Product Design Engineer (2400)

Based in Loudon, TN (onsite), the Product Design Engineer at Protomet Corporation bridges customers and operations by applying mechanical know-how and aesthetic design to concepts and renderings while guiding designs through manufacturing and change management.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the liaison between boating industry OEM customers and Protomet's operations, translating needs into actionable designs.
• Demonstrate strong mechanical aptitude and deep knowledge of manufacturing processes.
• Apply interpersonal skills and aesthetic design capabilities to deliver compelling concepts.
• Leverage a customer facing role to support sales through relationship building and ongoing engagement.
• Collaborate with customers and internal teams to transition designs to the operations group, applying change management and logistics expertise.
• Bring aesthetic design competencies to the design process as a value add for customers.
• Provide sketched concepts, computer generated renderings, and visually engaging designs to clients.

Requirements

• Second Mile: commitment beyond the mandatory baseline, pursuing growth opportunities with outsized benefits.
• Don’t Touch the Marshmallow: ability to delay short term gratification for longer term rewards.
• Abundance Mindset: collaborate and grow the team, viewing new talent as opportunity rather than threat.
• Skills Beat Credentials: what you can do matters more than credentials alone.
• That’s Hard…Good: growth occurs through challenges and learning as you tackle them.
• High Standards: expect personal and team performance to be among the best.
• Influence: build trust with colleagues beyond direct reports and persuade actions when needed.
• Humility: self awareness, willingness to admit mistakes, and openness to others' input.
• High mechanical aptitude and relentless problem solving.
• Hatred for inefficiencies and waste with a practical understanding of lean manufacturing principles, one piece flow, minimum viable product, and Pareto principle.
• Initiative to start projects and discipline to finish them.
• Innovation: practical intelligence and curiosity, with a readiness to test and adopt changes that drive improvement.

Technologies

• CAD

Outcomes

• Visit customers or host them for a site tour (with approval) at least six times per year.
• Make at least one customer call weekly and discuss topics beyond work when appropriate.
• Attend one industry expo or conference annually.
• Design and secure two million dollars in recurring annual projects each year.
• Identify and share one daily 2 second improvement with the engineering team via photo or video.
• Identify, purchase, and implement one significant technology, software, hardware, or equipment addition each year.
• Pursue continuing education for CAD or other software.
• Advocate for manufacturability during design and prototype phases to optimize internal processes.
• Diagnose quality issues and design processes to prevent recurrence.
• Ensure work instructions are in place for new projects, whether as video or text.
• Respond to all external customer communications within 4 work hours.

Competencies

• Cultural: Second Mile; Don’t Touch the Marshmallow; Abundance Mindset; Skills Beat Credentials; That’s Hard…Good
• Functional: High Standards; Influence; Humility; High mechanical aptitude and relentless problem-solver; Hatred for inefficiencies and waste, practical understanding of lean manufacturing principles, one piece flow, minimum viable product, Pareto principle; Initiative to start, discipline to finish; Innovation