Engineering Manager
About the Roll
Akona Process Solutions builds engineered-to-order equipment, which means every job is a little different and the drawings have to be right the first time. We are looking for an Engineering Manager based at our Monroe, NC site to lead the mechanical design engineering team and the site quality function across both our Monroe, NC and Oskaloosa, IA operations.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You will own the timely release of accurate designs, drawings, and Bills of Materials; you will be accountable for product conformance at both sites; and you will be the primary owner of warranty and RMA resolution from the day a claim lands to the day it is closed. You will work through a Quality Lead at each site rather than running inspections yourself — but you will set the priorities, clear the roadblocks, and make the calls that exceed their authority.
If you like solving fabrication problems on the floor as much as you like building a team that can solve them without you, this is a good fit.
What You'll OwnThe Team
- Lead, mentor, and develop the mechanical design engineering teams and the site Quality Leads at Monroe and Oskaloosa.
- Set clear performance expectations, conduct reviews, and build bench strength through coaching, cross-training, and hiring.
- Make two sites operate as one function — consistent practices, shared priorities, and a communication rhythm that holds up over distance, supported by on-site visits to Oskaloosa roughly every two months.
Design and Documentation
- Review mechanical designs, models, and fabrication drawings against customer requirements, quality standards, cost targets, and design-for-manufacturability principles.
- Ensure accurate, on-time creation and maintenance of BOMs and routings in the ERP system so production scheduling, purchasing, and inventory stay clean.
- Apply and improve engineering design standards, drawing conventions, part numbering, and PDM and engineering change workflows so released documentation is complete, correct, and traceable at both sites.
Quality
- Direct the Quality Leads at both sites, holding each accountable for in-process and final inspection, first-article and pre-shipment inspection, nonconformance and material review, and corrective action — accurately and on schedule.
- Keep quality activities paced with production instead of becoming a constraint on shipment, and step in on disposition decisions that carry significant cost or customer impact.
- Ensure designs and as-built product comply with applicable industry standards, regulatory requirements, customer specifications, and company policy.
Warranty and RMA
- Serve as primary owner for warranty resolution and closure: review incoming claims, task the Quality Leads with inspecting returned parts and capturing evidence, and establish root cause and culpability.
- Coordinate disposition with field service, sales, customer service, and production, and drive each claim to a documented outcome — repair, replacement, credit, or denial — within target cycle time.
- Keep the warranty log current so open items stay visible and aging is actively managed, and convert recurring failures into permanent design, supplier, or process corrective action.
Planning and Performance
- Balance engineering and quality workload across both sites against order intake and production schedules; assign work to meet committed dates and escalate capacity constraints early.
- Manage labor, software, inspection equipment, and outside services within budget.
- Track and report on-time drawing and BOM release, design cycle time, first-pass yield, scrap and rework cost, nonconformance and corrective action closure, and warranty cost, closure cycle time, and open claim aging — and use Pareto analysis to go after the biggest recurring cost drivers.
Cross-Functional and Technical Support
- Partner with production, supply chain, project management, application engineering, and field service to ensure clean design handoff, resolve build issues, and close out corrective actions.
- Act as the primary engineering and quality contact for customer inspections, witnessed testing, and factory acceptance testing.
- Serve as first escalation for difficult design, materials, and manufacturing problems at either site — material selection, failure analysis, fabrication and assembly issues — and verify that corrective actions hold.
What You BringRequired
- Bachelor's degree – Preferred - in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.
- 7+ years of mechanical design engineering experience in a custom or engineered-to-order manufacturing environment.
- At least 4 years of direct people leadership as a supervisor, lead, or manager.
- Direct experience owning or working closely with a manufacturing quality function — inspection, nonconformance, corrective action — including hands-on responsibility for investigating and resolving warranty or customer claims.
- Proficiency in 3D CAD (SolidWorks preferred), PDM, and ERP-based BOM and engineering change management.
- Strong working knowledge of manufacturing processes, materials, weldments, and design for manufacturability (DFM).
- Working command of quality fundamentals: GD&T and inspection methods, failure analysis, and structured root cause and corrective action methods.
- Demonstrated ability to lead a distributed team — including direct reports at a remote site managed primarily through virtual communication — and to delegate execution to site leads while still holding them to schedule and standard, rather than absorbing the work personally.
- Sound commercial judgment in warranty disposition: the ability to weigh cost exposure, contractual position, and customer relationship, and to communicate a denial or shared-responsibility outcome to a customer in writing.
- The judgment to hold or stop a shipment when conformance is in question.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, coaching, and problem-solving skills.
Preferred
- Master's degree in engineering or a related field.
- Working familiarity with applicable industry standards and regulations — ISO 9001, ASME, ASTM, NFPA, UL, and where applicable ATEX, PED, and food-contact requirements such as BRCGS, 3-A, or EU 10/2011.
- Professional Engineer (PE) licensure is not required.
Additional Information
Travel: approximately every two months to the Oskaloosa, IA site, plus occasional customer or supplier travel.
The statements above describe the general nature and level of work performed in this role and are not an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, abilities, and skills required.
Akona Process Solutions Inc 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, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
MONROE NC – ON SITE
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- AD&D insurance
- Dental insurance
- Disability insurance
- Family leave
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid holidays
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
