Product Owner, Manufacturing Vision & Quality Systems

Sandalwood Engineering & Ergonomics; Detroit (MI); On-site; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

401k

Profit Sharing

Life insurance

Paid time off

Disability insurance

Training & development

Growth opportunities

Job summary

Sandalwood Engineering & Ergonomics seeks a Product Owner to drive backlog, define roadmaps, and collaborate with manufacturing, software, ML, and controls teams. You will translate plant requirements into user stories, set acceptance criteria, and ensure value delivery across automation inspection projects.

Based in Michigan, you will lead line-side deployments, validate performance, and push for continuous improvements while aligning with quality and production goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• Four or more years of professional experience as Product Owner, Technical Product Manager, Controls Engineer, or Quality Engineer with automated inspection or MES.
• Experience managing product backlogs and writing user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Experience with Agile or Scrum delivery models.
• Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps.

Responsibilities

• Own the Product Backlog and Roadmap for camera and sensor-based solutions.
• Partner with Manufacturing stakeholders to understand inspection challenges and requirements.
• Lead Agile delivery and coordinate sprint activities with software and ML teams.
• Define acceptance criteria and quality gates for automated inspection tools.
• Guide deployment, validation, and production readiness across plants.
• Measure KPIs and drive continuous product improvements.

Skills

Backlog management

User stories

Agile / Scrum

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Prioritization

Education

Bachelor's degree (Electrical Engineering, CS, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Systems)

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Azure DevOps

Job description

When you join the Sandalwood team, you'll join an engaging and inclusive group with a mission to help our customers identify, assess, and reduce work-related risks to quality, productivity, and employee health.

We are seeking a passionate support associate to lead the functional definition, lifecycle development, plant integration, and operational rollout of next-generation computer vision and automated inspection solutions.

In this role, you will own and advance a portfolio may include multiple advanced vision integration projects. You will work at the intersection of manufacturing, quality, software engineering, machine learning, controls, and plant operations to turn complex production challenges into scalable digital products.

Your success will help manufacturing teams improve first-time-through quality, reduce scrap, strengthen defect containment, and prevent quality issues from reaching customers.

This is an opportunity to shape products that directly influence manufacturing quality, production performance, and customer protection. You will have meaningful ownership of the roadmap while working closely with the teams that design, deploy, operate, and depend on these systems every day.

What You'll Do

Own the Product Backlog and Roadmap

• Define, prioritize, and manage the product backlog for camera and sensor based solutions.
• Align roadmap priorities with plant quality objectives and the broader digital manufacturing strategy.
• Translate manufacturing requirements, business needs, and quality risks into actionable user stories, acceptance criteria, and product increments.

Partner with Manufacturing Stakeholders

• Collaborate with Assembly, Stamping, and Powertrain teams to understand inspection challenges and operational requirements.
• Engage plant-floor technicians, quality leaders, controls engineers, plant management, software developers, and system integrators.
• Define functional specifications for applications such as visual defect detection and part presence or absence verification.

Lead Agile Product Delivery

• Serve as the primary product authority throughout the Agile delivery lifecycle.
• Lead or actively participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Provide direction and timely decisions to software engineers, machine learning engineers, and system integration teams.
• Keep delivery teams focused on the features and capabilities that create the greatest manufacturing and quality value.

Define Quality and Performance Criteria

• Establish clear acceptance criteria and quality-gating logic for automated inspection applications.
• Define false-positive and false-negative thresholds based on manufacturing requirements.
• Support inspection strategies for applications and critical vehicle build verification.

Guide Deployment and Production Validation

• Lead User Acceptance Testing, line-side validation, commissioning runs, and run-at-rate trials.
• Coordinate with plant and technical teams to verify that solutions are ready for production deployment.
• Support manufacturing launches and help resolve deployment issues in plant-floor environments.

Measure Results and Drive Continuous Improvement

• Establish, monitor, and communicate key performance indicators, including:
• First-time-through quality
• False rejection rate
• Inspection accuracy
• Cycle-time impact
• System uptime
• Mean time to detect and resolve issues
• Communicate product performance and improvement opportunities to plant and executive leadership.
• Use operating data and stakeholder feedback to continually improve product capabilities and deployment standards.

Enable Adoption and Operational Readiness

• Champion change management and product adoption across manufacturing operations.
• Support the creation of standard operating procedures and operational documentation.
• Coordinate training for line operators, plant quality leads, and controls technicians.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Four or more years of professional experience as a Product Owner, Technical Product Manager, Controls Engineer, or Quality Engineer working with automated inspection or manufacturing execution systems.
• Demonstrated experience managing product backlogs and writing user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
• Experience working within an Agile or Scrum delivery model.
• Familiarity with product and delivery platforms such as Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills.
• Ability to build consensus among plant-floor technicians, plant managers, quality stakeholders, and software development teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Vision, Robotics, Data Science, or a related field.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner certification.
• SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager certification.

Work Environment and Travel

This position is based in Redford, Michigan, in a five-day-per-week work environment. The role includes regular visits to local and regional assembly and stamping plants.

Candidates must be willing to travel approximately 20% to support plant-floor commissioning, manufacturing launches, and vendor alignment.

Memo

Candidates for this role with Sandalwood Engineering & Ergonomics must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application, without sponsorship. Verification of employment eligibility will be conducted by E-Verify at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. If you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 734-744-9705.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k)
• Profit Sharing
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & public Holidays)
• Short Term & Long Term Disability
• Training & Development
• Support to grow in multiple areas