Job Description

The Company

American Trailer World (“ATW”) is a leading diversified manufacturer, retailer and distributer of professional and consumer grade trailers, parts, and accessories in North America. ATW is North America’s largest vertically integrated trailer manufacturer, with an estimated market share of approximately 30% in the professional grade trailer industry. The company was formed through the combination of Big Tex and American Trailer Works in 2016. It conducts its operations and sells its products primarily through several well-recognized brands in the industry including Big Tex Trailers, CM Trailers, PJ Trailers, Carry-On Trailer, Trailer World, and RC Trailers. Its products are used in the agriculture, construction, landscaping, recreational, automotive, and general industrial markets.

Job Description

Reporting to Vice President of Engineering, The SR Director of Product Development manages all aspects of the development of the product from conception to manufacturing. The role will lead the team and research new products, design concepts and product enhancements, as well as review past product solutions and current strategies. The position evaluates production ideas and develops them into reliable, sellable products that provide solutions to our customers. They will closely monitor industry trends, do research, and gain feedback from end users and stakeholders. The position drives innovation by creating and overseeing a comprehensive product innovation strategy, evolving and expanding on the organization's long-term innovative capabilities, and executing the strategy through managing their direct team and related resources. The role will communicate with members of the production team and other stakeholders keeping them informed of progress and assuring solutions are punctual and effective.

Job Responsibilities:

• Analyze existing systems and processes and identify value-added and non-value-added activities to solve process and design challenges.
• Conceive, design, develop, and test innovative solutions based on analysis and organizational objectives.
• Participate in strategic planning meetings with product management, operations, and design team.
• Contribute to Product designs, resource management and implementations
• Build cross-department relationships centered on executing company strategies and development of market fulfillment goals. Uphold the company’s brand vision and reputation by delivering innovative solutions while adhering to company and regulatory standards.
• Evaluate new and existing processes, equipment, and materials as an input for scheduling methods, performance metrics, and financial standards.
• Monitor and understand industry trends, utilizes customer interviews and other market feedback to drive improvement
• Serve as integral part of the engineering team, working in an interdisciplinary manner with their peers in other departments
• Attract, retain, and develop high-caliber talent.
• Lead, mentor and support a highly effective team of passionate professionals fostering a high-performance culture.
• Manage and conduct employee training for productivity improvement projects,
• Develops and manages departmental and project budgets
• Communicate effectively with team members, internal and external customers.
• Create, manage, and measure KPI’s such as product development timing, estimation accuracy and defect percentages, etc.
• Assure that department achieves objectives and project completion within budget and time frame.

Other Scope of Role:

• Some overnight travel required- at times up 50% to various production and customer locations

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of direct experience in applied engineering in a manufacturing environment
• 5+ years’ experience in product development and design (trailers or related industry a plus)
• History of deployment of manufacturing tools, with Lean or Six Sigma certification preferred
• Proven record of team building through training, mentoring & coaching team members at all levels of the organization.
• Highly Proficient in MS Office Suite including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook at a minimum.
• Experience with product development software such as BlueStar, SolidWorks, Dynamics365, etc.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (ME, IE, similar field). With sufficient experience willing to consider other fields of study.
• Results based Leadership style skill set with strong impact and influencing skills
• Experience in testing methodologies
• Well versed in building and testing product prototypes; evaluating production options, product integrity, costs and user experience testing,

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