At Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (EBAD), we believe that our strengths are built on our most important resource - our people. Join EBAD and you'll be a part of a team who creates cutting edge technology that will blast us into the future. No other company can match the innovative energetic solutions that we provide. At EBAD you will actively contribute to successful missions putting men, women and satellites into space, and protecting our armed service men and women around the world. If this is the culture and work environment you are seeking, then EBAD is the place for you!
Job Description
Mechanical Design Engineering Manager
Location: Simsbury, CT | Reports to: Design Engineering Director
Build Mechanical Design Capability. Improve Design Execution. Deliver Production-Ready Products.
Position Summary
At Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (EBAD), our products perform in environments where technical rigor, reliability, and safety are essential. The Mechanical Design Engineering Manager leads EBAD's Mechanical Design organization and strengthens mechanical design capability across the product-development lifecycle.
This leader owns the evolution of the mechanical design function supporting mission-critical aerospace and defense products, with responsibility spanning mechanical product design, enclosures, tooling, packaging, and rapid prototyping. The role builds the team, standards, capabilities, and operating practices needed to deliver production-ready designs with less rework while balancing manufacturability, assembly, testability, cost, safety, performance, and reliability.
What You'll Do
Build and Lead the Mechanical Design Organization
Lead, coach, and develop the Mechanical Design team, with clear expectations, effective one-on-ones, candid feedback, development plans, accountability for results, and succession strength.
Integrate the Simsbury and Moorpark Mechanical Design teams and activities—including product, enclosure, tooling, packaging, and rapid prototyping—under a common functional operating model.
Build the team and capabilities needed for future growth by identifying critical skill gaps, supporting recruiting, and developing business cases for headcount and capital investment, including machining and 3D-printing capabilities.
Strengthen Design Standards and Execution
Establish and improve mechanical design standards, methods, design reviews, release-readiness expectations, and operating cadence to make execution more consistent, scalable, and effective across sites and programs.
Establish a consistent approach for prioritizing Mechanical Design resources across projects and aligning functional capacity with program needs.
Strengthen Design for X (DfX) practices early in product development, balancing manufacturability, assembly, testability, cost, safety, performance, and reliability.
Improve Product Quality and Technical Outcomes
Deliver production-ready designs with less rework through disciplined tolerancing, design reviews, early validation, DFMEA, rapid prototyping, and collaboration with Operations and Supply Chain.
Provide technical credibility and judgment in problem-solving discussions by assessing feasibility and risk, challenging assumptions, broadening the solution space, and removing obstacles without needing to be the subject-matter expert in every detail.
Use the EBAD Operating System (EBOS) to reinforce operating cadence, visual management, structured problem solving, and kaizen within Mechanical Design.
Influence Across the Business
Partner across Program Management, Business Development, Engineering, Operations, and customers to align mechanical design decisions with technical performance, manufacturability, cost, schedule, quality, configuration control, and customer outcomes.
Influence product decisions from concept through production by enabling rapid prototyping and early validation and by resolving cross-functional tradeoffs before release.
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