Senior Applications Engineer: Practical Automation Designer

Surterre Properties Luxury Real Estate Brokerage; Concord Township (OH); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation based on exp

100% employer-paid medical, dental, &/

10 company-paid holidays

401(k) with employer match

Job summary

Steven Douglas Corp. (SDC) is seeking a Sr. Applications Engineer to transform customer manufacturing challenges into practical automation concepts. You will work at the intersection of sales, engineering, estimating, and customers, shaping what we build and how we deliver.

This role requires strong mechanical aptitude, problem-solving, and the ability to travel up to 10% as needed to support project discovery and scoping.

Qualifications

• Significant experience designing or developing custom industrial machinery, automation systems, or complex manufacturing equipment.
• Strong mechanical aptitude and understanding of machine design principles, automation components, manufacturing processes, and system integration.
• Ability to take an incomplete or loosely defined manufacturing challenge and develop a practical technical solution.
• Strong estimating and technical judgment, including the ability to recognize project risks early.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to customers and internal teams.
• Ability to manage multiple opportunities and priorities in a fast-moving environment.
• Comfortable making decisions with the information available, identifying what still needs to be learned, and moving the process forward.
• Strong attention to detail without allowing perfection to unnecessarily slow progress.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 10%.

Responsibilities

• Develop creative, technically sound automation concepts based on customer requirements, specifications, cycle times, processes, and production goals.
• Translate customer manufacturing challenges into practical machine concepts that SDC can confidently design, build, and support.
• Prepare technical proposals, scopes of work, cost estimates, and customer presentations for custom automation projects.
• Work closely with sales to understand customer needs and develop the right technical approach.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, controls, project management, manufacturing, and build teams to validate concepts and estimates.
• Participate in customer meetings, design discussions, and project-scoping activities.
• Travel up to 10% to customer facilities for discovery meetings, application reviews, project scoping, and technical discussions.
• Maintain accurate project documentation and follow SDC’s estimating and project-release processes.
• Support engineering after project award to ensure a strong transition from concept and proposal into detailed design.
• Apply lessons learned from previous projects to continuously improve future machine concepts, estimates, and proposals.

Skills

Industrial machinery design

Automation systems

Manufacturing equipment

Job description

Steven Douglas Corp. (SDC) is seeking a Sr. Applications Engineer to transform customer manufacturing challenges into practical automation concepts. You will work at the intersection of sales, engineering, estimating, and customers, shaping what we build and how we deliver.

This role requires strong mechanical aptitude, problem-solving, and the ability to travel up to 10% as needed to support project discovery and scoping.