics, equipment interfaces, maintainability, and automation opportunities.

• Proven experience specifying, procuring, installing, and commissioning manufacturing equipment and tooling.

• Demonstrated coordination of electrical, mechanical, equipment installation, automation/integration, and/or construction contractors.

• Experience managing capital projects with responsibility for scope, schedule, budget, technical deliverables, safety, risk, and execution.

• Strong working knowledge of manufacturing equipment, tooling, fabrication processes, utilities, material handling, and equipment-to-facility interfaces.

• Strong understanding of machine and workplace safety principles and the ability to incorporate risk reduction into engineering design and project execution.

• Strong technical problem-solving skills and ability to work effectively in active construction and manufacturing environments.

• Ability and willingness to travel approximately 30-50% throughout North America, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Travel may temporarily exceed 50% during critical installation, commissioning, and startup phases.

• Ability to support occasional evening or weekend work when required for critical installations, shutdowns, commissioning, or startup activities.

Preferred Qualifications / Nice to Have

• Previous direct involvement in one or more greenfield manufacturing facility startups or major facility expansions.

• Experience replicating or scaling an established manufacturing process or facility concept across multiple sites.

• Experience with busbar, electrical distribution products, copper or aluminum fabrication, metal forming, machining, punching, bending, cutting, or related manufacturing technologies.

• Experience applying automation, robotics, conveyors, automated material handling, or other mechanized solutions to improve safety, flow, quality, or productivity.

• Experience conducting or supporting equipment safety reviews, risk assessments, machine guarding reviews, or design-for-safety activities.

• Experience managing significant capital equipment or facility investment programs.

• Advanced 2D and/or 3D CAD capability and experience coordinating equipment layouts with building and utility requirements.

• PMP or comparable project management certification.

• Working familiarity with relevant OSHA, NFPA, electrical, machine safety, and facility requirements.

• Experience working with controls, equipment integrators, and domestic or international equipment suppliers.

Core Competencies

• Safety Leadership: Treats safety as a primary engineering requirement and proactively eliminates or reduces hazards through design, planning, and execution.

• Work-Cell & Flow Design: Takes an end-to-end view of work cells and optimizes material, operator, tooling, and information movement while identifying appropriate automation opportunities.

• Technical Judgment: Makes sound equipment, tooling, layout, automation, and installation decisions based on practical manufacturing requirements.

• Project Execution: Converts plans into safe, completed, commissioned assets while controlling scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk.

• Vendor & Contractor Leadership: Establishes clear technical and safety expectations and constructively challenges suppliers and contractors when requirements are not met.

• Ownership: Operates independently, identifies problems early, and drives them to closure.

• Communication: Works effectively with trades, machine builders, engineers, operations teams, EHS, and senior leadership.

• Standardization: Replicates proven manufacturing concepts consistently while improving layout, movement, safety, and automation without unnecessary process reinvention.

Second-Round Technical Presentation

Candidates advancing to the second interview round will deliver a 20-30 minute technical presentation, followed by approximately 15-20 minutes of Q&A. The presentation should describe a previous greenfield manufacturing facility startup or significant facility expansion in which the candidate had a direct engineering role. Confidential or proprietary information may be anonymized. The presentation must clearly distinguish the candidate's personal responsibilities and decisions from those of the broader project team.

• Project context and scope: facility purpose, manufacturing environment, project scale, major milestones, and the candidate's specific role.

• Safety-by-design: major hazards identified, risk-reduction decisions, machine or workplace safety considerations, contractor safety interfaces, and how safety influenced the final design.

• Facility layout and CAD: how the layout was developed, CAD tools personally used, key constraints, equipment placement, utilities, access, maintenance, safety zones, and expansion considerations.

• End-to-end work-cell flow: how material, people, tooling, work-in-process, inspection, and finished goods moved through the cell; what was done to reduce handling, travel, congestion, and ergonomic risk.

• Automation strategy: where automation or mechanized handling was considered or implemented, the rationale for those decisions, interfaces created, and measurable benefits or lessons learned.

• Equipment and tooling: major equipment/tooling requirements, technical specifications, supplier selection approach, RFQs, and key engineering trade-offs.

• Contractor and vendor coordination: management of electrical, mechanical, installation, construction, equipment supplier, and integrator interfaces.

• Project management: approach to schedule, capital budget, scope control, risk management, change management, and stakeholder communication.

• Installation and commissioning: startup plan, technical and safety issues encountered, troubleshooting, punch-list closure, acceptance, and handover to operations.

• Results and lessons learned: performance against safety, schedule, budget, startup, quality,

Job Compensation

$134-168K annually

Benefits Overview

We offer competitive company benefits to eligible positions, such as:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance and Disability
• Voluntary Wellness Programs
• 401(k) or RRSP programs with Company Match 
• Paid Vacation and Holidays
• Tuition Reimbursement
• And more!

Benefits may vary based on job, country, union role, and/or company segment. Please work with your recruiter or tk representative for applicable benefits information.

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