Principal Product Engineer

Johnson Controls, Inc.; New Freedom (York County); On-site; USD 105,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson Controls, Inc. is seeking a driven Product Engineer for the Air-Cooled Centrifugal Chillers team at the New Freedom, PA site.

In this on-site role you will bridge design engineering with global manufacturing to ensure performance, cost efficiency, and manufacturability. You will own engineering changes, support DFMEA and DFM improvements, and collaborate with SAP-based BOM management, Windchill PLM, and cross-functional teams to deliver robust product updates while supporting field and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related field.
• 7 years of experience in product, sustaining, or manufacturing engineering for complex mechanical equipment.
• Experience with BOM management, drawing updates, and change control processes.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical interface between design engineering and the global manufacturing network.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Quality, and Production to resolve drawing conflicts and producibility issues.
• Lead engineering changes through Change Control Board and issue ECNs with full impact analysis.
• Ensure customer-specific modifications fit factory capability constraints.

Skills

Mechanical engineering principles

Thermodynamics

Problem solving

Cross-functional teamwork

Change control processes

Travel up to 20%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related engineering discipline

Tools

SAP

Windchill PLM

ECN/CCB processes

Job description

About Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls,a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as datacenters, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.

For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where itreally matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, weelevatecustomer performance,turn goals into real-world results andhelpmove society forward.

Visitjohnsoncontrols.comfor more information and follow @Johnsoncontrols on socialplatforms.

What you will do

Johnson Controls is seeking a driven and technical Product Engineer to join our Air-Cooled Centrifugal Chillers team at the Advanced Development and Engineering Center in New Freedom, PA. In this high-impact role, you’ll be at the heart of our industry-leading, high-volume product lines—ensuring they consistently deliver exceptional performance in quality, cost efficiency, and manufacturability.

You’ll develop deep product expertise and play a pivotal role connecting design engineering with a global network of air-cooled centrifugal manufacturing facilities. This is a hands-on, execution-focused opportunity where your work will directly influence product performance and operational excellence—ideal for someone who thrives on ownership, problem-solving, and driving continuous improvement in a fast-paced environment. This position is based onsite at our office in New Freedom, PA. Candidates must be commuting distance to this location, or able to relocate. Various relocation packages are available.

How you will do it

Design-to-Factory Bridge

• Serve as the primary technical interface between the air cooled centrifugal design engineering team and the global network of air cooled centrifugal manufacturing facilities —Stiva(Monterrey, MX), Pune (India), Izmir (Turkey), and Guangzhou (China) — ensuring that engineering intent is fully translated into executable factory process.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, and Production teams across factory sites on-site and remotely to resolve drawing conflicts, tolerance concerns, and producibility issues in existing product documentation.
• Participate in Change Control Board (CCB) reviews; author and process Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) with full factory impact analysis includingeffectivitydate planning, BOM accuracy, and work instruction alignment.
• Work closely with Contract Engineering teams to ensure that customer‑specific modifications to standard product are engineered within factory capability constraints.

Quality Improvement

• Own recurring and systemic quality issues on theair cooledcentrifugal product line, driving root cause analysis through structured methodologies (8D, A3) and translating findings into permanent engineering corrective actions.
• Implement DFMEA updates, tolerance studies, and design‑level countermeasures for in‑production quality defectsidentifiedthrough factory audits, warranty data, or field feedback.
• Partner with the Quality Engineering team to disposition nonconforming material anddetermineengineering accept/reject criteria.
• Support PPAP activities for component or supplier changes that result from quality‑driven engineering modifications.

Design for Manufacturability (DFM) Improvements

• IdentifyDFM gaps in existing product designs that result in assembly difficulty, rework, scrap, or extended factory cycle time, and champion engineering changes to address them.
• Participate in DFMreviewevents for product line changes,representingthe factory's practical assembly perspective and ensuring new configurations can be built reliably at rate.
• Work with Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering tovalidatethat DFM improvements deliver measurableimprovementon the production floor.

Cost Management

• Identifyand lead cost reduction opportunities within the existingair cooledcentrifugal product line, including material substitution, specification rationalization,componentstandardization, and BOM simplification.
• Develop engineering cases for value engineering changes, providing technical justification, risk assessment, and implementation plans to gain cross‑functional approval.
• Track implemented cost improvement projects against savings targets;maintainproject status visibility for leadership reporting.
• Engage with Supply Chain and Procurement to evaluate supplier‑driven alternatives, ensure engineering requirements aremaintained, andqualifynew parts into the product.

PTS and Field Support

• Provide engineering support to the Product Technical Support (PTS) team for escalated field issues on air cooled centrifugal product, including analysis of field failure reports, return material evaluation, and development of field‑applicable corrective actions.
• Author and support issuance of technical communications, service advisories, and field upgrade kits as needed.
• Support occasional field visits to investigate high‑priority customer issues requiring engineering‑level analysis.

What you will need

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineeringor closely related engineering discipline.
• 7 years of experience in product engineering, sustaining engineering, or manufacturing engineering for complex mechanical equipment.
• Understanding of mechanical and thermodynamic principles
• Proven experience executing engineering changes in a manufacturing environment, including BOM management, drawing updates, and cross‑functional coordination through change control processes.
• Familiarity with SAP or equivalent ERP systems for BOM management, material status, and engineering documentation.
• Experience with quality problem‑solving tools (8D, A3, DFMEA) anddemonstratedability to drive issues to root cause and permanent corrective action.
• Able to travel up to 20%

Preferred

• Direct experience withair cooledcentrifugal chiller products, including familiarity with compressor staging, heat exchanger design, and refrigerant circuit architecture.
• Experience in a factory‑connected product engineering role (factory product engineer, sustaining engineer, or DFM engineer) in which direct engagement with manufacturing operations was a primary job function.
• Familiarity with JCI engineering governance processes including ECN, CCB, P‑status lifecycle, and PLM/Windchill documentation standards.
• Experience supporting PTS or field engineering functions, including analysis of field failure data and development of field corrective actions.

HIRING SALARY RANGE: $105,000 - $135,000 (Salary to be determined by the education, experience,knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with marketdata.) This role offers a competitive Bonus plan that will take into account individual, group,and corporate performance. This position includes a competitive benefits package. Theposted salary range reflects the target compensation for this role. However, we recognizethat exceptional candidates may bring unique skills and experiences that exceed the typicalprofile. If you believe your background warrants consideration beyond the stated range, weencourage you to apply. To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may usetechnology assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluatecandidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers. For details, pleasevisit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us