Mechanical Design Engineer

#ComeJoinTheFun with us as our Mechanical Design Engineer and be part of #MakingCandyFun!

At R.M. Palmer Company, our mission is clear: driving innovation that celebrates life’s special moments by focusing on value and integrity while making candy fun in everything we do. We take pride in blending creativity and tradition to deliver products that spark joy, bring smiles, and create lasting memories, one candy at a time.

Since 1948, R.M. Palmer Company, LLC has grown from just 4 employees and 4 products into a leading manufacturer of imaginative chocolate novelties with more than 500 unique products and over 600 full-time employees. Today, we operate two manufacturing facilities and a distribution center the size of 11 football fields, producing more than 50 million pounds of product each year.

Our continued success is built on the people and values that drive us every day. We believe in getting it done with urgency, ownership, and accountability. We challenge ourselves to break it better through innovation, curiosity, and continuous improvement. We own the outcome by taking responsibility and acting in the best interest of our team, customers, and company. We play to win by focusing on results and striving for excellence in everything we do. Most importantly, we aim to leave them smiling by bringing positivity, teamwork, passion, and energy to every interaction.

 The Mechanical Design Engineer leads mold and tooling design from initial concept through production implementation. This role also supports equipment and tooling specification and procurement, provides hands-on technical assistance during trials, startups, commercialization, and ongoing production, and develops engineered solutions that improve product quality, equipment reliability, throughput, and manufacturing efficiency. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Product Development and Commercialization

• Lead the design and development of confectionery molds, depositing plates, tooling, fixtures, and related manufacturing components for new and existing products.
• Partner with R&D, Commercial, Idea & Design, Engineering, and Operations to translate product concepts, artwork, and specifications into manufacturable, production-ready designs.
• Evaluate mold fill, demolding, deposit weight and distribution, product release, dimensional requirements, and production capability throughout the product and tooling development process.
• Support prototype development, line trials, pilot runs, equipment startups, and commercialization activities.
• Identify manufacturing and tooling limitations and implement solutions that support successful product launches.

CAD and Engineering Design

• Create detailed 3D CAD models, assemblies, manufacturing drawings, and technical specifications for molds, tooling, fixtures, and mechanical components.
• Design new tooling and modify or reverse engineer existing molds and components to improve product quality, reliability, throughput, and manufacturing efficiency.
• Apply design-for-manufacturing principles to ensure components can be fabricated, maintained, cleaned, and used efficiently in production.
• Establish appropriate materials, dimensions, tolerances, finishes, and fabrication requirements.
• Maintain accurate engineering drawings, specifications, revisions, and technical documentation required for fabrication and manufacturing.

Tooling and Supplier Management

• Collaborate with internal and external machine shops, toolmakers, mold manufacturers, fabricators, and equipment suppliers to meet tooling and manufacturing needs.
• Develop tooling specifications, evaluate supplier designs and technical proposals, and support the identification and qualification of tooling and mold suppliers.
• Coordinate tooling procurement, fabrication, repair, modification, refurbishment, and implementation activities.
• Review completed tooling and components to confirm compliance with drawings, specifications, quality standards, and production requirements.
• Partner with Production to maintain mold inventories, monitor tooling performance, and identify lifecycle, repair, modification, and replacement needs.

Manufacturing and Engineering Support

• Troubleshoot mold, depositing, tooling, mechanical, and process-related issues affecting production performance or product quality.
• Provide hands-on engineering support during equipment startups, product changeovers, trials, commercialization activities, and ongoing manufacturing challenges.
• Partner with Maintenance, Engineering, and Operations to conduct root cause investigations and develop sustainable corrective actions.
• Design and implement solutions that improve manufacturing capability, equipment reliability, throughput, changeover efficiency, and product consistency.
• Provide technical direction to internal fabrication resources and external suppliers supporting equipment, component, and tooling repairs or modifications.
• Monitor implemented solutions and make adjustments as needed to ensure sustained performance.

• Associate’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology, Mechanical Design, Product Design, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience required; Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Product Design Engineering, or a related discipline preferred.
• 5+ years of mechanical design, tooling, product design, or manufacturing engineering experience in a manufacturing environment required; experience within food, confectionery, CPG, packaging, or automated manufacturing preferred.
• Advanced proficiency with SolidWorks or comparable 3D CAD software required; direct experience designing molds and tooling for food-grade applications preferred.
• Experience designing molds, tooling, fixtures, mechanical components, or production equipment required; experience with confectionery molds, depositing systems, or chocolate manufacturing processes preferred.
• Experience taking mechanical designs or tooling solutions from concept through fabrication and implementation required; experience supporting new product development, commercialization, manufacturing trials, and production startups preferred.
• Strong knowledge of machining practices, materials, tolerances, fabrication methods, and precision measurement required; working knowledge of CNC machining and CAM programming preferred.
• Ability to read, interpret, and produce detailed engineering drawings and blueprints required; basic working knowledge of electrical drawings and ladder logic diagrams preferred.
• Experience troubleshooting mechanical, tooling, and process-related issues in a manufacturing environment required; experience with root cause analysis and implementation of permanent corrective actions preferred.
• Strong problem-solving, organizational, project management, and cross-functional communication skills required; experience working with external toolmakers, mold manufacturers, machine shops, or equipment suppliers preferred.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment required; experience with sanitary design and FDA/USDA-regulated food manufacturing preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work in alignment with company core values by taking initiative, driving results, embracing continuous improvement, maintaining accountability and ownership, contributing to a high-performing team environment, and delivering exceptional internal and external customer experiences.