Product Engineer - Cost Engineering

McKinsey & Company; Wrocław; On-site; PLN 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company in Wrocław is seeking an engineer focused on cost engineering to support product development and benchmarking across industries including automotive, aerospace, and high-tech.

You will build robust cost views across parts, materials, and manufacturing technologies, conduct teardown analyses, and translate insights into practical recommendations for design and sourcing improvements, while collaborating across teams.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in mechanical or related engineering field.
• 1+ years of experience in product or cost engineering roles.
• Ability to assess cost drivers across multiple manufacturing technologies.
• Experience with cost modeling and value engineering.
• Strong analytical and communication skills in English.
• Willingness to travel.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to cost engineering and product development projects.
• Conduct competitive analysis and teardown-based benchmarking.
• Identify opportunities to improve product design, manufacturability, and cost.
• Support internal knowledge/tools in cost engineering.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and communicate findings.

Skills

Cost engineering

Value engineering

DFMA

Target costing

Teardowns / cost analysis

Manufacturing knowledge

Analytical problem solving

English communication

Education

Master’s degree in mechanical engineering

Job description

Who You'll Work With

Driving lasting impact and building long‑term capabilities with our clients is not easy work. You are the kind of person who thrives in a high‑performance, high‑reward culture—doing hard things, picking yourself up when you stumble, and having the resilience to try another way forward.

What You’ll Gain

• Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast‑paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions for our clients. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• World‑class benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well‑being for you and your family.

Your Impact

You will act as a knowledge consultant in product development and cost engineering–related projects.

You will be based in our Wrocław office as part of McKinsey’s Product Development and Procurement team. This team helps clients improve product competitiveness by combining engineering insight, cost transparency, and practical implementation. Our work spans multiple sectors, including automotive and assembly, aerospace, heavy industries, high‑tech, telecom, consumer goods, pharma, and medical products.

Your role is designed for an engineer with a broad mechanical profile: someone who can work across industries, understand how products are made, and build robust cost views across a range of parts, materials, and manufacturing technologies.

You will also conduct competitive analysis of products and components, support teardown‑based benchmarking, and identify opportunities to improve product design effectiveness, manufacturability, and quality attributes. In addition to client work, you will help strengthen our internal knowledge, tools, and ways of working in cost engineering and product development. This is a role for someone who enjoys solving technical problems, learning quickly across product categories, and bringing a practical engineering perspective to business decisions.

There is a flexibility to hire at junior or analyst level, depending on your experience.

Your Qualifications and Skills

• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, materials engineering, or another relevant engineering field
• 1+ years of experience in product engineering, manufacturing engineering, cost engineering, industrialization, design engineering, or related technical roles
• Ability to assess cost drivers across multiple manufacturing technologies, including machining, casting, forging, stamping, molding, fabrication, and assembly
• Experience with cost modeling, should‑costing, value engineering, target costing, product teardown
• Ability to translate technical and manufacturing insights into practical recommendations for product cost, design, and sourcing improvements
• Familiarity with manufacturing methods such as machining, casting, forming, stamping, injection molding, fabrication, and assembly
• Experience in product cost optimization, value engineering, DFMA, target costing, prototyping, supplier discussions, or technical cost analysis is a strong advantage
• Demonstrated analytical and quantitative problem‑solving skills with the ability to structure complex topics clearly
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and effectively with people at all levels of an organization
• Strong business acumen and curiosity about how engineering choices create commercial impact
• Willingness to travel
• Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively, both verbally and in writing, in English