Sustaining Engineer

Cubic Transportation Systems; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 106,000 - 114,000; Full time

Job summary

Cubic Defense is seeking a Sustaining Engineer to bridge Engineering, Purchasing, Manufacturing, and Quality. You will ensure manufacturability, reliability, and lifecycle support for released products while driving cost and lead-time improvements.

The role emphasizes cross‑functional collaboration, ECN/ECO leadership, and technical problem solving across suppliers and manufacturing processes in a defense context.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or related engineering field.
• Ability to obtain/maintain a U.S. security clearance if required.
• 3+ years in sustaining, manufacturing, or related engineering roles.
• Experience in cross‑functional manufacturing environments and change control.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical contact between Engineering and Purchasing/Strategic Sourcing.
• Own sustaining activities for released products and established processes.
• Lead ECN/ECO changes and manage technical documentation and BOMs.
• Investigate production issues, supplier quality concerns, and root‑cause analysis.
• Support cost reduction, lead‑time improvements, and supplier qualification.

Skills

Root-cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree inMechanical/Electrical/Materials/Manufacturing Engineering

Tools

ERP/MRP

Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems

Job description

Business Unit: Cubic Defense

Company Details: When you join Cubic, you become part of a company that creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation to make people’s lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities to help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global issues through innovation and service to our customers and partners. We have a top-tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Explore more on Cubic.com.

Job Details

Position Summary Nuvotronics is seeking a highly motivated Sustaining Engineer to serve as the technical bridge between Engineering, Purchasing, Strategic Sourcing, Manufacturing, Quality, and Program Management. This role is responsible for ensuring that released products can be manufactured efficiently, sourced reliably, and sustained throughout the product lifecycle. The Sustaining Engineer will drive the technical resolution of component, material, supplier, and manufacturing issues while supporting cost reduction, lead‑time improvement, supplier qualification, and engineering change implementation. The ideal candidate combines strong engineering fundamentals with an understanding of procurement, supplier management, manufacturing processes, and cross‑functional project execution.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering and Supply Chain Integration

Serve as the primary technical point of contact between Engineering and Purchasing/Strategic Sourcing. Review new and existing designs to identify sourcing risks, obsolescence concerns, manufacturability challenges, and sole‑source dependencies. Provide technical guidance during supplier selection, qualification, and risk assessments. Support procurement in evaluating alternate components, raw materials, processes, and suppliers.

Product Lifecycle and Manufacturing Support

Own sustaining engineering activities for released products and established manufacturing processes. Investigate and resolve production issues, component shortages, supplier quality concerns, and field‑return issues. Drive root‑cause analysis and corrective and preventive actions associated with supplier and manufacturing issues. Support product transfers, process improvements, yield enhancement, and capacity expansion initiatives.

Engineering Change Management

Lead engineering change activities associated with materials, suppliers, processes, and product improvements. Evaluate the technical, quality, schedule, and cost impacts of proposed changes. Collaborate with Program Management, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to ensure timely and effective implementation of ECNs/ECOs. Maintain accurate technical documentation, specifications, drawings, bills of material, and change records.

Supplier and Component Management

Partner with Purchasing to develop mitigation strategies for high‑risk, long‑lead, custom, and single‑source materials. Support supplier audits, technical reviews, capability assessments, and qualification efforts. Review supplier technical documentation, specifications, process controls, and manufacturing capabilities. Drive alternate‑source qualification to improve supply chain resiliency and continuity.

Cost, Lead Time, and Performance Improvement

Identify cost‑reduction opportunities through design optimization, supplier development, material substitution, and component standardization. Support value engineering initiatives and make‑versus‑buy analyses. Partner with sourcing teams to evaluate technical tradeoffs associated with supplier, material, or process changes. Analyze yield, scrap, supplier performance, quality trends, and manufacturing metrics; recommend actions to improve reliability, manufacturability, cost, and delivery.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Ability to obtain or maintain a U.S. security clearance, if required for assigned programs.
• 3+ years of experience in sustaining engineering, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, product engineering, supplier engineering, or a related technical role.
• Experience working in a cross‑functional manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of engineering drawings, specifications, bills of material, and engineering change‑control processes.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot technical and manufacturing issues using structured root‑cause analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, organization, and stakeholder‑management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in RF/microwave, electronics, aerospace, defense, semiconductor, or advanced manufacturing environments.
• Knowledge of supplier qualification, supplier quality, and supply chain risk management processes.
• Experience with ERP/MRP and product lifecycle management systems.
• Familiarity with AS9100, ISO 9001, or comparable quality management systems.
• Experience with design for manufacturability, FMEA, CAPA, and statistical or data‑driven problem solving.

Key Success Measures

• Reduction in supplier‑related production disruptions and material shortages.
• Improved material availability, supply continuity, and alternate‑source readiness.
• Faster, well‑controlled implementation of engineering changes.
• Reduced product cost and lead time while maintaining technical and quality requirements.
• Improved manufacturing yield, product reliability, and supplier performance.

Cubic Pay Range

Cubic Pay Range: $106,000.00 - $114,000.00 + benefits.

The Cubic pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Worker Type

Employee

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic under applicable law.

Cubic creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation that make people’s lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities that help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global challenges through innovation and service to our customers and partners. We have a top‑tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Cubic is dedicated to providing a comprehensive employee benefits program. All regular, full‑time and part‑time employees (working an average of 20 hours per week) are eligible for benefits that are effective on the first day of employment. Cubic offers medical, dental and vision insurance, company‑paid disability (company continues full pay and benefits for up to six weeks), life insurance options, critical illness and accident coverages, Flexible Spending Accounts, a pre‑paid legal plan, travel accident insurance, an award‑winning well‑being program which includes an employer‑funded lifestyle spending account, up to six weeks of paid parental leave, and a 401k Retirement Plan with a company match. Employees can also take advantage of backup childcare, pet care, pet insurance, virtual tutoring, and a tuition reimbursement program. Many locations follow a 9/80 work schedule with time‑off policies to help encourage employees to take time for rest and relaxation. Full‑time salaried employees are eligible to participate in Cubic’s flexible time‑off arrangement. Part‑time and hourly employees accrue paid time‑off (PTO)/Sick leave at a rate of 5.23 hours bi‑weekly. Lastly, Cubic provides its employees 11 paid holidays throughout the calendar year. With a presence in over 60 countries and more than 5,000 employees worldwide, Cubic is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action‑Employer.

We are committed to ensuring a workplace free of discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, disability, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, military or veteran status, and any other basis protected by applicable law.

For more information on Equal Employment please visit: http://www.cubic.com/Careers/Applicant-Help To learn more, visit Cubic.com.