Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Capacity Expansion

Eaton’s ES AMER ARS division is currently seeking a Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Capacity Expansion based near any of the following Eaton locations: Charlotte, NC, Asheville/Arden, NC, or Greenwood, SC.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $97000 - $143000 a year.

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What you’ll do:

Eaton’s Assemblies & Residential Solutions Group is seeking a Lead Manufacturing Engineer, Launch Projects to provide technical and functional leadership for the startup of new manufacturing plants, expansion of existing facilities, and installation of new production lines. This role will lead manufacturing engineering activities from early concept development through equipment installation, production validation, launch, and stabilization.

The Lead Manufacturing Engineer will serve as a central technical leader, translating business and product requirements into safe, capable, scalable, and cost-effective manufacturing systems.

This role is responsible for establishing the manufacturing foundation required for successful plant and production-line launches, including process design, facility and line layouts, equipment specifications, capital planning, capacity modeling, material flow, tooling, work instructions, process controls, operator readiness, commissioning, and production ramp-up. The successful candidate will bring strong manufacturing engineering expertise, disciplined project leadership, and the ability to guide cross-functional teams through complex, fast-paced launch environments.

Essential Functions:

Plant and Production-Line Launch Leadership

Lead manufacturing engineering workstreams for greenfield and brownfield plant launches, facility expansions, major transfers, and new production-line installations from concept through operational handoff.

Develop the manufacturing launch strategy, engineering work plan, technical milestones, resource requirements, and readiness criteria for assigned projects.

Serve as the primary manufacturing engineering lead within cross-functional launch teams, coordinating activities among Operations, Product Engineering, Quality, EHS, Supply Chain, Facilities, IT, Finance, and external partners.

Translate product forecasts, customer requirements, and business objectives into production-capacity, equipment, labor, space, utility, and material-flow requirements.

Establish manufacturing standards and scalable launch practices that can be replicated across future sites and production lines.

Lead technical design reviews and launch-readiness reviews, identify risks and gaps, and drive mitigation and closure plans.

Provide clear visibility to project leadership regarding engineering progress, decisions, dependencies, risks, capital requirements, and launch readiness.

Manufacturing Process and System Design

Lead the design of manufacturing processes for fabrication, assembly, test, packaging, and material movement.

Develop process flows, value-stream maps, capacity models, labor models, cycle-time requirements, workstation designs, and line-balancing strategies.

Create integrated plant and production-line layouts that optimize safety, flow, ergonomics, quality, productivity, flexibility, and future expansion.

Define material presentation, storage, point-of-use inventory, replenishment, conveyance, staging, finished-goods flow, and internal logistics requirements.

Apply Design for Manufacturing and Assembly principles in partnership with Product and Design Engineering to improve manufacturability, quality, cost, and launch performance.

Incorporate Lean manufacturing principles into the initial design of plants and lines rather than relying on post-launch correction.

Evaluate and recommend manufacturing technologies, automation, digital solutions, tooling concepts, and process-control methods.

Capital Equipment, Tooling, and Infrastructure

Develop technical specifications and user requirements for production equipment, tooling, fixtures, test systems, automation, material-handling systems, and manufacturing infrastructure.

Lead equipment supplier evaluation, technical bid reviews, design reviews, and equipment acceptance planning.

Partner with Finance and project leadership to develop capital requests, project justifications, cost estimates, expenditure forecasts, and implementation plans.

Coordinate equipment procurement, fabrication, delivery, installation, utility connection, debugging, and acceptance.

Lead or oversee factory acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, commissioning, capability verification, and production qualification.

Ensure equipment and tooling comply with company requirements for safety, ergonomics, quality, maintainability, cybersecurity, and operational performance.

Manage technical changes, supplier issues, installation conflicts, and launch-related equipment constraints through resolution.

Confirm that spare parts, preventive-maintenance requirements, equipment documentation, maintenance training, and support plans are in place before operational handoff.

Additional Information:

Process Validation and Manufacturing Readiness

Lead the development of process documentation, including process flow diagrams, PFMEAs, control plans, standardized work, work instructions, setup documentation, method sheets, and reaction plans.

Establish measurable exit criteria for engineering builds, pilot production, pre-production, launch, and stabilization.

Coordinate prototype, pilot, and production builds to validate manufacturing processes, equipment, tooling, staffing models, and material flow.

Lead process capability studies, run-at-rate activities, line-capacity verification, and production-readiness assessments.

Ensure manufacturing processes consistently meet requirements for safety, quality, delivery, cost, capacity, and customer performance.

Identify launch constraints and drive structured problem-solving using appropriate methods such as root-cause analysis, 8D, DMAIC, fault-tree analysis, or designed experiments.

Partner with Quality to ensure inspection strategies, measurement systems, traceability, nonconformance controls, and quality gates are operational before launch.

Develop contingency plans for high-risk equipment, processes, suppliers, materials, utilities, and launch dependencies.

Operational Readiness and Ramp-Up

Define staffing assumptions, skill requirements, training needs, and certification plans in partnership with Operations and Human Resources.

Support the development and execution of training for operators, maintenance technicians, supervisors, engineers, and support personnel.

Ensure standard work, visual controls, escalation paths, tiered accountability, production reporting, and daily management processes are established before start of production.

Provide on-site technical leadership during installation, commissioning, pilot builds, start of production, and production ramp-up.

Monitor launch performance through agreed-upon metrics such as safety, first-pass yield, scrap, downtime, cycle time, throughput, labor productivity, schedule attainment, and equipment effectiveness.

Lead rapid issue resolution during ramp-up and ensure corrective actions are documented, implemented, and sustained.

Establish a structured handoff from the launch organization to the receiving plant team, including ownership, documentation, training, open-item management, and performance expectations.

Capture lessons learned and incorporate them into standards for subsequent plant and line launches.

Technical and Functional Leadership

Provide technical direction, work coordination, and mentoring to manufacturing engineers, contractors, integrators, and other project resources.

Establish expectations, priorities, engineering standards, and deliverables for assigned manufacturing engineering workstreams.

Influence decisions across functional and organizational boundaries without relying solely on direct reporting authority.

Review and approve technical work products within the role’s assigned authority.

Build strong working relationships with plant leaders, project teams, equipment suppliers, contractors, and corporate engineering resources.

Champion a culture of safety, quality, accountability, urgency, continuous improvement, and disciplined execution.

Benchmark internal and external operations to identify technologies and practices that can strengthen launch execution and long-term plant performance.

Qualifications:

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or another related technical engineering discipline from an accredited institution.

Minimum of 5 years of progressive manufacturing engineering experience, including responsibility for complex manufacturing projects.

Demonstrated experience leading at least one significant manufacturing launch, plant expansion, production-line installation, equipment implementation, or manufacturing transfer.

Minimum of 3 years of experience specifying, purchasing, installing, debugging, commissioning, and qualifying manufacturing equipment and tooling.

Minimum of 3 years of experience with production-line design, facility layout, process development, capacity analysis, labor planning, and material flow.

Ability to travel up to 50% to support site activities during critical launch periods.

Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Management, Operations, or Business Administration.

Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional technical teams and manage multiple interconnected project workstreams.

Experience leading a greenfield or brownfield manufacturing plant launch or multiple new production-line launches.

Experience moving a project from facility design and capital approval through commissioning, start of production, and operational stabilization.

Experience with high-volume manufacturing, configured-to-order products, engineered-to-order products, or complex assembly operations.

Experience with automation, robotics, machine vision, error-proofing, advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, or automated test systems.

Experience implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems, digital work instructions, electronic production reporting, statistical process control, and real-time performance monitoring.

Working knowledge of ERP and manufacturing systems such as SAP, as well as layout and design tools such as AutoCAD.

Experience managing equipment integrators, general contractors, architecture and engineering firms, and other external suppliers.

Experience supporting multi-site or international manufacturing projects.

Project management certification or formal project management training, such as Project Management Professional certification.

Lean or Six Sigma certification.

All positions may require participation in video and in-person interviews as part of the hiring process. All candidates will be evaluated based on job-related competencies, and all candidates’ privacy rights and data security will be protected in accordance with applicable laws.

We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws.

You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

To request a disability-related reasonable accommodation to assist you in your job search, application, or interview process, please call us at 1-800-836-6345 to discuss your specific need. Only accommodation requests will be accepted by this phone number.

We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

#LI-BB1