Manager, Applications Engineering

Jobtailor; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Schmalz is seeking a senior leader to head the Handling Systems Applications Engineering team in Raleigh, NC. You will drive day-to-day operations, align resources to sales opportunities, and ensure high-quality technical support for customers and distributors.

You will mentor engineers, shape KPIs, and collaborate with sales, PM, and design teams to deliver safe, practical solutions while maintaining a strong customer focus. Travel as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, engineering technology or a related technical discipline.
• Seven+ years in applications engineering, industrial automation, material handling, capital equipment or similar.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience and prior management preferred.
• Ability to evaluate complex technical applications and guide engineers toward viable solutions.
• Strong customer-facing communication, presentation and conflict-resolution skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations of the Handling Systems Applications Engineering team with focus on responsiveness and quality.
• Manage team capacity, workload and priorities; assign engineers to sales territories and projects.
• Establish clear expectations and KPIs for the team, including quotation responsiveness and customer service.
• Coach, mentor and develop team members through feedback, training plans and reviews.
• Recruit and onboard Applications Engineering talent; build depth and succession.
• Provide technical leadership on complex customer applications and review proposed solutions.
• Coordinate with Sales, Product Management and Project Management for smooth handoffs and execution.
• Escalate and resolve customer issues, communicating professionally with customers.
• Travel domestically ~15% and occasional international travel per business needs.

Skills

People Leadership

Technical Evaluation

Customer-facing Communication

Cross-functional Collaboration

Performance Metrics

Quotations Development

Process Improvement

Time Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related discipline

Tools

Microsoft Office

Engineering Systems

Job description

• Lead the day-to-day operations of the Handling Systems Applications Engineering team, ensuring responsive, accurate and technically sound support for customers, distributors and the sales organization.
• Manage team capacity, workload and priorities; assign Applications Engineers to sales territories and projects based on business needs, technical complexity and available resources.
• Establish clear expectations, performance goals and key performance indicators for the team, including quotation responsiveness, application quality, workload, rework and customer service.
• Coach, mentor and develop team members through regular feedback, technical guidance, performance reviews, training plans and career development discussions.
• Recruit, onboard and retain Applications Engineering talent while building team depth, succession capability and shared technical knowledge.
• Develop and standardize application-review practices, quotation tools, templates, documentation and best practices to improve quality, consistency and efficiency.
• Provide technical leadership and engineering judgment on complex, high-risk, semi-custom and custom customer applications, including review of proposed solutions when appropriate.
• Establish clear prioritization and escalation processes, and serve as the primary escalation point for application, capacity, quality and customer-support issues.
• Resolve customer complaints and technical escalations by coordinating investigation, evaluating potential resolutions, making recommendations to leadership and communicating professionally with the customer through resolution.
• Build strong working relationships with Regional Sales Managers, Sales Engineers, Key Account Managers, distributors and selected strategic customers.
• Partner closely with Outside Sales, Inside Sales, Product Management, Design Engineering and Project Management to ensure complete technical and commercial handoffs and smooth execution of customer projects.
• Identify recurring process, product and quality issues that extend beyond the department; lead cross-functional efforts to determine root causes and implement sustainable improvements.
• Communicate team capacity, priorities, risks, performance and resource needs clearly to leadership and affected stakeholders.
• Coordinate with the parent company in Germany on technical applications, products, processes, training and issue resolution.
• Provide market, product and competitive feedback to Product Management and company leadership.
• Lead team meetings related to workload and capacity, interdepartmental coordination, quality, technical best practices and continuous improvement.
• Develop and deliver professional technical presentations and training for national sales meetings, distributors, customers and internal teams as needed.
• Represent Schmalz at trade shows, conferences, industry events and customer meetings as required.
• Maintain the work location, travel and in-office presence necessary to lead the team and support customers effectively, consistent with company policy.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, engineering technology or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and demonstrated technical experience.
• Minimum of seven years of relevant experience in applications engineering, industrial automation, material handling, capital equipment or a closely related technical field.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience, including coaching, performance management, prioritization, delegation and employee development; prior direct management experience is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate complex technical applications and guide engineers toward safe, practical and commercially viable solutions.
• Strong customer-facing communication, presentation and conflict-resolution skills, with the professionalism to represent Schmalz in high-visibility and technically demanding situations.
• Experience managing workload, capacity, priorities, performance metrics and cross-functional processes in a deadline-driven environment.
• Strong judgment and decision-making skills, including the ability to balance customer urgency, technical risk, product capability and commercial objectives.
• Ability to build trust and collaborate effectively with engineering, sales, operations, product management, senior leadership and international colleagues.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with a customer-focused, adaptable and continuous-improvement mindset.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn new business and engineering systems.
• Ability to travel domestically approximately 15%, with occasional international travel as business needs require.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates strong leadership in managing Applications Engineering teams, focusing on performance management, technical guidance, and customer support. Proficient in developing processes and tools to enhance application quality and operational efficiency while fostering collaboration across departments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Applications Engineering Management
• Technical Leadership
• Customer-Facing Communication
• Performance Management
• Cross-Functional Collaboration

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Applications Engineering
• Industrial Automation
• Material Handling
• Technical Evaluation
• Performance Metrics Management
• Quotations Development
• Process Improvement
• Technical Presentation
• Conflict Resolution

Soft Skills

• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Organizational Skills
• Time Management
• Adaptability

Industry Keywords

• Capital Equipment
• Customer Support
• Sales Coordination
• Technical Documentation
• Continuous Improvement

Tools & Technologies

• Microsoft Office
• Engineering Systems