Engineering Team Lead

Engineering Team Lead

The Engineering Team Lead serves as a working leader, directly involved in manufacturing, design, and quality engineering activities while guiding an existing engineering team. This role ensures that engineering processes and procedures are consistently followed across design, manufacturing, and quality functions. The Engineering Team Lead manages new CNC program creation, supports early supplier involvement for new designs, provides timely assistance to manufacturing, contributes to new product development, creates workflows and work instructions, and maintains the quality management system (QMS). The person in this role is accountable for meeting project timelines within their scope, actively seeks best-in-class manufacturing and assembly practices and emerging technologies, and defines, justifies, and implements these practices and technologies once approved.

Responsibilities:

• Lead a team of manufacturing, design, and quality engineers, providing clear direction, coaching, and performance feedback.
• Foster a collaborative and innovative team environment that encourages open communication, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
• Use a hands-on approach to learning and teaching, actively participating in day-to-day engineering activities while mentoring team members.
• Direct all prototyping activities to support the design and development of new products, ensuring prototypes meet functional and quality requirements.
• Define new manufacturing and assembly processes that improve efficiency, quality, and consistency of production operations.
• Lead and direct the Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) process for special products, coordinating with suppliers to optimize manufacturability and quality.
• Provide oversight of Engineering Change Requests (ECR) as they relate to manufacturing processes, ensuring changes are properly evaluated, documented, and implemented.
• Provide direct and indirect support to customers during contract review, product production, and after-sales support, including oversight of customer returned product processes.
• Coordinate supplier quality onboarding activities to ensure new suppliers meet required standards and integrate smoothly into existing processes.
• Create and revise engineering processes and procedures, ensuring documentation is accurate, up to date, and aligned with QMS and ISO standards.
• Develop in-process inspection plans that support consistent quality control throughout manufacturing operations.
• Lead root cause analysis and corrective action activities to resolve complex quality and process issues and prevent recurrence.
• Program CNC centers using MasterCam, creating efficient and accurate CNC programs for machining operations.
• Create engineering drawings using Inventor and CAD software, ensuring designs meet functional, manufacturing, and quality requirements.
• Support the creation of applicable workflows and work instructions to guide engineering and production teams.
• Contribute as a team member to new product development projects, providing manufacturing and design input to meet performance and cost targets.
• Maintain and support the Quality Management System (QMS), helping to ensure compliance with internal standards and external ISO requirements.
• Estimate manufacturing costs and support cost analysis activities to inform project decisions and improve profitability.
• Seek out and evaluate best-in-class manufacturing and assembly practices and emerging technologies, and define, justify, and implement them when approved.
• Manage engineering project timelines within the team's scope of responsibility, ensuring deliverables are completed on time and aligned with business objectives.
• Oversee the work of one Design Engineer and two Manufacturing Engineers, ensuring alignment of priorities, workload, and quality standards.
• Work closely with customers to ensure their needs are met, quality standards are aligned, and technical issues are resolved promptly.
• Perform other engineering and leadership projects as assigned to achieve critical success factors for the organization.

Essential Skills:

• Experience leading and managing engineering teams, including direct reports, with demonstrated ability to provide guidance, coaching, and performance feedback.
• Strong hands-on experience in manufacturing engineering, design engineering, and quality engineering within machining or metal cutting environments.
• Proficiency in programming CNC machines using MasterCam; MasterCam experience is required.
• Proficiency in creating engineering drawings using Inventor CAD software; Inventor experience is required.
• Thorough knowledge of manufacturing and assembly processes, including machining, metal cutting, and process improvement.
• Experience with CNC programs and CNC machines, including setup, optimization, and troubleshooting.
• Strong experience in quality engineering, including root cause analysis, corrective action, and process improvement initiatives.
• Knowledge and practical experience with Quality Management Systems (QMS) and ISO standards.
• High level of analytical and problem-solving ability to address very unusual and extremely difficult technical and process challenges.
• Strong verbal and written technical communication skills for interacting with customers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
• High level of interpersonal skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams and external partners.
• Proficiency in design and manufacturing engineering skills, including translating design requirements into manufacturable solutions.
• Proficiency in cost estimating for manufacturing processes and products.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or at least 5 years of experience in a related field.
• Experience in industries focused on metal cutting or machining.

Additional Skills & Qualifications:

• Manufacturing Engineering degree is preferred, though other engineering disciplines are acceptable.
• Certifications from industry-recognized organizations, such as ASQ Certified Quality Manager, Engineer, or Auditor, are preferred.
• Experience in supplier quality onboarding and early supplier involvement processes.
• Experience creating and revising engineering processes, procedures, and in-process inspection plans.
• Experience managing Engineering Change Requests (ECR) related to manufacturing processes.
• Experience supporting customers through contract review, production, and after-sales activities, including handling returned product processes.
• Experience in process improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency, quality, and cost-effectiveness.
• Familiarity with additional CAD tools beyond Inventor and AutoCAD is beneficial.
• Demonstrated ability to seek out and implement best-in-class manufacturing and assembly practices and emerging technologies.

Work Environment:

This is a hands-on engineering leadership role in a manufacturing environment, with approximately 7080% of the time focused on team leadership and coordination and 2030% devoted to direct programming and machine work. The Engineering Team Lead oversees one Design Engineer and two Manufacturing Engineers, managing workflow, resolving quality issues, and ensuring alignment of priorities and standards across the team. The role involves regular interaction with customers to ensure their needs are met and quality expectations are aligned, as well as collaboration with suppliers through early involvement and onboarding activities. Work is performed in a production and engineering setting that relies heavily on CNC machines, MasterCam programming, Inventor and CAD tools, and established QMS and ISO-based processes. The environment emphasizes practical, hands-on engagement with equipment and processes, clear technical communication, and a strong focus on continuous improvement and high-quality output.

Job Type & Location:

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Fairport, NY.

Pay and Benefits:

The pay range for this position is $45.00 - $55.00/hr. Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: Medical, dental & vision Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital 401(k) Retirement Plan Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) Short and long-term disability Health Spending Account (HSA) Transportation benefits Employee Assistance Program Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type:

This is a fully onsite position in Fairport, NY.

Application Deadline:

This position is anticipated to close on Sep 10, 2026.

About Actalent:

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal