Position: Sustaining Engineer (Mechanical Design)
Department: Engineering
Location: Miamisburg, OH
Reports to: Design Engineering Manager
Company Overview
Tark Thermal Solutions is a manufacturer of highly engineered thermal management solutions serving customers across demanding industrial and technology markets. We operate in a low-volume, high-mix manufacturing environment where engineering excellence, quality, responsiveness, and continuous improvement are critical to customer success.
Job Summary:
The Sustaining Engineer is a key member of the Design Engineering team responsible for maintaining, improving, and extending the lifecycle of existing products. This role focuses on design continuation, product modifications, supplier transitions, and engineering improvements required to support production, customer requirements, and long-term product viability.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineer who enjoys solving technical challenges, improving existing designs, collaborating with suppliers and manufacturing teams, and identifying practical engineering solutions. This role will partner closely with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations to ensure products remain manufacturable, cost-effective, and aligned with customer needs.
Essential Functions & Tasks:
- Support the lifecycle management of existing products through engineering modifications, improvements, and design updates.
- Evaluate and implement engineering changes resulting from supplier obsolescence, component availability issues, cost improvements, manufacturing requirements, and product enhancements.
- Manage component substitutions and supplier transitions, including evaluating form, fit, function, performance, and qualification requirements.
- Modify existing designs to accommodate dimensional changes, tolerance adjustments, alternative materials, or alternate manufacturing processes.
- Support product modifications required to qualify existing designs for new customer applications, industries, or end-use requirements.
- Create and maintain engineering documentation including drawings, specifications, bills of materials (BOMs), engineering change orders (ECOs), and technical documentation.
- Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering and Operations to improve manufacturability, reduce production challenges, and support ongoing production needs.
- Partner with Quality and suppliers to resolve technical issues and implement corrective actions.
- Perform engineering analysis and risk assessments to ensure design changes meet performance, reliability, and customer requirements.
- Participate in design reviews, product improvement initiatives, and cross-functional engineering projects.
- Support prototype builds, testing, validation activities, and qualification of modified designs.
- Provide technical support and engineering guidance throughout the product lifecycle.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- 2+ years of engineering experience in mechanical design, sustaining engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related field.
- Prior experience with SolidWorks is strongly preferred
- Experience modifying existing mechanical designs and engineering drawings.
- Experience managing engineering changes, revisions, and technical documentation.
- Ability to interpret and create mechanical drawings, specifications, and tolerance requirements.
- Understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, and supplier capabilities.
- Experience collaborating with suppliers and cross-functional teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate root causes and implement solutions.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in low-volume, high-mix manufacturing environments.
- Experience with thermal management products, mechanical assemblies, machining, sheet metal, or fabricated components.
- Experience with Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems.
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems; QAD experience is highly beneficial.
- Experience supporting regulated industries such as medical device, aerospace, automotive, or similar high-reliability applications.
- Experience with Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Cost (DFC) methodologies.
- Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement experience.
- Experience with testing, validation, and product qualification processes.
Success Measures:
The successful candidate will be evaluated on:
- Successful execution of engineering changes and product modifications
- Reduction of production disruptions caused by component availability or design issues
- Improved product manufacturability and reliability
- Timely completion of engineering documentation and ECO processes
- Effective supplier transition support
- Successful qualification of modified products for new applications
- Strong collaboration with cross-functional teams
Target Candidate Background:
Ideal candidates likely hold titles such as:
- Sustaining Engineer
- Mechanical Design Engineer
- Product Engineer
- Manufacturing Engineer
- Design Engineer
- Product Development Engineer
- Engineering Change Specialist
Candidates should have experience supporting engineered products within custom manufacturing, industrial equipment, thermal management, medical device, aerospace, automotive, or similar industries where product lifecycle management and continuous improvement are critical.
Pay: $75,000.00 - $95,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Application Question(s):
- Will you now - or in the future - require sponsorship to legally work in the United States?
Experience:
- Mechanical Design: 2 years (Required)
- SolidWorks: 1 year (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
