Engineering Manager Polymer Processing / Battery Materials

$150,000 - $160,000 + Bonus

Johnson City, Tennessee

The Opportunity

This is a full ownership role over an engineering function, not a narrow lane within one. You'd lead Process, Controls, Facility, and Maintenance Engineers as a single integrated team, with direct influence over capital planning, engineering standards, and how this plant scales from prototype to full production.

The company is growing, and this role exists to help engineering keep pace with that growth. If you've been managing one discipline and want the mandate to run all of them, this is built for that.

Why You'll Love This Role

You'll own CAPEX and operating budget decisions for Engineering and Maintenance, not just recommend them. You'll drive the technical direction on process optimization, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives, backed by real authority over capital projects.

This role sits at the intersection of high-precision continuous process manufacturing and modern production technology. You'll implement and manage a CMMS, build out preventive and predictive maintenance strategy, and support New Product Introduction from an engineering feasibility standpoint, meaning your input shapes what actually gets built.

Relocation assistance is provided.

What Your Week Looks Like

• Leading and developing your team of Process, Controls, Facility, and Maintenance Engineers, including succession planning and skills development
• Reviewing engineering metrics, maintenance performance, and project status, then translating that into updates for Operations, Finance, and Corporate Engineering
• Running root cause analysis on quality, productivity, or safety issues alongside your engineers
• Driving Lean and Six Sigma initiatives, including kaizen events, aimed at scrap reduction, OEE improvement, and uptime reliability
• Coordinating with Quality and Sales on customer requirements and ISO compliance
• Partnering with Corporate Engineering on standards and broader engineering strategy
• Periodic travel to other plant locations or vendor sites as needed

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline (advanced degree a plus)
• 10+ years of engineering experience, with a strong preference for background in battery, extrusion, coating, polymer processing, specialty film, or other high-precision continuous process industries
• Proven experience managing a multidisciplinary engineering team (process, controls, reliability, facility, maintenance)
• CAPEX project management expertise
• Strong grounding in Continuous Improvement, Lean, and Six Sigma methodology
• Demonstrated root cause analysis and structured, data-driven decision making
• Ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences, including presenting to internal stakeholders and customers
• Must be a US citizen or permanent resident (sponsorship is not available)

Why Candidates Say Yes

• Full engineering group ownership across five disciplines, not a single-function role
• Real CAPEX authority rather than budget influence alone
• High-precision, high-technology process environment (extrusion, coating, battery, specialty films)
• Growing company with a clear scalability mandate
• Relocation assistance provided

Ready to Apply?

If you've led engineering teams in polymer processing, battery, coating, or specialty film environments and are ready for a role with full ownership over your function, we'd like to talk.

Great Bay Staffing represents candidates with complete confidentiality. Your resume will never be shared with a client without your knowledge and approval.