Engineering Director — Manufacturing Innovation & Leadership

Leggett & Platt, Inc.; Carthage, Northern (MO, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation opportunity

Job summary

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

You will bridge Product Development, Quality, Manufacturing, and external partners to raise manufacturing readiness. You will own capital projects, drive Lean and TPM programs, ensure design for manufacturability, and guide the transition from new product development to stable, scalable production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Manufacturing, or related).
• 12–15+ years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment with leadership responsibility.
• Proven success leading engineering teams, machinery development, automation, and launch readiness.
• Strong project/program management with ownership of schedules, resources, cost, risk, and cross-functional alignment.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, value stream mapping, TPM, capital projects, SPC, Six Sigma, PFMEA, PPAP, and root-cause problem solving.
• Ability to collaborate across operations, quality, product development, engineering partners, suppliers, and multiple sites.
• Balance hands-on technical involvement with leadership, coaching, and disciplined execution.

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 manufacturing performance.
• Plan and prepare for manufacturing through the product development stage gate process from 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 requirements are addressed early.
• Provide disciplined project leadership with timing, resources, cost, scope, risk, and cross-functional accountability.
• Establish project plans with milestones, owners, constraints, decision points, and escalation paths.
• Maintain clear communication around project status, tradeoffs, risks, cost impacts, and business outcomes.
• Maintain regular presence in manufacturing operations to understand equipment, process flow, quality, reliability, and operator challenges.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership on high-impact equipment, process, tooling, automation, and control issues.
• Partner with manufacturing and maintenance leaders to improve equipment reliability, maintainability, operational stability, and responsiveness to production needs.
• Support 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, and structured problem solving.
• Apply SPC, process capability analysis, root-cause analysis, and disciplined experimentation to improve quality and predictability.
• Lead automation and manufacturing technology initiatives delivering measurable operational, quality, safety, and financial benefits.
• Use ACE principles to embed continuous improvement in daily work and build capability through real business problems.
• Lead and review major capital projects with schedule discipline, cost control, and ROI.
• Support capital planning, project justification, execution oversight, commissioning, and post-implementation review.
• Ensure engineering standards, spare parts planning, and technical documentation support long-term asset performance.
• Balance hands-on leadership with coaching and organizational development.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Lean manufacturing

Value stream mapping

TPM

Capital projects

SPC

Six Sigma

PFMEA

PPAP

Root-cause analysis

Automation

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering

Job description

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

You will bridge Product Development, Quality, Manufacturing, and external partners to raise manufacturing readiness. You will own capital projects, drive Lean and TPM programs, ensure design for manufacturability, and guide the transition from new product development to stable, scalable production.