Advanced Research & Development-Lead Engineer

Laitram LLC; New Orleans (LA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

401(k) plan

Paid time off

Life and AD&D insurance

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Intralox is seeking an Advanced Research & Development-Lead Engineer in New Orleans. You will act as the technical anchor for a cross-functional AR&D team, translating customer needs into clear requirements and shepherding concepts to validated prototypes and handoffs to the business.

The ideal candidate will be a hands-on leader with breadth across mechanical, controls, and software, capable of mentoring engineers and managing an innovation funnel with rapid prototyping and fieldable

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• 8+ years of engineering and product development experience with leadership of complex electromechanical or automation systems.
• Breadth across mechanical, controls, and software-enabled automation; system architect capability.
• Experience in industrial automation, logistics, or material handling with AI/robotics exposure.
• Ability to move ambiguous needs to validated prototypes via rapid prototyping.
• Technical oversight and mentorship skills with credibility in a technical team.
• Ability to travel 10-20% including to customer facilities for prototype installation.

Responsibilities

• Turn early-stage ambiguity into technical clarity for fast, focused development.
• Convert ambiguous needs into actionable specs and requirements.
• Frame unknowns and plot a development path to resolve them.
• Define 'good enough' criteria to accelerate learning.
• Assess feasibility and drive execution to advance the innovation funnel.
• Provide technical vision and rigor from concept to validated prototype.
• Serve as Engineer in Charge and own system architecture across mechanical, controls, and software domains.
• Mentor engineers and align development with tools and Vee model for parallel maturation.
• Engage stakeholders early to ensure smooth handoffs to production.

Skills

Mechanical design

Controls

Software-enabled automation

System architecture

Engineering leadership

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS

Master's degree in engineering

Tools

AI exposure

Robotics exposure

Industrial automation tools

Job description

Advanced Research & Development-Lead Engineer

New Orleans, LA, Baltimore/Washington D.C.

Job Category

Division

Intralox

We are seeking a Lead Engineer to serve as the technical anchor of a cross-functional Advanced Research & Development team shaping the future of industrial automation. As the team's system architect and primary technical voice, you will lead the development of solutions from concept through validated prototype and handoff to the business. You will translate ambiguous customer needs and opportunity hypotheses into clear, testable requirements, bring the deep technical context needed to assess ideas and emerging technologies, and provide technical oversight and mentorship to the team's engineers. Working shoulder to shoulder with the Advanced R&D Manager, you will help manage the innovation funnel – assessing feasibility and driving execution against it – so that the most promising opportunities advance quickly and reliably. The ideal candidate is a hands‑on technical leader with genuine breadth across mechanical, controls, and software domains who thrives on turning undefined problems into working prototypes. We prefer this person to be based in our Baltimore, Maryland office.

Intralox is a division of Laitram, L.L.C., with an extensive portfolio of innovative conveyance solutions and services that improve lives and optimize businesses worldwide.

Our global workforce of over 3,000 employees in 20+ countries consists of reliable problem solvers, continuously developing and directly delivering solutions that have driven our customers’ growth worldwide for more than 50 years.

Intralox was founded on the principle of doing the right thing, by treating customers, employees, and suppliers with honesty, fairness, and respect. We invest heavily in these values and aim to practice our business philosophy principles every day, which is why we have been consistently recognized for innovation and workplace excellence. We believe in the power of a good idea no matter where it comes from, using trust as the foundation to how we work, and that self‑managed people are our greatest asset.

We listen objectively, think creatively, and deliver results. To learn more about our company culture, philosophy, and benefits, please visit our company page.

This position is not eligible for work authorization or sponsorship.

Key Responsibilities

Turn early-stage ambiguity into the technical clarity that makes fast, focused development possible.

• Convert ambiguous customer needs into actionable specifications and requirements.
• Partner with the Advanced R&D Manager and Business Development Engineers to ground technical requirements in real customer problems.
• Frame the technical unknowns and plot a development path that resolves them.
• Define what "good enough" looks like at each stage, resolving enough ambiguity to accelerate learning.

Funnel Management

Assess feasibility and drive execution so the innovation funnel advances the most promising opportunities.

• Bring the technical context needed to evaluate ideas, emerging technologies, and adjacent-market capabilities.
• Assess feasibility and cost, and frame the tradeoffs that guide where the team invests.
• Test fast and disposition quickly, concentrating resources on the strongest opportunities.

Technical Leadership

Provide the technical vision and rigor that carry solutions from concept to validated prototype.

• Serve as Engineer in Charge on projects, driving execution against the technology roadmap.
• Own the system architecture across mechanical, controls, and software domains.
• Lead rapid prototyping to advance learning, including fieldable prototypes for customer sites.
• Mentor the team's engineers, raising technical rigor and growing capability.
• Align development with EPD tools and the Vee model to mature requirements and concepts in parallel.
• Engage downstream stakeholders early so handoff feels inevitable, not surprising.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of engineering and product development experience, with a track record of personally leading the design and development of complex electromechanical or automation systems.
• Demonstrated technical breadth across mechanical design, controls, and software-enabled automation, with the depth to serve as system architect and Engineer in Charge.
• Experience in industrial automation, logistics, warehouse automation, or material handling, with exposure to AI, robotics, controls, or other emerging technologies.
• Proven ability to move solutions from ambiguous needs to validated prototypes, using analysis and rapid prototyping to advance learning quickly.
• Technical oversight and mentorship skills that earn credibility with a highly technical team.
• Ability to travel 10-20%, including to customer facilities for prototype installation and commissioning.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in engineering or a related technical field.
• Experience leading early‑stage or R&D development through high ambiguity.
• Experience designing field prototypes for their full lifecycle and supporting their deployment and commissioning.
• Direct experience transferring validated technology to a productization organization.
• Familiarity with adjacent warehouse automation markets and the emerging technologies shaping them.

What Success Looks Like

• Opportunity hypotheses are consistently translated into clear, testable requirements.
• Ideas are dispositioned quickly, with only the strongest advanced to validated prototypes.
• The team continually builds new capabilities, both growing its engineers and integrating emerging technologies.
• Validated technologies are ready for productization, with few late-stage surprises.

Who You Are

• You take ownership and drive results, even when success requires working beyond the traditional boundaries of your role.
• You challenge assumptions and push for better ways of working.
• You move quickly to test ideas and solve problems rather than waiting for perfect information.
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguity, energized by difficult challenges, and willing to take calculated risks.
• You learn quickly through feedback, experimentation, and iteration.
• You know today's technologies deeply and watch the horizon for emerging ones that could create future value.

Intralox’s benefit program is a major part of an employee’s total compensation from the company. Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits including health, dental, vision, and disability insurance, paid time off, 401K, flexible spending account, life and AD&D insurance, long term care, tuition reimbursement, and additional voluntary benefits.

The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. Intralox considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training and key skills. Therefore, we encourage all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their salary expectations.

The position is eligible for one of the following: commissions, discretionary incentives, or production incentives according to the terms of those plans.