Jobloria
Director of Industrial Engineering
Career Search Associates
Location : Spring Grove, IL, 60081
Job Type : Full Time / Part Time
Date Posted : 1 December 2025
We are seeking a highly experienced
Director of Industrial Engineering
Department:Engineering / OperationsReports To:Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Direct Reports:TBD (Production Control, Process Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Corporate Managers, QA Segment Engineers, Flex Manager)
Position Summary
We are seeking a highly experiencedDirector of Industrial Engineeringto lead operational excellence, demand responsiveness, and scalable growth in a complex job-shop manufacturing environment. This role combines strategic foresight with hands-on leadership, ensuring production capabilities align with dynamic market demands while driving continuous improvement across multiple sites.
The Director will play a critical role in enhancing efficiency, cost effectiveness, and delivery performance by optimizing processes and integrating advanced manufacturing methodologies.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the evaluation, implementation, and maintenance of manufacturing systems (MES, ERP, simulation models, advanced analytics).
- Align operational capacity with market demand through data analytics, capacity models, and real-time scheduling.
- Ensure simulation and planning models reflect real operating conditions with validated data integrity.
- Optimize production flow and job routing to manage customer orders effectively while collaborating with Sales Leadership.
- Translate business strategy into actionable operational initiatives to enable scale, efficiency, and responsiveness.
- Stay ahead of industry trends in heavy manufacturing, evaluating emerging tools and technologies.
- Drive cross-site initiatives that improve enterprise-wide performance.
- Build and grow industrial engineering capabilities through mentoring, training, and knowledge-sharing.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement, technical curiosity, and operational excellence.
- Partner closely with Operations, Engineering, Sales, and Plant Leadership to ensure alignment.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field.
- 10+ years of industrial engineering or operational leadership experience in heavy manufacturing or capital equipment.
- Expertise in lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, capacity modeling, ERP/MES integrations.
- Experience with shop-floor simulation, scheduling, and data analytics platforms.
- Strong track record in continuous improvement and cross-functional leadership.
- Project management skills for scope development, timelines, and deliverables.
- Excellent communication skills with ability to lead change across multiple sites.
- Deep understanding of job shop dynamics, including short lead times and custom orders.
Freqently Asked Questions
Expertise in MES, ERP, simulation modeling, and advanced analytics platforms is essential for a Director of Industrial Engineering in Spring Grove. These tools empower leaders to optimize production workflows and align capacity with market demands in complex manufacturing environments.
Directors must coordinate cross-site initiatives, ensuring consistent operational excellence while adapting to local production challenges. Leadership involves mentoring engineering teams and integrating best practices across all plants to drive scalable growth and continuous improvement.
Directors focus on strategic foresight, enterprise-wide process optimization, and cross-functional leadership, unlike managers who typically handle day-to-day operations. They must excel in translating business strategies into actionable initiatives while driving innovation and operational responsiveness.
Spring Grove’s industrial leaders often handle short lead times and highly customized orders typical of job-shop settings. Balancing demand responsiveness with cost-efficiency requires deep knowledge of capacity modeling and real-time scheduling tailored for local manufacturing dynamics.
While the job description emphasizes experience over certifications, credentials like Six Sigma Black Belt or Lean Manufacturing expertise could strengthen a candidate’s profile at Career Search Associates, reflecting their focus on continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Career Search Associates fosters a culture valuing technical curiosity and collaboration. The director is expected to lead with both strategic vision and hands-on guidance, partnering closely with sales, operations, and plant leadership to ensure seamless alignment and enterprise-wide performance.
Compensation for a Director of Industrial Engineering in Spring Grove generally ranges from $130,000 to $170,000 annually, depending on experience and expertise in heavy manufacturing. This reflects the high demand for professionals skilled in lean manufacturing and advanced production systems.
Spring Grove and the greater Chicago area have a robust manufacturing sector, creating steady demand for industrial engineering directors. However, competition can be strong due to the specialized skills required in job-shop environments and lean process management.
Daily responsibilities include overseeing manufacturing system implementations, validating production simulations, optimizing workflow, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to meet market demand efficiently. Leadership and continuous improvement initiatives are also integral to the role.
By translating strategic objectives into operational initiatives, the director ensures production systems scale effectively with market needs. This involves data-driven capacity planning, process optimization, and fostering an engineering team capable of sustaining growth across multiple manufacturing sites.
Spring Grove, IL