Director of Engineering: Lead Manufacturing & Innovation

Brio Energy; Carthage (MO); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Leggett & Platt Inc. in Carthage, MO, is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead a multi-disciplinary team spanning machinery development, industrial and process engineering, controls, automation, electrical engineering, and drafting.

You will drive engineering standards, ensure design for manufacturability, manage capital projects, and partner across operations to deliver manufacturing readiness and sustained performance in a fast-moving bedding business.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Manufacturing, or related discipline).
• 12-15+ years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment, including meaningful leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success leading engineering teams, machinery development, automation, manufacturing process improvement, and launch readiness activities.
• Strong project/program management capability with demonstrated ownership of schedules, resources, cost, risk management, cross-functional alignment, and stakeholder communication.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, value stream mapping, TPM, capital project execution, SPC, Six Sigma, PFMEA, PPAP, and structured root-cause problem solving.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a multi-disciplinary engineering organization spanning machinery development, industrial and process engineering, controls, automation, electrical engineering, and drafting.
• Establish and reinforce clear engineering standards, documentation expectations, design rigor, decision rights, and project discipline across all supported sites.
• Own the transition from new product development to stable, capable, and mature manufacturing performance.
• This includes planning and preparing for manufacturing through the product development stage gate process from early concept through sample runs, beta runs, PPAP, validation, launch, ramp-up, and post-launch stabilization.
• Ensure Design for Manufacturability (DFM), process capability, control plans, equipment readiness, tooling, documentation, training, and service/support requirements are addressed early enough to prevent launch friction.
• Provide disciplined project leadership with respect to timing, resources, cost, scope, risk, and cross-functional accountability for engineering and manufacturing readiness initiatives.
• Establish project plans with visible milestones, owners, constraints, decision points, and escalation paths so that launch and capital work can be managed proactively rather than reactively.
• Maintain clear communication around project status, tradeoffs, risks, cost impacts, and expected business outcomes.
• Maintain regular presence in manufacturing operations to understand equipment, process flow, quality, reliability, and operator challenges firsthand.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership on high-impact equipment, process, tooling, automation, and control issues where experience and judgment are critical.
• Partner with manufacturing and maintenance leaders to improve equipment reliability, maintainability, operational stability, and responsiveness to production needs.
• Support and sustain Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) strategies that reduce downtime, extend asset life, and improve overall equipment effectiveness.
• Drive continuous improvement using Lean manufacturing principles, value stream thinking, level loading, practical material flow improvements, and structured problem solving.
• Apply SPC, process capability analysis, root-cause analysis, and disciplined experimentation to improve quality, consistency, and predictability.
• Lead automation and manufacturing technology initiatives that deliver measurable operational, quality, safety, and financial benefit.
• Use ACE principles to make continuous improvement part of daily work, reinforce common language and methodology, and build capability through real business problems.
• Lead and review major capital projects, ensuring strong project rigor, schedule discipline, resource planning, cost control, and return on investment.
• Support capital planning and prioritization, including project justification, execution oversight, commissioning, and post-implementation review.
• Ensure engineering standards, specifications, spare parts planning, and technical documentation support long-term asset performance, maintainability, safety, and lifecycle cost.

Skills

Leadership

Machinery development

Automation

Process engineering

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Lean manufacturing

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Engineering

Tools

SPC

Six Sigma

PFMEA

PPAP

Job description

Leggett & Platt Inc. in Carthage, MO, is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead a multi-disciplinary team spanning machinery development, industrial and process engineering, controls, automation, electrical engineering, and drafting.

You will drive engineering standards, ensure design for manufacturability, manage capital projects, and partner across operations to deliver manufacturing readiness and sustained performance in a fast-moving bedding business.