Engineering Manager (Mooresville)

Job Posting Title: Engineering Manager - Advanced Composites Manufacturing

Job Title:

Engineering Manager - Advanced Composites Manufacturing

Location:

Mooresville, NC

Responsible to:

Director of Operations / Site Leadership Team

Responsible for:

Engineering Team

Shift Schedule:

Monday - Friday

Work Times:

Standard business hours, Monday - Friday. A degree of flexibility will be needed during peak periods, production needs, customer deadlines, capital projects, equipment launches, audits, or facility expansion activity.

Salary:

Full-Time, Exempt

Overview

SHD Composite Materials Inc. was incorporated in August 2018 to service the expanding American and Canadian composite industries. The North American HQ is in Mooresville, North Carolina, and became a fully operational manufacturing facility in 2019.

SHD Composite Materials Inc. manufactures advanced composite prepreg materials. With a growing global presence, the company services the American prepreg market with high-quality prepreg, fast turnaround times, and world-class technical support.

The company's core strength is the ability to supply high- and low-volume products, with a wide range of tooling and component products throughout America and around the world.

As the Engineering Manager - Advanced Composites Manufacturing, you will lead engineering operations supporting the manufacture of advanced composite prepreg materials for aerospace, defense, automotive, motorsport, marine, and industrial applications.

This leadership role is responsible for building and developing a strong engineering team, driving manufacturing excellence, optimizing processes, supporting new product industrialization, leading automation initiatives, managing capital expansion projects, and supporting SHD's continued growth in North America.

Ideal Person

Either a proven engineering manager or a senior manufacturing, process, project, or continuous improvement engineering leader with strong experience in advanced manufacturing environments. The ideal candidate has experience in composites, polymer processing, chemicals, coatings, aerospace materials, or continuous web manufacturing processes, and is comfortable balancing daily manufacturing support with strategic growth initiatives and long-term operational planning.

Key Responsibilities:

Engineering Leadership / Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team consisting of manufacturing, process, project, and continuous improvement engineers.

• Build a culture focused on safety, accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

• Establish engineering goals, performance metrics, and professional development plans.

• Support recruitment, onboarding, succession planning, and talent development initiatives for the engineering function.

• Serve as a technical leader and trusted advisor to plant, operations, and corporate leadership teams.

Manufacturing / Process Engineering

• Provide engineering leadership for prepreg manufacturing processes, equipment, utilities, and supporting systems.

• Drive process optimization initiatives to improve quality, throughput, yield, cost performance, and operational efficiency.

• Lead troubleshooting efforts for complex manufacturing, process, equipment, and production-support issues.

• Apply Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control, and root cause analysis methods to improve process capability.

• Develop and maintain process documentation, manufacturing standards, engineering best practices, and operational KPIs.

• Monitor and improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness, process stability, and manufacturing performance metrics.

New Product Introduction / Technology Scale-Up

• Support engineering aspects of new products, new technologies, capital needs, process development, and manufacturing readiness.

• Support pilot-scale development, process validation, and product industrialization activities.

• Develop scalable manufacturing processes for new prepreg, resin, and composite material technologies.

• Collaborate with customer, commercial, quality, and technical teams to support product qualification programs and customer requirements.

• Drive Design of Experiments, process characterization, and continuous process improvement efforts.

Capital Projects / Manufacturing Expansion

• Lead capital equipment, facility expansion, manufacturing scale-up, and infrastructure projects from concept through implementation.

• Develop project scopes, budgets, schedules, resource plans, and business justifications.

• Manage capital expenditures and evaluate project return on investment to ensure alignment with strategic business objectives.

• Support capacity planning and infrastructure development required for future growth.

• Ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.

Automation / Digital Manufacturing

• Identify and implement automation opportunities that improve safety, productivity, quality, and scalability.

• Drive smart manufacturing initiatives, including process monitoring, manufacturing analytics, and data acquisition systems.

• Collaborate with Operations and IT to enhance digital manufacturing capabilities, MES utilization, and production reporting tools.

• Support implementation of automated quality controls and predictive maintenance strategies.

Quality / Compliance / Technical Excellence

• Ensure engineering activities support AS9100/EN9100, ISO 9001, customer, regulatory, and internal quality requirements.

• Support aerospace, defense, and industrial customer audits and qualification programs.

• Lead root cause investigations and corrective action initiatives related to manufacturing and quality performance.

• Establish engineering standards, SOPs, validation protocols, and process controls.

• Partner with Quality and Operations to improve product consistency, process capability, and customer satisfaction.

Environmental, Health & Safety

• Promote a strong safety culture throughout all engineering activities.

• Ensure equipment, process modifications, and engineering projects comply with OSHA, environmental, and company safety requirements.

• Lead risk assessments, machine safety improvements, and process hazard reduction initiatives.

• Support continuous improvement of workplace safety performance and regulatory compliance.

Strategic Growth / Operational Excellence

• Support SHD's strategic growth objectives through manufacturing scalability, operational excellence, and technology advancement.

• Analyze operational and financial performance metrics to identify improvement opportunities.

• Collaborate with SHD technical and engineering teams across North America, the UK, and Europe.

• Provide technical leadership for future manufacturing technologies, infrastructure investments, and advanced materials initiatives.

• Undertake and perform other engineering, manufacturing-support, capital-project, or operational duties as requested by the company.

Role Boundaries

• This position leads engineering operations, engineering team development, process engineering, capital projects, automation initiatives, and manufacturing technical support.

• This position works cross-functionally with Operations, Quality, R&D, Commercial, Global Engineering, and Site Leadership.

• This role is expected to provide technical leadership and management direction, but final business, financial, staffing, or site-level decisions should follow company approval processes and leadership structure.

Qualifications:

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.

• Minimum of 8 years of engineering experience within advanced manufacturing, chemicals, polymers, composites, coatings, aerospace materials, or re