Product Engineer Assistant Jobs in Wisconsin (NOW HIRING)

Product Engineer

Schedule: Monday–Friday | Hybrid flexibility after 90 days

Compensation: Up to $100,000 base + 8.5% bonus

Position Overview

A well-established manufacturer in the Appleton, WI area is seeking a Product Engineer to support and improve a portfolio of commercial water treatment products and systems.

This is a hands-on engineering position combining product design, sustaining engineering, troubleshooting, and manufacturing support. The Product Engineer will work closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and other cross-functional teams to improve existing products while also supporting new product development initiatives.

The ideal candidate has an engineering degree and experience working with manufactured products in a combination of design and production-floor environments. Experience with SolidWorks, plastic component design, and injection molding is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities

Product & Sustaining Engineering

• Provide engineering support for existing product lines throughout the product lifecycle.
• Modify and improve existing products to enhance performance, reliability, quality, cost, and manufacturability.
• Troubleshoot product-related issues and develop effective engineering solutions.
• Investigate field concerns, customer issues, and internal quality problems.
• Manage product modifications through established engineering change processes.
• Support product lifecycle and continuous improvement initiatives.

New Product Development

• Support the design and development of new products and product enhancements.
• Participate in concept development, CAD modeling, prototyping, testing, and validation.
• Provide Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) input.
• Assist with transitioning new or modified products into production.
• Collaborate with manufacturing teams to ensure designs can be produced effectively and consistently.

Design & Engineering

• Create and modify 3D models, assemblies, components, and engineering drawings.
• Maintain accurate engineering documentation, drawings, BOMs, and revisions.
• Support the design and development of mechanical and plastic components.
• Evaluate materials, components, and design alternatives.
• Utilize engineering analysis and testing to validate product improvements.

Manufacturing Support

• Work directly with manufacturing teams to troubleshoot production and product issues.
• Spend time on the manufacturing floor investigating problems and implementing solutions.
• Improve product manufacturability, assembly processes, and production efficiency.
• Support the development and improvement of work instructions and production documentation.
• Partner with Manufacturing and Quality Engineering on root cause analysis and corrective actions.

Continuous Improvement & Cost Reduction

• Identify opportunities to improve product performance, reliability, durability, and manufacturability.
• Support value engineering and product cost-reduction initiatives.
• Evaluate alternative materials, components, suppliers, and manufacturing methods.
• Participate in root cause analysis, FMEA, corrective action, and continuous improvement activities.
• Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and suppliers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline required.
• Approximately 3–5+ years of product, design, sustaining, or mechanical engineering experience within a manufacturing environment preferred.
• Experience supporting manufactured products from both a design and production perspective.
• Strong mechanical aptitude and hands-on troubleshooting ability.
• Experience with 3D CAD; SolidWorks experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience designing plastic components and/or working with plastic injection molding is highly desirable.
• Understanding of manufacturing processes such as injection molding, machining, fabrication, and assembly is beneficial.
• Experience with engineering changes, BOMs, drawings, and product documentation.
• Familiarity with FMEA, root cause analysis, 8D, or similar quality/problem-solving methodologies is beneficial.
• Experience with PDM/PLM systems is a plus.
• Water treatment, filtration, fluid handling, pumps, valves, plumbing products, or similar product experience is beneficial but not required.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an engineer who enjoys being involved with the physical product rather than working exclusively behind a desk. This individual should be equally comfortable working in CAD, modifying a product design, troubleshooting an issue on the manufacturing floor, and collaborating with production personnel to implement a solution.

Candidates from a variety of manufacturing industries will be considered, particularly those with experience involving plastic components, injection-molded products, fluid-handling equipment, pumps, valves, filtration systems, appliances, or other engineered mechanical products.