Mechanical Engineering Manager

A privately held New Jersey manufacturer of water and wastewater process equipment is bringing in an engineering leader to run its mechanical design group and own a growing in-house fabrication capability. The company has its own fabrication shop a few miles from the engineering office, but most of what it builds is still subcontracted out. Leadership wants to pull that work in-house, and this hire owns the engineering side of that shift.

This is a working manager's job. The person stays on the board, reviewing drawings and solving design problems, while leading a team of three mechanical design engineers and setting how the group operates. The mandate is concrete: designs that are right the first time, faster cycle time from request to fabricated and out the door, a real engineering partner for the shop foreman, and a team that is managed and mentored. A year in, success looks like more work moving through the company's own shop, fewer mistakes, and equipment that fits when it reaches the field.

• Lead the mechanical design group: set priorities, manage the workload and the backlog, and develop the engineers on the team.

• Review every design and drawing package for fit, function, and manufacturability before it reaches the shop, and catch the small things before they become rework or field problems.

• Design and detail water and wastewater process equipment yourself, including conveyors, screens, and custom fabricated systems.

• Work directly with the foreman of the company's own fabrication shop on buildability and method, and produce drawing packages for outside fabricators whose equipment and processes differ from the in-house shop's.

• Drive down drawing cycle time from request through design to fabrication, and own the engineering side of moving work from subcontractors into the in-house shop.

• Represent engineering in the weekly fabrication and project engineering meetings and keep the backlog moving.

• Coordinate stamped work with the company's outside network of licensed engineering firms.

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

• 10+ years of mechanical design experience on fabricated equipment, with strong fluency in fabrication drawings and shop practice.

• Experience leading, managing, or mentoring engineers. Someone who has run a team and is ready to do it again, not someone looking to try it for the first time.

• Real design-for-fabrication instinct and comfort in a hands-on role. You have stood on a shop floor and changed a drawing because of what you saw, and you would rather be around the equipment than behind a screen all day.

• This is an engineering leadership seat, not a shop supervision role. The fabrication shop has its own foreman; this person is the foreman's engineering partner.

• Local to northern New Jersey and able to work fully onsite in Morris County. Relocation assistance is not offered.

• Strongly preferred: water and wastewater equipment background, or adjacent process and material handling equipment with a real fabrication component.

• PE license is a big plus, or EIT and on track for it.

• Candidates must be based in the United States and must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for current or future sponsorship.

• Medical coverage with the premium paid 100% by the company, for you and for your family. No employee contribution on the base plan. A buy-up plan with lower deductibles is available.

• 401(k) with company match.

• A leadership seat with a defined mandate and room to build the group as the company grows.

• Direct access to ownership in a stable, privately held company where the work you do is seen.

• A short northern New Jersey commute, local travel under 10%, and a fabrication shop ten minutes from the office.