Engineering Manager - Custom Castings in Winnipeg, Manitoba at Nordstern Group of Companies

Custom Castings is a member of the Nordstern Group of Companies, which also includes Protek Surface Technologies, Forte Tooling Technologies, and Sure Cast Aluminum Foundry. We are an integrated, single-source solutions provider delivering consistent, high-quality aluminum permanent mold castings to our customers.

We are currently seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead our Design Engineering team and coordinate engineering resources across the Nordstern Group of Companies.

Why Join Custom Castings?
What makes us a Great Place to Work? Our people and our culture matter! We are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace where values are recognized. We also offer a strong total rewards package, including:

• $2000 hiring bonus

• Competitive Salary

• 4-day workweek for weekday shifts and 3-day workweek for weekend shifts

• Off-shift premiums

• Paid lunch and coffee breaks

• Absent Time Paid hours

• Full benefits package including RRSP matching

• Comprehensive training program

• Opportunities for career advancement

• Work boots and Safety Glasses reimbursement

• Continuous Improvement culture with employee rewards

• Active Social Committee

Key Responsibilities:

Engineering Team Coordination

• Actively manage and lead the Design Engineering team with clear expectations, accountability, and technical support.

• Control the intake and prioritization of engineering requests across the Group based on customer needs, business impact, urgency, and available capacity.

• Balance workload across the shared engineering resource pool and resolve competing priorities while serving as the primary escalation point for day-to-day Design Engineering matters.

New Product Development & Customer Coordination

• Act as the primary engineering contact for external customers during new product development, from initial design review through production launch.

• Maintain clear communication with customers on project status, technical issues, risks, and required decisions.

Tooling Design Systems & Standards

• Develop and maintain tooling design standards, review processes, and engineering best practices.

• Incorporate lessons learned from tooling trials and production performance into future designs.

• Drive improvement toward first-shot success, with fewer tooling revisions and launch delays.

Manufacturing & Technical Support

• Lead or support structured problem-solving where engineering input is required.

• Support quotation, FAI, PPAP, and other technical activities requiring engineering input.

Cross-Functional & Business Support

• Work closely with Operations, Quality, Tooling, Maintenance, Sales, and senior leadership across the Group.

• Identify technical risks, resource constraints, and priority conflicts early and ensure appropriate action is taken.

• Provide visibility on engineering workload, priorities, project status, and significant risks.
  

What You Bring:

• Post-secondary education in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related discipline.

• 7+ years of engineering experience in a manufacturing environment, including demonstrated experience leading projects, coordinating technical work, and/or mentoring engineering staff.

• Previous experience leading, supervising, or mentoring engineering professionals is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated experience in mechanical design, tooling, manufacturing processes, new product development, and customer-facing technical projects.

• Foundry, aluminum casting, machining, tooling, or related manufacturing experience would be considered an asset.

• Strong people leadership, coaching, and team development skills.

• Strong project management, prioritization, and organizational capability.

• Strong customer communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

• Strong mechanical design and manufacturing knowledge.

• Familiar with 3D CAD modelling and engineering drawing generation.

• Practical, hands-on problem-solving capability.

• Ability to balance customer requirements, technical needs, manufacturability, cost, and timing.

• Exposure to casting simulation or solidification software is considered an asset.
  

Work Environment:

• Combination of office and manufacturing-floor work.

• Regular interaction with foundry, tooling, machining, finishing, assembly, maintenance, and other manufacturing environments across the Group.

• Exposure to industrial machinery, elevated temperatures, and molten-metal processes.