Director of Engineering

Director of Engineering (Confidential Search)
Location: Greater Austin, TX area

Role Overview

The Director of Engineering provides strategic and hands-on leadership across Engineering, Research & Development, and New Product Introduction (NPI) within a growing engineered-products organization. This role owns the full engineering lifecycle for both new and existing products—from concept and requirements definition through validation, industrialization, launch, and sustaining support.

This position balances structured engineering rigor with commercial speed and pragmatism, applying disciplined systems thinking, clear documentation, and formal reviews without unnecessary bureaucracy. The objective is to reduce risk, accelerate execution, and ensure manufacturing readiness while supporting business growth.

This is a hands-on, player-coach role. The Director of Engineering is expected to personally contribute to architecture, design decisions, and technical problem-solving, not operate solely as a people manager. The role has direct ownership of complex electromechanical and electronic subsystems that are critical to product performance, differentiation, and scalability.

Core Accountabilities

The Director of Engineering has full accountability for:

• Product development and applied R&D

• New Product Introduction (NPI) execution

• Systems engineering rigor and requirements ownership

• Configuration management and technical data integrity

• Manufacturing readiness and sustaining engineering

• Engineering portfolio prioritization, resourcing, and budget ownership

This role partners closely with Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Business Systems, Finance, and Commercial teams to translate product concepts into manufacturable, scalable, and profitable solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership & Organization

• Provide strategic and day-to-day leadership across Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Firmware, and Systems Engineering disciplines.

• Build, develop, and retain a high-performing, multidisciplinary engineering team.

• Establish engineering standards, development practices, documentation requirements, and review discipline.

• Design organizational structures with appropriate depth, coverage, and resilience for a growing business.

• Serve as a senior cross-functional leader influencing execution across the enterprise.

Hands-On Technical Leadership (Player-Coach Expectation)

• Actively contribute to system architecture, design decisions, and complex technical problem-solving.

• Personally participate in design reviews, requirements definition, trade studies, and root-cause analysis.

• Step directly into detailed design work as needed to unblock progress or resolve critical issues.

• Lead from the front during prototyping, pilot builds, production challenges, and field escalations.

Systems Engineering & Requirements Ownership

• Own system-level requirements and specifications, ensuring clarity, traceability, and testability.

• Translate customer, market, regulatory, and operational needs into actionable engineering requirements.

• Maintain end-to-end requirements traceability from concept through production release.

• Apply systems engineering rigor in a commercially appropriate, right-sized manner.

New Product Introduction (NPI) & Design Governance

• Own and continuously improve a stage-gated NPI process from concept through full-rate production.

• Lead formal design and readiness reviews (e.g., PDR, CDR, TRR, MRR).

• Define gate deliverables, exit criteria, and cross-functional sign-off requirements.

• Use technology readiness concepts to manage technical risk and roadmap decisions.

• Ensure predictable, on-time, and on-budget delivery of engineering programs.

Electrical, Controls & Embedded Systems Leadership

• Own the end-to-end development of electromechanical and embedded electronic systems.

• Lead architecture, design, validation, and lifecycle ownership of:

  • Motors and actuators

  • Control electronics and drive systems

  • Embedded communications and control boards

• Ensure designs meet performance, safety, compliance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost targets.

• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and Suppliers to industrialize designs into scalable production.

Manufacturing Integration & Sustaining Engineering

• Ensure products are designed for manufacturability, testability, serviceability, reliability, and scalability (DFM/DFA).

• Support prototype, pilot, ramp, and steady-state production.

• Own resolution of design-related production issues and quality escapes.

• Maintain engineering accountability throughout the full product lifecycle.

Configuration Management & Technical Data

• Own engineering bills of material, technical data packages, and revision control.

• Lead configuration management and Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes.

• Maintain Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems as the system of record.

• Ensure tight coordination between Engineering, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain on all changes.

Cost Engineering, Portfolio Ownership & Financial Accountability

• Identify and eliminate cost drivers across materials, labor, and complexity.

• Lead design-to-cost, margin improvement, and value-engineering initiatives.

• Own engineering budgets, resource planning, and portfolio prioritization.

• Build business cases for platform investments, tooling, automation, and roadmap trade-offs.

• Ensure engineering decisions reflect total lifecycle cost, margin, and warranty exposure.

Tooling, Fixtures & Manufacturing Aids

• Lead the design and lifecycle ownership of jigs, fixtures, special tooling, gauges, and test equipment.

• Partner closely with Manufacturing to define tooling needs during NPI and production ramp.

• Drive tooling solutions that improve quality, throughput, repeatability, ergonomics, and safety.

• Ensure tooling documentation, release, and revision control throughout the product lifecycle.

Aftermarket & Field Support Engineering

• Provide engineering leadership in support of customer and field issues.

• Partner with Quality, Manufacturing, and Customer Support to investigate failures using structured root-cause analysis.

• Develop corrective actions including design changes, service procedures, and product improvements.

• Ensure field data, warranty trends, and customer feedback inform sustaining engineering and future product development.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Advanced degree in Engineering preferred (Electrical Engineering strongly desired).

• 8+ years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment.

• 5+ years of engineering leadership experience managing multidisciplinary teams.

• Experience supporting live manufacturing environments and complex engineered products.

• Worked with a small or medium sized manufacturing company

Technical, Leadership & Behavioral Profile

• Proven success as a hands-on, player-coach engineering leader in a small to mid-sized organization.

• Strong background in electrical engineering, controls, and embedded systems.

• Experience leading electromechanical system development from concept through production.

• Working knowledge of mechanical engineering and system integration.

• Experience with PLM systems and formal design review processes.

• Systems-oriented, execution-focused mindset with strong business judgment.

• High ownership, accountability-driven leadership style.

• Comfortable operating without large support teams or layers of management.

• Equally effective at the whiteboard, in design tools, and on the manufacturing floor.

Preferred Certifications

• Professional Engineer (PE)

• Project Management certification

• Systems Engineering certification

• Lean / DFMA training