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Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Your Work Shapes the World

Whether it be groundbreaking products, best in class solutions or creating a lifelong career, you can do the work that matters at Caterpillar. With a 95-year legacy of quality and innovation and 150 locations in countries around the world, your impact spans the globe.

When you join Caterpillar, you are joining a team of makers, innovators, and doers. We are the people who roll up our sleeves and do the work to build a better world. We don’t just talk about progress and innovation. We make it happen. And we are proud of that, because it helps our customers build and power the world we live in – the roads, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure. Without a dedicated workforce Caterpillar could not effectively meet our customer’s needs. Join us.

Description

Caterpillar’s Advanced Materials Technology organization has a need for an Engineering Project Team Leader in the Mechanical Testing group at the Caterpillar Technical Center in Mossville, IL. This position will have team leadership and lab management responsibilities for a team that generates critical test and life data for Caterpillar components and provides test services to the enterprise to ensure the durability and performance that our customers expect from Cat products. Additionally, the position will provide leadership to the broader Specialized Operations & Testing team.

In this role, you will work closely with a broad range of engineering teams to create and deliver test data of the highest quality and integrity to meet client technical requirements and timelines. The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of mechanical behavior of materials, fatigue, physical testing, and data acquisition, and will be able to lead a diverse team of engineers and technicians to run an efficient and productive lab. This role will also have significant collaboration with the Engineering Manager in operating the business and managing expenses, requiring a strong business acumen. Additionally, the position requires strategic thinking to understand and anticipate future client needs, establishing capital plans and identifying reinvestment opportunities to maintain world class capabilities.

The team leader role accounts for up to 50% of this assignment the remainder of the time, the incumbent acts as an individual contributor, bringing technical expertise to the project as well. Team leaders must manage their own development, continuously learning through experience new business knowledge and skill. Program/project management and strong organizational skills are critical.

Interpersonal, leadership, and strong communication skills are required. Significant challenges of this position are working with people: enhancing the team’s creativity; facilitating the team’s cooperation; clearly communicating requirements and tasks, while incorporating team input to drive continuous improvement.

Job Duties

Job duties include, but are not limited to:

• Having direct responsibility for the mechanical test lab operation at the Caterpillar Technical Center.
• Ensuring that data of the highest quality is generated by keeping all calibrations up to date and completing all preventative maintenance on time.
• Maintaining a high level of equipment uptime to meet client schedules and respond quickly when urgent needs arise.
• Implementing systems to track key metrics and driving activity to course correct when needed.
• Creating work instructions for technicians and engineering team members to ensure adherence to standard work for data repeatability.
• Maintaining a safe working environment and contributing to the culture of safety.
• Training and certifying new equipment operators, ensuring proficiency, aptitude, and adherence to safe operating practices.
• Promoting a culture of continuous improvement and lean operating principles in the lab.
• Mentoring and coaching team members, including rotational engineers and interns.
• Directing the day-to-day activities of lab technicians.
• Directly leading key projects and initiative that require the skills and expertise of the team leader.
• Maintaining connections at outside labs to use external capability when required by cost or schedule constraints.
• Reviewing the group’s revenue and expense reports to ensure strong financial performance.
• Leading capital projects.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, or closely related field and 6+ years of experience.
• Of the work experience above, 3 years in a testing or validation environment.
• Demonstrated results completing moderately complex projects with a strong aptitude for team leadership.

Top Candidates will also have

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, materials science & engineering, or closely related field with 9+ years of engineering experience, or master’s degree with 6+ years’ experience.
• Of the work experience above, 5 years in a testing or validation environment.
• Demonstrated experience completing complex projects, starting with initial concept and ending with delivery of high-quality test data for product validation.
• Demonstrated experience developing new test procedures or installing new test equipment.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal & communication skills.
• Prior experience managing a lab operation.
• Prior team lead or supervisory experience.
• Experience collaborating with global engineering teams.
• Prior experience with MTS or Instron test equipment.
• Experience with 3D CAD software, especially Creo.
• Bolted joint test or analysis experience.
• Self-starter with good multitasking skills to optimize and deliver results under challenging requirements of quality and timeline.

Additional Information

The location for this position is Mossville, IL.

Domestic relocation assistance is available for this position.

This position will require less than 10% travel.

Employee benefit details

Our goal at Caterpillar is for you to have a rewarding career. Our teams are critical to the success of our customers who build a better world.

Here you earn more than just a salary because we value your performance. We offer a total rewards package that provides benefits on day one (medical, dental, vision, RX, and 401K) along with the potential of an annual bonus.

Additional benefits include paid vacation days and paid holidays (prorated based upon hire date).

Final details

Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application – please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.

This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S. which can be found through our employment website at www.Caterpillar.com/Careers.

For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media

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EEO/AA Employer. All qualified individuals - Including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities - are encouraged to apply.

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