Senior Design Engineering & R&D Leader for Power Transformers

Virginia Transformer Corp; Roanoke (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Virginia Transformer Corp is seeking a Senior Manager of Design Engineering & R&D to lead electrical and/or mechanical design teams for customer-specific power transformer designs. You will own engineering execution, reviews, manufacturability, and design improvements within priority areas, collaborating with sales engineering, procurement, winding/core and assembly operations, quality, and testing.

The role focuses on minimizing design errors, preventing production disruptions, and delivering

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical or mechanical engineering.
• 8+ years designing power transformers; 3+ years in leadership.
• Experience with transformer design calculations, drawings, BOMs, and engineering change control.
• Ability to translate customer specifications into manufacturable instructions.
• Strong collaboration with manufacturing, quality, test engineering, purchasing, and project management.

Responsibilities

• Lead and review custom transformer designs against customer specifications, approved exceptions, applicable IEEE/ANSI or IEC requirements, and agreed order scope.
• Coordinate electrical calculations for core/winding configuration, impedance, losses, dielectric insulation, thermal performance, and short-circuit strength with qualified design engineers.
• Oversee mechanical drawings for tanks, cooling arrangements, bushings, lead exits, lifting/transport provisions, clearances, and related assemblies within assigned scope.
• Conduct design and peer reviews on technically complex orders; escalate nonstandard performance commitments or unresolved engineering risks.
• Maintain a detailed design-release schedule for calculations, customer approval drawings, manufacturing drawings, BOMs, and engineering changes.
• Verify drawing and BOM accuracy before release for coil winding, core stacking, tank fabrication, active-part assembly, and final assembly.
• Provide fast technical disposition of shop questions, fit-up problems, material substitutions, test abnormalities, and nonconformances with documented approvals.
• Partner with project management and manufacturing planning to protect production starts, identify engineering bottlenecks, and communicate release risks.
• Execute approved product-improvement work on material use, loss performance, insulation systems, design standardization, manufacturing simplicity, and reliability.
• Review factory test results and field feedback to identify design-related root causes and incorporate lessons.
• Manage workload, review quality, training, and technical mentoring for assigned engineers and designers.

Skills

Transformer design

Engineering leadership

Design calculations

BOM management

Customer specs

Cross-functional collaboration

Electrical design review

Mechanical interface

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering

Tools

CAD

Job description

Virginia Transformer Corp is seeking a Senior Manager of Design Engineering & R&D to lead electrical and/or mechanical design teams for customer-specific power transformer designs. You will own engineering execution, reviews, manufacturability, and design improvements within priority areas, collaborating with sales engineering, procurement, winding/core and assembly operations, quality, and testing.

The role focuses on minimizing design errors, preventing production disruptions, and delivering