Guided Search Partners (GSP)
Guided Search Partners is an Executive Search firm built on Trust, Transparency, Specialization, and Long-term Relationships.
We connect high-performing professionals with organizations that value people, performance, and growth—helping leaders find roles where they can make an impact and build meaningful careers.

About the Opportunity
We’re supporting a search for an Engineering Manager with an automotive manufacturing organization in Michigan. This role will manage engineering teams across a large automotive component manufacturing operation, with a strong focus on launch activity, manufacturing engineering, tooling, capital projects, and process performance. The Engineering Manager will ensure engineering priorities align with organizational needs while supporting KPIs around safety, quality, delivery, cost, and project execution. This is a strong fit for an engineering leader with automotive manufacturing experience, strong launch knowledge, and the ability to guide engineers through customer programs, tooling, process development, and continuous improvement work.

What You’ll Do
You’ll lead engineering activity with a focus on launch, plant engineering, tooling, capital investment, customer support, and KPI performance.

Key areas of focus include:

• Lead and oversee engineering team activity
• Provide guidance and direction to engineers
• Ensure processes are developed and operated effectively and consistently
• Support launch and plant engineering priorities
• Review and approve tooling and capital expenditures based on approved budgets and quoted amounts
• Review and approve continuous improvement initiatives focused on cost, safety, and project timelines
• Quote processes to support customer demand and financial targets, including NPV, IRR, and ROI
• Ensure capital investment supports organizational needs
• Develop and maintain master project timelines for internal and external projects
• Collaborate with customer engineering teams to improve designs for manufacturability
• Address engineering concerns with internal and customer teams
• Support development of policies and standards that advance company goals
• Ensure processes support safety, ergonomics, and quality standards
• Support IATF, ASI, and ISO certification and audit requirements
• Partner with plant leadership to support budget targets, efficiency, scrap, and manufacturing overhead

Who You Are
You are an engineering leader with strong automotive manufacturing experience and the ability to manage both people and technical priorities.

You understand tooling, launch, customer documentation, manufacturing processes, and how engineering impacts safety, quality, delivery, and cost. You can lead engineers, support customer-facing work, and help keep projects moving against internal and external timelines.

You would do well here if you are comfortable in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, can balance launch and plant engineering needs, and bring strong leadership, communication, and technical judgment.

Preferred Experience & Attributes
• 8–10 years of automotive industry experience preferred
• 3–5 years of experience managing engineers preferred
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related field preferred
• Degree is not required, but engineering background is a strong plus
• Strong understanding of automotive manufacturing products and processes
• Demonstrated management and leadership capability
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Solid understanding of tooling design and construction
• Working knowledge of automotive documentation, including GD&T, APQP, PFMEA, and 8D corrective actions/problem-solving
• CAD experience preferred, including SolidWorks, AutoCAD/DraftSight, or CATIA
• Experience supporting tooling, capital projects, launch activity, and continuous improvement
• Ability to lead a team of approximately 10–15 direct reports

Why This Role Matters
This role matters because the company is combining launch and plant engineering leadership into one key position. The Engineering Manager will help lead engineering execution, support customer programs, guide capital and tooling decisions, and ensure manufacturing processes meet safety, quality, delivery, and cost expectations. This is a strong opportunity for an automotive engineering leader who wants a visible role with direct impact on launch success and plant performance.