Director Engineering at Creation Technologies – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Position Title: Director Engineering

Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA

Position Type: Full time | Full time

Req ID: JR5868

Description:

It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing!

We're committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business.

The Engineering Director at our EMS plant in North America is a pivotal leadership role responsible for guiding and overseeing the entire engineering function, encompassing Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Test Engineering departments. This role demands a seasoned leader with substantial expertise across various engineering disciplines, ideally within the EMS industry. The Engineering Director is operational in focus, driving project development at the site level, and plays a crucial role in interfacing with high-tier customers, providing technical and project management support. Site Engineering leader is a key part of the engineering organization linking site engineering and corporate engineering initiatives. Site engineering leader needs to be able to dynamically orient resources to meet business needs. With a strong emphasis on continuous improvement, regulatory compliance, and customer support. The Engineering Director, as a member of the site leadership team, ensures that engineering initiatives align with the organization's strategic goals, enhancing efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

REPORTING STRUCTURE: Reports to Business Unit General Manager / Vice President

DIRECT REPORTS: Engineering Managers and Engineers

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include, but not limited to:

(1) Leadership

• Provides leadership to the engineering team, setting strategic direction and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, ensuring a high level of team performance and engagement.
• Leads new engineering project deployment initiatives, ensuring alignment with customer requirements and operational capabilities.
• Manages complex manufacturing/process/test engineering processes, supplier relationships, and engineering evaluations.
• Drives site business improvement, regulatory compliance, and adherence to quality standards.
• Live and encourage Creation’s culture and values, acting as a role model within the organization.
• Maintains broad engineering/technical knowledge, offering expertise across Manufacturing, Test, and Process disciplines in an electronics manufacturing plant.
• A member of the site leadership team, ensures that engineering initiatives align with the organization's strategic goals, enhancing efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

(2) People

• Mentors and develops engineering leadership and individual contributors, promoting talent growth and operational excellence.
• Support organizational growth while continuing to build and lead a strong team of professionals with cross-functional responsibilities.
• Collaborates with regional and global engineering leaders to align site activities with broader organizational objectives.
• Actively engage in comprehensive people reviews to assess employee performance, identify talent, and ensure alignment with organizational goals. This role plays a pivotal role in the increment process, contributing to decisions on salary adjustments based on performance evaluations and market benchmarks.
• Lead the recruitment process for engineering positions, ensuring that staffing requirements are met promptly and effectively. This role requires strategic planning to identify talent needs, securing and retaining top engineering talent.

(3) Customer

• Communicates effectively with internal and external stakeholders, including executive presentations and technical discussions with customers.
• Determine all Engineering project priorities, ensuring alignment with business goals and customer expectations.
• Provide support for key customer accounts, developing relationships with customer senior leaders and resolving customer issues efficiently.
• Responsible for supporting the customer requirements for environmental standards, including RoHS, REACH, Conflict Minerals, and others.

(4) Financial

• Budgeting and resource planning for the Business Unit Engineering team, including capital expenditure (CAPEX) and resource allocation to support tactical & strategic objectives.
• Oversight of engineering responsibilities for NPI activities including Design for Excellence (DFx) to optimize manufacturability, cost, and quality.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education and Required Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field with a focus on electronics and manufacturing processes or equivalent industry or military training experience.
• Minimum of 10+ Years of progressive experience in electronics manufacturing including Minimum 5+ years in engineering management/leadership roles.
• EMS experience preferred, with a proven success record.
• Aerospace, Defense and Medical manufacturing experience required for A&D/Medical MFG sites.

Skills Required

• Exceptional leadership and people management skills, with the ability to coach, mentor, and develop high-performing teams.
• Comprehensive knowledge of EMS manufacturing processes, business models, and the technical landscape.
• Proven track record in managing complex engineering projects, with a strong problem-solving capability.
• Excellent collaboration and interaction skills, capable of working effectively across all levels of the organization and with external partners.
• Exceptionally strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to convey complex concepts and influence decision-making.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to navigate operational complexities and drive site and customer success.
• Must have advanced SME expertise in 1 or more of the Test Engineering, Process Engineering or Manufacturing Engineering, along with strong understanding of the remaining engineering discipline(s).
• Fiscal responsibility, with experience in budgeting, resource allocation, and performance management to achieve organizational goals.
• Have a strong understanding of relevant compliance standards and requirements e.g., ISO9001, ISO13485, ITAR, CGP, IPC and J-STD workmanship standards.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS

Physical and/or Mental Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or feel office equipment, objects, tools, or controls. The employee is regularly required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; and occasionally stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, and occasionally up to 40 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision and identification, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential and non-essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Working Conditions

The working environment is generally clean; however, this position may be exposed to occasional dust, metals/solder occasional exposure to high noise levels from operating machines or physical hazards from moving equipment and machine parts. The employee must wear designated PPE where required. Otherwise, office/business casual attire is appropriate.

If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!

Creation Technologies is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you require any accommodations to complete the application process or need the job posting in an alternative format, please email Accessibility@creationtech.com. You will be connected with our Talent Acquisition team.

If you are contacted regarding the position, please inform our Talent Acquisition team of any accommodations you may need during the recruiting process. All information related to accommodation requests will be handled confidentially.

Canada: Title for the position will be in accordance with applicable national and local laws.

About Us:

3,000+ Industry all-stars. Entrepreneurial thinkers. Thoughtful collaborators. Bold problem-solvers. Passionate change-makers.

Creation fosters a community of commitment, comradery, integrity, and inclusion. At our core, we know it’s our people who make us a leading Global Electronic Manufacturing Services provider. That’s why Creation genuinely invests in our people, instilling family like values and a diverse, dynamic, and rewarding work environment where people learn, work, and grow together. Creation truly cares, inspiring employees to grow, develop and advance their careers. At Creation, we pride ourselves in our people, our culture, and our corporate purpose, it’s rooted in everything that we do.