Engineering Manager

Savant Group; Michigan; On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage for you and family

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Savant Group is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead the development, improvement, and transition of highly technical instrumentation from concept through manufacturing. This hands-on, working-manager role blends technical work with leadership across a lab environment.

The successful candidate will guide an experienced engineering team, partnering with Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Testing, and Operations to meet customer needs while maintaining quality and project momentum.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics or related engineering field.
• 5+ years hands-on product development experience with instrumentation or complex technical systems.
• 3–5 years engineering leadership experience leading engineers and projects.
• Experience guiding technically diverse teams and prioritizing competing priorities.
• Experience working within ISO 9001 quality systems and ASTM methods.

Responsibilities

• Lead new product development from concept through validation and production.
• Maintain hands-on technical involvement while leading the engineering team.
• Establish project priorities, milestones, ownership, timelines, and technical requirements.
• Monitor projects, identify risks, and drive issues to resolution.
• Provide technical leadership for complex electromechanical instrumentation and integrated systems.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Testing, and Operations.

Skills

Leadership

Engineering management

Cross-functional collaboration

Product development

Hands-on engineering

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Mechatronics

Job description

We're hiring an Engineering Manager to lead the development, improvement, and transition of highly technical instrumentation from concept through manufacturing.

This is a hands-on, working-manager role for an experienced engineering leader who is equally comfortable leading a team and working directly with complex products in the lab. The position is approximately 50% technical/laboratory involvement and 50% leadership, project management, and administrative responsibility.

Our products are specialized electromechanical instruments made up of interconnected mechanical, electrical, controls, software, and test-system components. Success in this role requires more than general engineering management experience. We are looking for someone who understands complex product development, can make sound technical decisions, and can lead experienced engineers through challenging projects, competing priorities, and technical disagreement.

Success in this role also requires strong cross-functional partnership. The Engineering Manager will work closely with Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Testing, Operations, and leadership to ensure engineering priorities align with customer requirements, manufacturing capability, quality expectations, testing needs, and broader business goals.

You'll establish priorities, drive projects forward, remove roadblocks, and maintain accountability from initial concept through validation, production readiness, and ongoing product improvement.

Who We Are

The Savant Group is a group of specialized businesses solving complex technical problems for customers around the world. Headquartered in Midland, Michigan, our companies support laboratory testing, research and engineering, precision instrumentation, and technical services across lubrication, transportation, manufacturing, and energy industries.

What matters just as much as what we do is how we do it.

Our environment is highly technical, hands‑on, and specification-driven. Our products and testing activities operate within an ISO 9001 quality system and frequently involve ASTM methods, customer specifications, validation requirements, and specialized laboratory applications.

What You'll Own

You'll lead the engineering function from product concept through manufacturing while remaining actively involved in the technical work.

This role requires a leader who can create structure, establish priorities, make decisions, challenge assumptions, and hold projects and people accountable while maintaining credibility with a technically experienced engineering team.

You'll be expected to:

• Provide clear technical and organizational leadership across the engineering function.
• Balance hands‑on technical involvement with team leadership, project execution, and people management.
• Make sound, timely decisions and provide direction as projects evolve.
• Identify risks, resolve issues, and keep priorities moving forward.
• Foster strong communication and collaboration within Engineering and across departments.
• Exercise sound judgment in a visible role with meaningful impact on product performance, customers, manufacturing, and business results.

What You'll Do

• Lead new product development from concept through validation, production, and commercialization.
• Maintain direct technical involvement in engineering development, troubleshooting, testing, and laboratory activities.
• Deliver a minimum of two new products annually while maintaining a rolling 36‑month product‑development pipeline.
• Establish project priorities, milestones, ownership, timelines, technical requirements, and deliverables.
• Monitor engineering projects, identify technical or schedule risks, and drive issues through resolution.
• Provide technical leadership for complex electromechanical instrumentation and integrated systems.
• Evaluate product designs, components, materials, controls, instrumentation, and manufacturing processes for performance, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost.
• Guide engineering verification, validation, documentation, and production‑readiness activities.
• Lead the transition of new and modified products into manufacturing.
• Establish and improve structured project‑management, design‑review, and stage‑gate development practices.
• Manage engineering resources, workloads, project assignments, and competing priorities.
• Lead, coach, and develop engineering team members while setting clear expectations and maintaining accountability.
• Facilitate technical discussions and make decisions when engineers or stakeholders disagree on direction.
• Build strong working relationships across Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Testing, Operations and leadership, ensuring engineering decisions are made with appropriate cross‑functional input.
• Partner with Quality to ensure engineering activities appropriately address ISO 9001 requirements, ASTM methods, specifications, documentation, validation, and change control.
• Communicate engineering priorities, risks, decisions, and changes clearly to affected teams.
• Identify engineering and product‑development process improvements.
• Support departmental budgeting, resource planning, equipment needs, and longer‑term engineering priorities.

All criteria‑based duties and standards within this document will be performed according to established policies, procedures, and guidelines within the department/site and the Savant Group. This job description is not intended to be all‑inclusive. Responsibilities may be added or changed at any time to meet the needs of the organization.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or another closely related engineering discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years of hands‑on engineering experience involving product development, instrumentation, equipment, or similarly complex technical systems.
• An additional 3-5 years of engineering leadership experience with direct responsibility for engineers, engineering projects, or an engineering function.
• Demonstrated experience leading technically experienced engineers and managing competing technical priorities.
• Experience developing complex products from concept through design, testing, validation, manufacturing, and commercialization.
• Experience working directly with physical products, equipment, instrumentation prototypes, laboratory systems, or electromechanical assemblies.
• Experience in a research and engineering, laboratory, instrumentation, scientific‑equipment, industrial‑equipment, or similarly technical product‑development environment strongly preferred.
• Experience working within a structured quality system such as ISO 9001.
• Experience working with technical specifications, test methods, industry standards, validation requirements, or regulated product‑development processes.
• Demonstrated success working across functions such as Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Testing, Operations, and Customer Support.
• Strong technical judgment and the ability to make decisions, establish direction, and move projects forward.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex technical projects, priorities, timelines, and stakeholders.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to establish expectations, address performance issues, resolve conflict, and maintain accountability.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to create alignment across technical and non-technical teams.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast‑paced environment with changing priorities, technical challenges, and significant responsibility for results.
• Willingness to remain hands‑on and spend substantial time working directly with engineers, products, prototypes, testing, and laboratory activities.

What You'll Experience at Savant

This is a hands‑on leadership role with direct involvement in engineering priorities, product development, technical problem‑solving, and team performance.

In this position, you will be expected to stay close to the work, provide clear direction, make timely decisions, and help the team maintain momentum across complex projects.

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Take ownership and follow through.
• Make timely decisions and keep priorities moving.
• Lead experienced technical professionals effectively.
• Challenge ideas constructively and collaborate well across teams.
• Create structure without adding unnecessary complexity.
• Remain composed when priorities shift or challenges arise.
• Enjoy solving complex technical problems.
• Balance people leadership with direct involvement in engineering work.
• Keep customer requirements, product performance, manufacturability, quality, testing, and long‑term reliability in mind when making decisions.

The Essentials

We've got the fundamentals covered — because they matter:

• Strong health coverage for you and your family
• 401(k) with a competitive company match
• Paid time off
• Life and disability coverage
• Tuition reimbursement for continued growth
• Employee assistance and wellness resources
• Opportunities to grow your skills and advance your career

Savant Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation or other assistance during the application process, please contact our Human Resources Department at 989-496-2301 or [e-mail].

To learn more about Savant Group, visit www.savantgroup.com.