Manufacturing Engineering Manager

Company Overview

Our client is a fast-growing, engineering-led thermal solutions provider serving data center, mission-critical, commercial, and industrial markets. Headquartered in the Twin Cities, with additional facilities across North America, the company designs and manufactures liquid cooling systems, air handling equipment, heat rejection units, and modular, factory-assembled thermal management solutions.

Formed through the integration of four established, complementary businesses, the company offers comprehensive cooling solutions designed to optimize efficiency, space, and performance. With vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing capabilities, the team delivers rapid design turnaround and precision fabrication to support complex projects where reliability, speed, and quality are critical.

Why Work Here

This is an exciting opportunity to join a rapidly growing organization supporting the evolving needs of AI infrastructure and data center cooling. You'll work alongside a collaborative, technically driven team that enjoys solving complex challenges and seeing projects move from concept to production in a fast-paced environment.

Despite its rapid growth, the company remains committed to a people-first culture built on teamwork, shared success, strong relationships, and a genuine passion for the work.

Position Summary:

The Manufacturing Engineering Manager leads the manufacturing engineering function at Maple grove/Dayton, MN — a team of manufacturing engineers, maintenance — and is personally accountable for process design, tooling, layout, quality system support, and continuous improvement across our Air Handling Unit, DX, Chiller, and CDU product lines. This is a player-coach role: you will lead the team while staying technically hands-on with the plant's toughest process problems. You will serve as the manufacturing engineering owner within new product introduction programs, ensuring process readiness and manufacturability at each program gate, and you will be the plant's primary driver of automation, digital tooling, and Industry 4.0 adoption

— turning standards set at the network level into working reality on your floor.

Key Responsibilities:

· Lead and develop a team of manufacturing engineers, maintenance — setting goals, prioritizing projects, and building technical capability

· Serve as the manufacturing engineering owner within NPI programs, accountable for process readiness, tooling, and manufacturability at each program gate, partnering with Design Engineering and Program Management for on time launch

· Implement Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFM/DFA) practices early in the design cycle

· Design, build, and continuously improve manufacturing processes, tooling, fixtures, and plant layout to maximize safety, quality, throughput, and cost efficiency

· Develop and justify capital equipment requests; approve capital expenditures

· Eliminate production bottlenecks through line balancing, time studies, and capacity planning

· Lead continuous improvement initiatives using Lean and 80/20 methodologies, driving measurable gains in yield, cycle time, first-pass quality, and OEE

· Ensure manufacturing processes are qualified and controlled via PFMEA and control plans, partnering with Quality on critical characteristic identification

· Maintain accurate, compliant manufacturing documentation — routings, BOMs, work instructions, and process plans

· Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for manufacturing and hardware nonconformances

· Own safety risk assessment and sign-off for new or changed manufacturing processes, ensuring compliance with OSHA and applicable pressure-vessel/refrigerant-handling codes

· Drive automation, digital tooling, and Industry 4.0 adoption at the plant level — connected equipment, dashboards, and visual management

· Partner with Supply Chain on component manufacturability and tooling/vendor qualification

· Adopt and contribute to manufacturing engineering best practices shared across Gradian's plant network

· Report manufacturing engineering performance metrics to plant leadership, using data to guide decisions

Qualifications & Requirements:

· Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing Engineering, or related technical field

· 7–10 years of manufacturing engineering experience, including 3+ years in a leadership role

· Demonstrated experience leading NPI from design release through production ramp

· Strong working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing and 80/20 methodologies

· Experience with ERP/MRP systems and manufacturing documentation (BOMs, routings, work instructions)

· Proficiency with CAD/CAM software and manufacturing simulation tools

· Proven ability to lead, develop, and manage a technical team

Preferred:

· Experience manufacturing HVAC, thermal management, or data center cooling equipment (air handling units, chillers, CDUs, or similar)

· Experience with pressure vessel and/or refrigerant-circuit manufacturing compliance (UL, ASME, AHRI)

· Six Sigma Green/Black Belt or equivalent certification

· Experience with MES, automation, robotics, or Industry 4.0 / smart factory deployment

· Multi-site or plant start-up / site-readiness experience

· Experience in a high-growth or scaling manufacturing environment