Tooling Engineering Manager
Summary
Leads design, development, maintenance, and performance of injection molding and thermoforming tooling in high-volume plastic manufacturing, with hands-on shop floor oversight and external tool shop management. Requires a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, 7+ years’ experience, and SolidWorks proficiency.
Highlights
- Experience
- 7+ years with injection molding and/or thermoforming tooling; team leadership experience
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, or Plastics Engineering, or equivalent experience
- Type
- Full-Time
Job description
Position Summary
Growscape is seeking an experienced Tooling Engineering Manager to lead the design, development, maintenance, and performance of injection molding and thermoforming tooling used in high-volume plastic manufacturing. This role holds both technical ownership and managerial accountability for tooling systems, on-site tooling teams, engineering resources, and external tool shop partners. The Tooling Engineering Manager is expected to maintain a strong hands-on presence on the shop floor while driving tooling strategy, team performance, cost control, and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
People Leadership & Management
Required Qualifications
Comfortable leading cross-functional teams in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
Growscape is seeking an experienced Tooling Engineering Manager to lead the design, development, maintenance, and performance of injection molding and thermoforming tooling used in high-volume plastic manufacturing. This role holds both technical ownership and managerial accountability for tooling systems, on-site tooling teams, engineering resources, and external tool shop partners. The Tooling Engineering Manager is expected to maintain a strong hands-on presence on the shop floor while driving tooling strategy, team performance, cost control, and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
People Leadership & Management
- Lead, coach, and develop on-site tooling maintenance, tool build, and tooling engineering teams, including mold makers, tooling technicians, and tooling/engineering staff.
- Provide functional leadership and direction to tooling-related engineering resources supporting injection molding and thermoforming operations.
- Establish clear expectations, priorities, and performance standards for tooling and engineering teams aligned with production, quality, and business objectives.
- Assign work, set schedules, and balance resources across tooling maintenance, engineering support, and new tool development activities.
- Support hiring, onboarding, training, and ongoing skills development for tooling and engineering personnel.
- Drive accountability for safety, workmanship, documentation, and adherence to engineering and tooling standards.
- Provide technical leadership for the design and engineering of injection molding and thermoforming tools, including mold layouts, cooling strategies, venting, gating, and trim solutions.
- Ensure tooling designs support part quality, dimensional stability, cycle time targets, uptime, and long-term tool life.
- Review and approve part and tooling designs for manufacturability (DFM/DFA) prior to release.
- Serve as the senior technical escalation point for complex tooling, quality, or processing challenges.
- Maintain a regular, hands-on presence on the manufacturing floor to assess tooling condition, performance, and production readiness.
- Oversee mold and thermoform tool maintenance programs, including preventative, corrective, and emergency repair activities.
- Prioritize tooling maintenance and repair work based on downtime risk, quality impact, and production schedules.
- Partner with operations and maintenance leadership to rapidly resolve tooling-related downtime and defects.
- Ensure tools are safe, documented, validated, and capable prior to production release.
- Manage relationships with external tool shops and equipment suppliers.
- Lead tooling projects from concept and sourcing through build, tryout (T0, T1), qualification, and production release.
- Conduct design reviews, tool buy-offs, and capability assessments.
- Control tooling budgets, quotes, timing, and scope changes to meet cost and launch targets.
- Develop and execute tooling and tooling-engineering strategies to improve uptime, reduce maintenance cost, and increase manufacturing efficiency.
- Analyze tooling performance metrics to drive root cause corrective actions and long-term improvements.
- Lead standardization efforts across tooling designs, components, spare parts, engineering practices, and maintenance procedures.
- Support capital planning and long-term tooling roadmaps aligned with business growth.
- Ensure tooling and engineering specifications, build standards, maintenance procedures, and validation documentation are established and maintained.
- Ensure compliance with internal engineering standards, safety requirements, and customer or regulatory expectations.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Plastics Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- 7+ years of experience with injection molding and/or thermoforming tooling in a production manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated experience leading tooling and engineering teams in a manufacturing environment.
- Mandatory proficiency in SolidWorks for tooling, mold layout, and part design.
- Strong knowledge of thermoplastics, mold steel selection, tool construction methods, and forming technologies.
- Proven ability to manage external tool shops, engineering resources, and multiple tooling programs in parallel.
- Experience with high-cavitation injection molds and large-format thermoforming tools.
- Experience with additional CAD platforms such as AutoCAD, Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, or similar.
- Fluency with simulation tools such as Moldflow or equivalent.
- Experience supporting automation, robotics, and downstream trimming or assembly processes.
- Background in cost estimation, capital planning, and full tooling lifecycle management.
- Strong technical credibility combined with effective people leadership.
- Hands-on problem-solving mindset with a strong shop floor presence.
- Ability to translate business and engineering needs into executable tooling strategies.
- Excellent project management, prioritization, and communication skills.
Comfortable leading cross-functional teams in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.