Decision Engineer Jobs in Rhode Island (NOW HIRING)

Based in our North Kingstown, RI facility and Reporting to the Director of Global Hardware Engineering, the Product Engineer will be responsible for VAVE, obsolescence, and new feature development for Hayward's vast portfolio of pool products. This role owns prioritization, execution strategy, and delivery of sustaining initiatives, ensuring results are achieved through a combination of cross-functional collaboration, and external partners. In addition, this role is responsible for deploying AI-enabled engineering capabilities to enhance VAVE analysis, cost optimization, and engineering decision-making.

Responsibilities

Sustaining Execution, Delivery & Quality:

• Own and prioritize sustaining activities across electronic assemblies and controls.
• Lead execution of VAVE, obsolescence mitigation, quality improvements, and feature enhancements.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for field failures, warranty returns, and manufacturing issues.
• Manage engineering change orders (ECOs), component obsolescence, and redesign efforts to ensure successful implementation into production.
• Identify systemic issues and drive design or process improvements to prevent recurrence.
• Track and report status, risks, progress metrics for all sustaining engineering.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Collaborate with Hardware, Software, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Regulatory, and Quality teams.
• Incorporate cross-functional input into prioritization while maintaining ownership of execution and outcomes.
• Work closely with new product development teams to ensure smooth transition into production.
• Support suppliers and manufacturing in resolving technical issues.

Technical Oversight:

• Drive and participate in VAVE design reviews and provide guidance based on board-level electronics and systems experience.
• Identify cost, reliability, and obsolescence risks and define mitigation strategies.
• Participate in failure analysis and ensure sustaining solutions address root cause with robust fixes.
• Ensure sustaining changes meet quality, reliability, and compliance standards (UL, CE, IEC).

Vendor & Resource Strategy:

• Identify capability gaps and utilize external engineering partners to accelerate execution and VAVE business assessments.
• Define scope of work and ensure quality and timeliness of external deliverables.
• Propose new component strategies and circuit modernizations and drive new vendor integration.

AI-Enabled Engineering & Analytics Deployment:

• Define and deploy AI-enabled VAVE analysis capabilities to identify cost reduction opportunities across schematics, BOMs, and designs.
• Integrate AI-driven insights, automation into sustaining prioritization and decision-making processes.
• Ensure AI initiatives deliver measurable impact on cost, speed, and engineering efficiency.

Process & Continuous Improvement:

• Drive improvements in sustaining workflows, tools, and best practices.
• Standardize engineering documentation and PLM structures to support efficient outsourcing and bid package development.
• Establish repeatable, scalable execution models across sustaining activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field
• 10-15 years of experience in electronics product development
• Experience in sustaining engineering, VAVE, quality resolution, and product lifecycle management
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering efforts and deliver results in cross-functional, resource-constrained environments
• Experience working with external engineering vendors and manufacturing partners
• Knowledge of CAD, PLM tools and engineering documentation best practices
• Experience or strong familiarity with data-driven or AI-assisted engineering analysis methods
• Understanding of regulatory and compliance standards (UL, CE, IEC)
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and analytical skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in high-volume, electro-mechanical product development (consumer or industrial)
• Experience implementing engineering analytics, cost modeling, or data pipelines in product development environments
• Understanding of gated product development processes
• Broad system-level understanding across hardware, firmware, and mechanical domains
• Experience with IoT-connected products and remote diagnostics.
• Six Sigma or Lean certification.

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