Engineering Manager - Mechanical (Plastic Component Design)

Rain Bird Corporation, based in Azusa, California is the world's leading manufacturer and provider of irrigation products and services. Since 1933, Rain Bird has offered broadest range of irrigation products for farms, golf courses, sports arenas, commercial developments and homes in more than 130 countries around the globe.

The Engineering Manager will drive and improve product quality, initiate and implement cost reduction activities, support existing product lines and coordinate and manage New Product Development projects for Rain Bird. He/she will have direct responsibility for SBU engineering efforts across multiple product families, including controllers, rotors, valves, sprays, drip and accessories. The Engineering Manager will work closely with Marketing, Sales, and Quality, and will initiate and develop ideas that will improve, enhance and expand the SBU's product portfolio. The successful candidate will be a strong project leader and is expected to provide technical leadership and supervision of engineers and support staff.

* Enhance product quality, lead by example, and generate results. * Manage the development effort to ensure that NPD projects meet justified objectives. * Ensure that sustaining product issues are proactively addressed and resolved. * Have a good working knowledge of industry best practices with respect to successful sustaining project and new product development management. * Learn the Rain Bird Corporation irrigation market, understand its customers, and be able to translate customer needs into new product benefits. * Lead and facilitate the Product Planning Committee meetings. * Hire and train top performance Engineering staff and foster creativity and innovation within the engineering team. * Work as a key member of the planning team in the annual SBU strategic planning process. * Be willing to travel as required.

**Minimum Qualifications:** * BS in engineering or related technical field. * 10+ years experience in an injection molding manufacturing environment. * Proven troubleshooting and process improvement capabilities. * Extensive experience with design and manufacture of injection molds. * Familiarity with quality assurance procedures and general statistics. * Experience with or willingness to learn Solidworks software, CAD, FEA, QFD, SPC, FMEA, and DOE. * Experience with design, development and implementation of automation. * Strong analytical, organizational and project management skills. * Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities. * Self-starter and able to work independently. * MS Office literate. **Desired Qualifications:** * MBA or an advanced technical degree. * Experience with lean, cellular, highly automated and flexible manufacturing. * Experience in new molding technologies and secondary operations. * 5+ years experience in managing work groups * Bilingual (English-Spanish).