Product Development Engineer

voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation; Shelbyville (KY); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401K Match

Profit-Sharing Bonus

Leadership training

Volunteer program

Job summary

voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation is seeking a Product Development Engineer to translate customer needs into production-ready concepts and oversee development from design through commercialization. You’ll work with cross-functional teams, lead design reviews, and contribute to cost estimates and feasibility assessments.

This role supports Engineer I–III levels, offering growth and hands-on opportunities across a range of projects in Shelby County, Kentucky.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related field, or equivalent education/experience.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Experience reading and developing technical drawings and specifications; GD&T familiarity.
• Hands-on CAD experience with 2D/3D software (AutoCAD, Inventor, CATIA) and MS Office suite.

Responsibilities

• Translate customer and business needs into engineering requirements, concepts, drawings, specifications, and development plans.
• Evaluate materials, roll forming processes, tooling, equipment, tolerances, and manufacturing capabilities for feasibility.
• Support or lead development activities through design reviews, prototyping, trials, validation, and handoff to teams.
• Collaborate with Sales, Estimating, Engineering, PM, Quality, Supply Chain, Tooling, Manufacturing, and suppliers.
• Participate in customer meetings, explain capabilities, and support proposals and commercialization plans.
• Develop manufacturing cost estimates and support quotes and risk assessments.
• Balance value, manufacturability, cost, timing, quality, and safety while managing schedules and expenditures.
• Resolve design/trial issues and capture lessons learned to improve standards and practices.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management basics

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field

Tools

AutoCAD

Inventor

CATIA

Job description

Turn Customer Ideas into Production-Ready Solutions

Bring your engineering skills to voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation and help develop new manufacturing business from the first customer conversation through production launch. As a Product Development Engineer, you will translate customer needs into practical concepts, evaluate product and process feasibility, and collaborate across teams to bring solutions through design, validation, and commercialization. Whether you are beginning your engineering career or bringing advanced technical expertise, this role offers opportunities to contribute at the Engineer I, II, or III level based on demonstrated capability and scope—not years of experience alone.

What You’ll Do

• Translate customer and business needs into engineering requirements, product concepts, drawings, specifications, and development plans.
• Evaluate materials, roll forming processes, tooling, equipment, tolerances, and manufacturing capabilities to determine technical feasibility.
• Support or lead development activities—from design reviews and prototype or tooling development through trials, validation, launch, and handoff to internal teams.
• Partner with Sales, Estimating, Engineering, Project Management, Quality, Supply Chain, Tooling, Manufacturing Operations, suppliers, and global voestalpine colleagues.
• Participate in customer meetings, explain technical capabilities, present concepts, and support proposals and commercialization plans.
• Develop manufacturing cost estimates covering labor, machine time, tooling, capital equipment, materials, scrap, outside processing, packaging, quality, and launch requirements; support quote reviews and technical risk assessments.
• Balance customer value, manufacturability, cost, timing, quality, maintainability, and safety while managing assigned schedules, risks, documentation, and expenditures.
• Resolve design and trial issues, capture lessons learned, and improve engineering standards and development practices.

What You’ll Bring

• A bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related engineering field from an accredited college or university, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience providing the required technical capability.
• Knowledge of product design and development, engineering problem solving, design reviews, technical documentation, validation, and change control.
• An understanding of materials, roll forming or comparable manufacturing processes, tooling, high-volume production, tolerances, and production constraints.
• The ability to read and develop technical drawings and specifications, with working knowledge of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) and metrology.
• Hands-on experience with AutoCAD, Inventor, CATIA, or comparable 2D/3D CAD software, plus proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Strong analytical, communication, relationship-building, and decision-making skills, with the ability to connect technical solutions to customer value and business needs.

Work Authorization Requirement: Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship. RFC is not able to sponsor employment visas for this position.

Experience And Level Placement

• Engineer I: Entry level to 2 years of related engineering or technical development experience. Relevant co-op, internship, research, or hands-on manufacturing experience may be considered. Contribute to customer meetings, product trials, data collection, root-cause investigation, and launch activities.
• Engineer II: Typically 3 or more years of related experience, including ownership of product, design, tooling, process, or manufacturing development work through implementation or launch. Independently lead moderately complex projects or major workstreams and mentor less experienced team members.
• Engineer III: Typically 6 or more years of progressively responsible related experience, including leadership of complex cross-functional development, commercialization, strategic technical, or customer-facing initiatives. Guide complex programs, support opportunity strategy, and provide technical direction and coaching without necessarily having direct supervisory responsibility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in metal manufacturing, roll forming, tooling, high-volume production, product launch, technical sales, or project engineering.
• Experience with finite element analysis (FEA) software and Mastercam or comparable CAM tools.
• A master’s degree in Engineering or Business Administration.
• Training or certification in project management, Design for Manufacturability, GD&T, FEA, Lean, or Six Sigma.

Work Environment

This role combines office-based engineering work, time in manufacturing facilities, and occasional travel. Manufacturing areas may involve moving mechanical parts, fumes or airborne particles, and loud noise. Compliance with established safety policies and procedures is expected. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Ready to turn engineering concepts into manufacturing solutions? Bring your technical expertise, curiosity, and collaborative approach to the Product Development Engineering team at voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation.

Who We Are

voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation, or RFC as we call it, supplies custom roll formed metal components into several industries including Aerospace, Construction, Material Handling, Off-Highway, Office Furniture, Solar and Transportation. In 2000, Roll Forming Corporation was acquired by globally leading technology group voestalpine AG and became part of the Metal Forming, Tubes and Sections division. Today, voestalpine Roll Forming Corporation has seven production facilities across three states with five facilities and headquarters located in Shelby County, Kentucky and one facility each in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

What We Offer You

• Several great benefit plans, including multiple health insurance options, vision, dental, life, short-term and long-term disability coverage, health-saving accounts, or flexible spending account
• Paid time off the first year including vacation, personal and sick time
• 401K or 401K Roth up to 6% Match
• Quarterly Profit-Sharing Bonus
• Leadership training opportunities
• TogetherWeCare, a philanthropic volunteer program that allows employees to support their community while on company time
• Countdown to Zero, a global environmental impact initiative that strives to make our work environment more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Learn more at www.rfcorp.com/careers/life-at-rfc