Product Design Engineer (2400)

Protomet Corporation; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Protomet Corporation seeks a design engineer to bridge customers in the boating industry with our operations team. You will translate concepts into manufacturable designs, deliver CAD renderings, and maintain strong relationships with key customers.

Collaboration with sales and ongoing CAD training are expected to advance prototypes to production. You will contribute to design reviews, drive manufacturability improvements, and help ensure quality and timely communication across teams.

Qualifications

• Strong mechanical aptitude and intimate knowledge of manufacturing processes.
• Interpersonal skills and aesthetic design skills are valuable.
• Ability to deliver CAD concepts and renderings to customers.
• Occasional customer engagement and collaboration with sales are expected.

Responsibilities

• Visit customers or host them for a tour (with approval) at least 6 times a year.
• Call on at least one customer weekly and discuss non-work topics.
• Attend one industry expo or conference every year.
• Design, win, and present two million dollars worth of recurring annual projects.
• Identify and share one daily improvement with the engineering team (photo/video).
• Identify, purchase, and implement a significant technology per year.
• Engage in continuing education for CAD software.
• Advocate for manufacturability during design and prototype phases.
• Diagnose quality issues and prevent repeats.
• Ensure work instructions are available for new projects.
• Respond to external customer communications within 4 work hours.

Skills

Mechanical aptitude

Manufacturing processes

Interpersonal skills

CAD design

Change management

Communication

Aesthetic design

Tools

CAD software

3D rendering

Prototyping tools

Job description

Design engineers are the bridge between our customers (typically boating industry OEMs) and operations. They must have strong mechanical aptitude and intimate knowledge of manufacturing processes. Additionally, they greatly benefit from interpersonal skills and aesthetic design skills. Interpersonally, our designers are uniquely positioned to function in a sales capacity with customers. We encourage the building of relationships with key customers and frequent engagement. Furthermore, transitioning designs to the operations team is a highly interactive process requiring skills in change management, communication, and logistics. Competencies in aesthetic design are an excellent add-on for design engineers. The ability to deliver sketched concepts, computer generated renderings, and aesthetically engaging designs to customers is a big value-add.

OUTCOMES:

• Visit customers’ or host them for a tour (with approval) at least 6 times a year
• Call on at least one customer weekly, and talk about something specifically non-work related
• Attend one industry Expo or Conference every year.
• Win and design two million dollars worth of recurring annual projects each year
• Find one 2 second improvement (fix what bugs you) every day and share with the rest of the engineering team via photo or video.
• Identify, purchase and implement one significant piece of technology, software, hardware, or equipment per year
• Engage in continuing education for CAD (or other) software
• Innovate manufacturability and advocate for internal customers during the design and prototype phases of new projects.
• Diagnose quality issues and design processes to prevent repeat occurrences
• Ensure work instructions (video or text) are in place for new projects
• Respond to all communication from external customers within 4 work hours

Qualifications

COMPETENCIES:

Cultural

Fulfillment at work most often occurs when personal values align with those of the organization. Protomet associates it’s collective character with the following traits:

• Second Mile
  The first mile is mandatory. The second mile is voluntary; we do it for our own growth. Outsized benefits are realized in the second mile.
• Don’t Touch the Marshmallow
  The strength to reject short term gratification in favor of a larger reward later. We err towards celebrating later, not sooner.
• Abundance Mindset
  Life is not a zero-sum game. We strive to reject scarcity mindsets and instead “grow the pie”. Example – does a new “A” player on your team pose a threat (scarcity) or an opportunity to grow as a team ?
• Skills Beat Credentials
  What you can do is all that matters. Credentials alone won’t get you anywhere at Protomet.
• That’s Hard…Good
  Growth happens the most in the face of challenges. We recognize it is difficult to grin as you are being tested, but it’s possible, and we’re getting better at it.

Functional

• High Standards: Expects personal and team performance to be nothing short of the best
• Influence: Able to build trust with others who are not direct reports and persuade them to take action.
• Humility: L ow focus on self, c onfidence to admit mistakes, listens to others and an accurate (not over- or underestimated) sense of accomplishments and worth
• High mechanical aptitude and relentless problem-solver
• Hatred for inefficiencies and waste, practical understanding of lean manufacturing principles, one piece flow, minimum viable product, pareto principle
• Initiative to start, discipline to finish
• Innovation: Practical intelligence, curiosity, and an aptitude for learning combined with the spirit of testing and change that leads to innovation

Values and respects people as a servant leader