Lead, Product Development Engineer

Lead Engineer, Product Development Engineering 

The Role 

Our Hillsboro site is seeking a Mold & Tooling Engineer on the Product Development Engineering team to lead the development, qualification, and implementation of moldrelated technologies—including mold coatings, mold release chemistries, and tooling concepts—from early project definition through HighVolume Manufacturing (HVM). 

This role serves as the technical owner for defining mold performance and design improvements, and working crossfunctionally with Manufacturing Engineering, Equipment Engineering, and Operations. The successful candidate will drive technology development, scale-up, and ongoing optimization of processes used in production. 

A background in plastics manufacturing, tooling and/or hardware design, or mold coating technologies is strongly preferred. 

What You’ll Do 

• Own the full lifecycle of mold coatings and mold release systems—concept development, supplier evaluation, testing, validation, and implementation into HVM. 

• Lead the creation of mold specifications, working with mold suppliers and support vendors to create a global standard.   

• Develop and optimize mold surface treatments to improve product quality, reduce cycle time, and extend tooling life. 

• Manage trials including Design of Experiments (DOE), test plans, sample runs, and data analysis for tooling qualification. 

• Support preventative maintenance strategies to increase mold life and reduce unplanned downtime. 

• Troubleshoot mold‑related defects, tool wear issues, and release failures; lead structured root‑cause investigations and implement permanent corrective actions. 

• Lead mechanical design improvement projects that enhance tooling and equipment performance—such as e‑chain routing/management, mechanical sub‑system redesign, fixture updates, and component-level reliability improvements. 

• Provide technical mentoring to technicians and junior engineering staff. 

What We Seek 

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Plastics Engineering, Chemical Engineering and 10+ years of related experience required.  

• Experience with:  

• Polymer processing and manufacturing. 

• Molding, machining and tooling maintenance knowledge. 

• DOE methodologies and statistical software (Minitab, JMP). 

• Capital project management including vendor sourcing, defining requirements, installation and qualification. 

• Six Sigma Green or Black Belt certification. 

Outstanding Candidates Will Have 

• Strong background in injection or compression molding, mold coatings, and mold release technologies. 

• Experience with risk‑based technical assessments, including FMEAs, control plans, and OCAPs specific to tooling and molding operations. 

• Experience collaborating with global tooling and coating suppliers to establish and qualify specifications. 

• Familiarity with metrology and inspection methods for evaluating mold condition and coating performance. 

• Demonstrated ability to improve tooling reliability, cycle time, and product quality through data‑driven engineering.