Director of Engineering - Milwaukee, WI

About Milwaukee Electronics – Products Division · Milwaukee Electronics is a privately held, family-owned Electronics Manufacturing Services company with over 70 years of engineering and manufacturing excellence. In addition to our core EMS business, Milwaukee Electronics operate ...

Job description

About Milwaukee Electronics – Products Division

Milwaukee Electronics is a privately held, family-owned Electronics Manufacturing Services company with over 70 years of engineering and manufacturing excellence. In addition to our core EMS business, Milwaukee Electronics operates a proprietary Products Division serving the material handling and industrial automation markets.

SUMMARY

The Director of Engineering is responsible for the strategic leadership and technical oversight of product engineering operations, ensuring that the Product Realization Process delivers measurable value to the business. This role establishes engineering strategy, defines technical direction, and ensures consistent execution of scalable engineering processes aligned with organizational objectives.

The Director of Engineering leads and develops engineering teams while maintaining accountability for product development performance, quality, cost, schedule, and global scalability.

In partnership with executive leadership, this role evaluates and develops a strategic roadmap for engineering and product expansion into low-cost global regions, ensuring product architectures, documentation standards, and development processes support multi-site and international growth.

This position reports directly to the Vice President of Products.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The essential functions of this position include, but are not limited to, the following:

Engineering Strategy & Execution

• Partners with executive leadership to establish long-term product, engineering, manufacturing, and scalability objectives
• Defines and implements scalable engineering processes and governance models
• Leads end-to-end product development from concept through validation, production, and lifecycle support
• Ensures compliance with internal engineering standards and quality system requirements
• Leads cost-reduction, design-for-manufacturability, and process optimization initiatives
• Reviews project plans, schedules, and budgets to ensure alignment with business objectives
• Develops and manages engineering operating and capital budgets

Global Strategy & International Expansion

• Develops and supports a phased roadmap for engineering and product expansion into low-cost global regions
• Evaluates regional engineering capabilities, supplier ecosystems, regulatory requirements, and manufacturing readiness
• Ensures product architectures, documentation standards, and engineering processes are designed for global replication and cost-optimized multi-site deployment
• Establishes governance frameworks enabling consistent execution across domestic and international locations
• Collaborate with Operations and Supply Chain to align product strategy with global sourcing and cost optimization initiatives
• Supports international market entry through engineering risk assessment and localization planning

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides strategic oversight of the product development portfolio, ensuring optimal allocation of engineering resources to maximize business impact
• Establishes priorities and allocates resources to meet product, schedule, quality, and scalability objectives
• Designs and evolves the engineering organizational structure to support business growth and global scalability
• Establishes performance standards, drives accountability, and leads talent development and succession planning
• Promotes cross-functional collaboration and consistent execution of engineering processes

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive engineering experience in product development environments
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience leading product-focused engineering teams
• Demonstrated experience supporting or leading engineering operations across multiple regions or international environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Agile, Scrum, or other structured product development methodologies
• Experience evaluating or establishing engineering or manufacturing capability in low-cost global regions
• Working knowledge of global regulatory compliance, import/export considerations, and region-specific technical standards

Technical & Process Competence

• Demonstrated experience leading the design and development of electronic hardware and software products, including IIoT-based or connected systems
• Demonstrated ability to define, implement, and maintain structured engineering processes across the product development lifecycle
• Experience leading product-centric engineering organizations with full lifecycle accountability
• Ability to provide technical guidance and oversight on architecture, design decisions, and engineering tradeoffs
• Experience designing scalable product architectures that support multi-site or global manufacturing deployment

Leadership & Organizational Competence

• Experience planning, directing, and coordinating the work of engineering staff
• Experience recruiting, developing, and evaluating engineering personnel
• Ability to align engineering priorities with business, operational, and product objectives
• Ability to collaborate effectively with Product Management, Operations, and executive leadership
• Demonstrated ability to lead organizational change and scale engineering capability in evolving business environments

Communication & Documentation

• Ability to communicate technical and strategic information clearly to technical teams and executive stakeholders
• Ability to ensure appropriate development and maintenance of engineering documentation, standards, and specifications

Required Skills/Abilities

• Ability to establish and maintain engineering principles, methodologies, and development frameworks
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong organizational and planning skills
• Demonstrated financial acumen, including the ability to evaluate ROI, cost structures, and capital investment decisions related to engineering initiatives
• Proficiency with standard business and engineering software tools

Physical Demands

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

The role requires the ability to sit, stand, and walk, and to use a computer and other standard office equipment for extended periods. Minimal physical exertion is required.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This position is primarily performed in an office environment. Occasional travel to manufacturing facilities, customer sites, or other business locations may be required. When visiting manufacturing or industrial environments, the role may involve exposure to noise, moving equipment, temperature variations, or other typical industrial conditions.

MILWAUKEE ELECTRONICS IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or age. If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation in the application or hiring process, please contact Human Resources at or

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please see this government poster: Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ).

Because this job has access to controlled technology, we must comply with ITAR. Any job offers will be contingent on verification that the candidate is a U.S. person (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent resident, or individual granted asylum/refugee status in the U.S.) or can otherwise satisfy ITAR compliance requirements. If applicable, if an individual is not a U.S. person, our policy is to not take the extra step of seeking approval from the federal government for that person to work in this position.

Upon hire, the successful candidate must present acceptable proof of identity and current authorization to work in the U.S., as required on Form I-9. We do not provide sponsorship support for employment-based visas such as H-1B.