Technology Commercialization Associate Jobs in Wisconsin

Manager - NPI Engineering, Finish Development

Work Mode: Onsite

Location: Onsite 4 days/week in Kohler, WI 

Opportunity

The Manager – NPI Engineering, Color/Finish Development serves as the technical and organizational leader responsible for the industrialization of advanced decorative, functional, and Color, Material & Finish (CMF) technologies across Kohler’s product portfolio. This role leads Color/Finish development activities from concept through commercialization, ensuring design intent is translated into scalable, robust, and cost-effective manufacturing processes.

The position acts as the primary integration point between Styling, Product Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and external technology partners to develop breakthrough finish capabilities, accelerate innovation, and deliver successful product launches. The leader is accountable for manufacturing readiness, process capability, risk management, and continuous advancement of Kohler’s finish technologies and competitive differentiation.

Key Responsibilities:

Color/Finish Technology Development & Industrialization

• Lead development and commercialization of decorative and functional finish technologies across faucets, showering, sanitary, and premium product categories.
  
• Drive advanced process development activities from proof-of-concept through production implementation.
  
• Establish scalable finishing processes that meet performance, quality, sustainability, and cost objectives.
  
• Evaluate and implement emerging technologies, coatings, materials, and application methods that enhance product differentiation and customer value.
  
• Develop manufacturing readiness strategies for new finish platforms and innovations.

New Product Integration Leadership

• Provide NPI leadership for finish-related product launches and innovation initiatives.
  
• Ensure manufacturing requirements are incorporated early through Design for Manufacturability (DFM) principles.
  
• Lead risk identification, mitigation planning, and launch readiness reviews.
  
• Drive successful transfer of finish technologies into stable production environments.
  
• Establish launch metrics, capability plans, validation protocols, and production ramp-up strategies.

Cross-Functional Business Partnership

• Partner closely with Industrial Design, Product Engineering, Marketing, Program Management, and Operations teams.
  
• Collaborate with suppliers, technology partners, and research organizations to expand color/finish capabilities.
  
• Provide technical leadership during design reviews, innovation workshops, and product development gate assessments.
  
• Organizational Leadership & Capability Building
  
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing Finish Development engineering team.
  
• Establish technical standards, best practices, and knowledge-sharing mechanisms across global NPI organizations.
  
• Build succession bench strength and strengthen finish engineering expertise across the enterprise.
  
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
  
• Ensure operations & product competitive benchmarking of our development methodologies, production/process competitors and product competitors

Manufacturing Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve quality, reliability, productivity, and cost performance of finish operations.
  
• Champion Lean, Six Sigma, and structured problem-solving methodologies.
  
• Standardize finish development practices globally where appropriate.
  
• Capture and institutionalize lessons learned from product launches and process development initiatives.

Skills/Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related technical discipline.
  
• 6 - 8+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, product industrialization, finishing processes, coatings, plating, paint systems, surface treatments, or related technologies.
  
• Demonstrated experience leading complex product launches and process development initiatives.
  
• Experience leading technical teams and cross-functional project organizations.

Preferred:

• Experience with decorative coatings, physical vapor deposition (PVD), plating, painting, electrophoretic coating, powder coating, or advanced surface technologies.
  
• Global manufacturing and supplier development experience.
  
• Lean Six Sigma certification.

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Why Choose Kohler?
We empower each associate to #BecomeMoreAtKohler with a competitive total rewards package to support your health and wellbeing, access to career growth and development opportunities, a diverse and inclusive workplace, and a strong culture of innovation. With more than 30,000 bold leaders across the globe, we’re driving meaningful change in our mission to help people live gracious, healthy, and sustainable lives.
About Us
It is Kohler’s policy to recruit, hire, and promote qualified applicants without regard to race, creed, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, disability or status as a protected veteran. If, as an individual with a disability, you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please contact kohlerjobs@kohler.com.  Kohler Co. is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.