Mechanical Engineer / Tooling Supervisor

The Tooling Supervisor / Engineer oversees the daily operations of the tooling department at Sylmar, CA, ensuring site-wide sustaining and maintenance tooling needs are met while driving improvements in cycle time, safety, and ergonomics. Leveraging engineering expertise, this role provides technical leadership in tooling design, process optimization, and problem-solving. In addition, the supervisor supports new product introduction (NPI) by coordinating tooling tasks and resources across projects, applying engineering principles to ensure successful implementation.

This position blends hands-on engineering knowledge with leadership responsibilities, acting as planner, scheduler, and expediter. The Tooling Supervisor / Engineer collaborates closely with tooling engineers and technicians to troubleshoot issues, execute maintenance and improvements, and ensure tooling reliability and performance.

Responsibilities

• Manage daily activities of tooling technicians, adjusting workloads and priorities.
• Manage KPI boards and lead daily stand-ups to track performance, escalate blockers, and align resources.
• Report KPIs (safety, quality, delivery, cost, labor use) to the Tooling Manager, recommending corrective actions where needed.
• Support tooling engineers with workflow coordination and provide hands-on troubleshooting guidance for technicians on the floor.
• Collaborate with engineering, production, and quality to resolve issues, share resources, and maintain understanding.
• Develop technician capability through coaching, technical training, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
• Use knowledge of hard and soft tooling processes to estimate labor hours and resource allocation.
• Improve tooling operations, documentation, and communication practices.
• Support tooling design activities, ensuring designs meet functional requirements, manufacturability, and maintainability standards.

Qualifications

• Only US Citizens, Green card holders, political asylees, or refugees are eligible to apply.
• 5+ years of experience in tooling, manufacturing engineering, or a related field.
• 2+ years of experience of supervisory or lead experience managing technical teams in a production environment.
• Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline required.
• Knowledge of both hard tooling (manual machining, CNC machining, welding) and soft tooling (fiberglass layup, epoxy, resin, and composites).
• Familiarity with NPI program support, tooling request, and project work.
• Lead safety and ergonomic improvement.
• Develop technical team(s) and keep accountable and engaged.
• Plan and manage priorities.
• Hands-on to assist technicians and guide tooling engineers.
• Experience with KPI tracking, reporting, and continuous improvement practices.
• Communication for coordination and reporting to leadership.
• Proficient in CAD/CAM software, including SolidWorks, CATIA, MasterCAM, and Siemens NX.

The base salary range for this position is $100,000 to $120,000, with a possibility of an annual bonus up to 7% of base salary. PPG offers comprehensive benefits such as Health, Dental, Life, Retirement Plan, Paid Vacation & Holidays, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Disability/Leave, and other Voluntary benefit offerings. Actual benefit offerings confirmed at the time of hire.

PPG /PPG