Jobloria
Director of Industrial Engineering
Career Professionals, Inc.
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
Directors in this role excel in lean manufacturing, capacity modeling, and ERP/MES integration. Their expertise in cross-functional leadership and continuous improvement enables them to optimize production flow and manage complex job-shop dynamics effectively.
With over a decade of operational leadership, professionals transition from process oversight to strategic foresight, leading enterprise-wide initiatives, mentoring teams, and deploying advanced analytics to align manufacturing capacity with shifting market demands.
Daily challenges include synchronizing production schedules with real-time market fluctuations, ensuring data integrity in simulation models, and fostering collaboration among engineering, sales, and plant teams to sustain operational excellence.
The company encourages continuous learning, providing access to cutting-edge tools like advanced analytics and simulation platforms. Leaders are empowered to evaluate industry trends and implement scalable improvements across multiple sites.
Compensation typically ranges between $130,000 and $165,000 annually, reflecting the high expertise required in industrial engineering leadership within heavy manufacturing sectors around Spring Grove, IL.
Spring Grove’s manufacturing hub sees moderate competition for senior engineering roles, with demand rising due to local industry growth. Candidates with lean Six Sigma and ERP integration experience have a distinct advantage.
Certifications like Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and PMP are highly valued in the Chicago metropolitan area, along with proficiency in ERP and MES systems, reflecting the technical demands of industrial leaders in this region.
Strong communication, change management, and mentoring skills are vital for steering cross-site teams. The role demands strategic vision combined with hands-on operational insight to drive continuous improvement.
While managers focus on team execution and day-to-day process improvements, Directors oversee multiple departments, align engineering strategies with business goals, and lead enterprise-wide operational transformations.
Advancement often leads to executive roles such as VP of Operations or Chief Engineering Officer, where strategic oversight expands beyond manufacturing to encompass broader business functions and innovation leadership.
Spring Grove, IL