Innovation Engineer

Who We Are:

Lippert is a leading, global manufacturer and supplier of highly engineered products and customized solutions, dedicated to shaping, growing and bettering the RV, marine, automotive, commercial vehicle and building products industries. We combine our strategic manufacturing capabilities with the power of our winning team culture to deliver unrivaled customer service, award-winning innovation and premium products to all of our customers.

Why We are Different:

At Lippert, Everyone Matters. This is not just a tagline or empty promise; it is who we are. We have intentionally created a culture that values and celebrates our team members’ unique and varied backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We strive to give our team members a deeper sense of purpose at work, and we continue to build a better work environment by aligning our cultural and business strategies with the needs of our team members.

What You will Get:

A unique, inclusive and supportive company culture.

Comprehensive benefit offerings including medical, dental, vision, 401k with employer match, vacation, and more!

Fair and competitive compensation.

Career development and mentoring and opportunities to grow.

Holiday, personal and vacation days.

Summary/Objective:

The Innovation Engineer will focus on new product innovation, with a primary focus on Aftermarket products and processes. Primary responsibility would be to enable an ideation process, gather and vet ideas through the incoming channels and develop product concepts through stage gate 0/1 and focus on the market and business case. This team member will enhance ideation processes, support NPO and NPD processes, steering level meetings, present business cases, and seek to drive the process to drive prototype designs into production plants. Working closely with an internal cross-functional team, external customers and suppliers will be essential. This is a broad role with elements of ideation, customer insights, design, engineering and manufacturing. Role is that of idea generator, conceptualizer, optimizer and implanter.

Duties and Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Drive the ideation process through the Innovation roadmaps and workflows.

Collaborate with Product Managers at the front end to identify and define new products through ideation sessions and insights from ideation processes.

Identify and document product requirements through formal customer requirements and functional requirements documents.

Collaborate with Product Managers and engineering managers on design concepts and prototyping through the project phases.

Participate in customer VOC’s efforts across Lippert for ideation and understanding unmet needs and potential opportunities.

Drive the concepts of Core, Adjacent and Transformation across the business while evaluating ideas and tracking their development.

Implement and drive tools like 8 blockers to vet and drive ideas to solve customer needs and enable business revenue.

Be a focal point for trend scouting and technology scouting strategically and update manager on the same in regular cadence.

Drive ideas to NPO’s (new product opportunities) stage in the process and into NPD (new product development) phases and help enable business revenue.

Technical document generation- Ability to communicate technical details to vendors locally and internationally to aide in designs and prototype builds.

Define design themes for products and help establish/drive brand identity in product designs.

Help partner, design and enable innovation collaboration centers across the enterprise.

Works with Manufacturing Engineering and Suppliers to assure most efficient methods of manufacture (DFM) and assembly (DFA) are developed to meet appropriate specifications.

Self-starter, self-directed and ability to take on multiple new and exciting projects

All other responsibilities assigned by management.

Working Conditions:

Primarily working indoors, office environment.

May sit for several hours at a time.

Prolonged exposure to computer screens.

Occasional work on the manufacturing floor, customer or supplier manufacturing environment.

Qualifications:

Degree in Mechanical Engineering or Engineering Technology

3 -5 years of experience in Innovation, or product development required

3D CAD software experience required

Essential Functions:

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex documents. Ability to respond effectively to sensitive inquiries or complaints.

Ability to define problems, research trends, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.

Ability to translate customer requests and project scope into technical requirements of a product.

Write design validation plans and testing procedures

Ability to write, and present business cases

Basic project management skills. Help create project schedule and adhere to timelines

Track and communicate design changes

Revision control standards and BOM creations

Assist engineering personnel in specifying equipment, and develop methods and procedures for testing products or systems

Design and modify products and systems to fit application requirements

Ability to reverse engineer, and build upon existing designs

Demonstrate a strong commitment to LCI's safety and personnel policies

Conceptual development of products

Evaluate field installations and recommend design modifications

Competencies:

Ability to work in a team environment

Ability to work on multiple projects in parallel

Ability to use problem solving methods

Ability to brainstorm with a group

Computer Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Office Suites,

Organization Skills: Ability to maintain clean and organized work space; ability to organize and coordinate multiple projects

Cross-functional skills: Ability to work and handle multiple job assignments; ability to work with and communicate with other departments including Tooling, QA, Engineering and Manufacturing

Communication Skills: Ability to communicate within a team setting; ability to maintain a professional & pleasant demeanor

Physical, Mental and Visual Skills: Ability to analyze information to solve complex problems; ability to maintain attention to detail and accuracy; ability to sit/stand for long periods daily; position requires some lifting when doing mock installations on vehicles

Supervisory Responsibility:

This role does not have any supervisory responsibility upon hiring.

Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this job, the Team Member is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is very active and requires standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, crouching, crawling, and climbing all day. The Team Member may have to lift and/or move items over 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time salary position, and hours/days of work are decided by production schedules and your reporting manager.

Travel:

Travel will be required as necessary to work with customers, support plants and attending critical team meetings at various sites.

Preferred Education and Experience:

Degree in Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Technology/Industrial Design, Business.

3 -5 years of experience in Innovation, or product development required

3D CAD software experience required

SolidWorks experience highly preferred.

Experience in Miro boards or other concept ideation software

Innovation certificate a plus

Work Authorization/Security Clearance

Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Other Duties:Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the Team Member for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

AAP/EEO Statement

Lippert provides equal employment opportunity to all team members and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, genetic information, disability, citizen status, protected veteran status, military service, marital status or any other legally protected category as established by federal, state, or local law. This policy governs all employment decisions, including recruitment, hiring, job assignment, compensation, training, promotion, discipline, transfer, leave-of-absence, access to benefits, layoff, recall, termination and other personnel matters. All employment and personnel-related decisions are based solely upon legitimate, job-related factors, such as skill, ability, past performance, and length of service with Lippert.

Lippert’s strong commitment to equal employment opportunity requires a commitment by each individual team member. Compliance with the letter and spirit of this policy is required of all team members. Violations of this policy should be immediately reported to your leader or to any member of leadership. Team members who violate this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

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Full-Time