Engineering Manager

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the translation of laboratory and pilot-scale carbon foam processes into robust, reproducible industrial manufacturing operations to take our material through testing and certification, prototyping, and product commercial launch.
• Hands-on engineering and problem solving in a fast-growing start-up environment.
• Define and implement process control and improvement frameworks — including 6 Sigma, SPC and MSA — that establish and sustain process capability across manufacturing environments.
• Drive continuous improvement in process efficiency, energy performance, heating uniformity, cost of goods and time to market.
• Develop and evaluate innovative approaches to mold design, heating technology, and process configuration that enable scalable, high-throughput production.
• Establish and maintain high engineering standards, including documentation, design review processes, and technical governance
• Identify, qualify, and develop long-term technical relationships with external manufacturing partners.
• Serve as TAF Carbon's primary technical interface with manufacturing operations, ensuring alignment on process requirements, quality standards, and scale-up milestones.
• Collaborate with R&D teammates to translate research outcomes into manufacturable processes and clear manufacturing inputs, streamlined processes, to reduce time to market.
• Mentor and grow a high-performing engineering team, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and pragmatic problem-solving.
• Support project planning, prioritization, and budgeting in alignment with organizational goals and timelines.
• Partner with leadership on strategic product and manufacturing roadmaps across all phases of commercial development.
• Model culture of demanding excellence, scientific rigor, problem solving and a daily irreverence to big company corporate culture.
• Lead engineering contributions to new product development and cost reduction from the process and tooling side.
• Contribute to early planning and capability-building for TAF Carbon's future manufacturing assets.
• Develop and maintain strong customer relationships, supporting tailored product solutions and long-term partnerships.

Skills & Requirements

• Education / Experience
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering (or related field).
• 8+ years of progressive engineering experience in industry with 3+ years in a leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated track record taking a material or chemical process from lab or pilot scale to industrial production — you have done this, not just supported it.
• Deep working knowledge of foamed materials and the industrial processes used to make them: polymer foams, carbon foams, ceramic foams, or closely analogous materials.
• Hands-on experience with mold design and molding processes, including thermal analysis, dead mass minimization, and scale-up.
• Experience designing or improving industrial heating systems — convective, or other non-conventional approaches are a strong plus.
• Experience working with toll manufacturers or contract manufacturers as a technical owner, not just a customer.
• Proven expertise in Statistical Process Control (SPC), Measurement System Analysis (MSA), and process capability (Cpk, Ppk) — you use these instinctively, not on request.
• Expertise with Design of Experiments (DOE) for process optimization.
• Experience with continuous or semi-continuous manufacturing line concepts (belt press, or equivalent) is a strong plus.
• Experience with controlled atmosphere processing and/or high-temperature industrial environments preferred.
• Experience in gas handling, exhaust treatment and waste heat collection and re-use is a plus.
• Proven track record driving product qualification, regulatory certification and new product introduction.