Engineering Manager

The Company:

Oxbo is a leading global manufacturer of specialized agricultural equipment, renowned for innovative solutions that enhance productivity and efficiency in farming operations. With a focus on engineering excellence and customer satisfaction, Oxbo's diverse product range includes harvesting machinery for vegetables (green peas, beans, spinach), potatoes, fruits (blueberries, raspberries, grapes, olives, tomatoes, coffee) and other crops, as well as equipment for controlled manure application. Their robust machines are designed to cater to the varying needs of modern agriculture, ensuring optimal performance and reliability for its customers. Oxbo’s vision is: Optimize farming together!

In July 2023, Oxbo acquired H&S Manufacturing, integrating it as the Forage division within its expansive portfolio. H&S Manufacturing is well-known for its high-quality forage equipment, including forage mergers, rakes, tedders, manure spreaders and bale wrappers. With the acquisition, H&S Manufacturing has benefitted from Oxbo's advanced technological capabilities and extensive resources. This strategic move has enabled Oxbo to expand its forage equipment line and offer complementary products to their successful merger equipment. The synergy between Oxbo's engineering process and H&S Manufacturing's expertise in forage solutions underscores the commitment to delivering high-quality, efficient, and reliable agricultural equipment to farmers worldwide.

Market and Strategy:

The Forage equipment market is a highly cyclical market where periods of high demand alternate with period of low demands. In 2024 the global forage market entered into a period of low demand. While it is difficult to predict the cycles, the expectation is that low cycle will continue through 2025 and is expected to return to average demand in 2026 and 2027 while high cycle in 2028 is a possibility. Managing the cycles, by adjusting the organization down- and up with the cycles is a key characteristic of successful players in the forage equipment industry.

In response to the global forage market entering a low cycle in 2024, Oxbo strategically utilized this period to streamline its operations. As part of this effort, Oxbo closed one of the operating plants of H&S Manufacturing. The fabrication plant in Clintonville, Wisconsin, which was responsible for manufacturing components, was shuttered, and its activities were moved and integrated into the operation in Marshfield, Wisconsin. A new assembly hall was built at the Marshfield facility specifically for this purpose.

While managing the cycles is important, the company has also developed a long-term growth strategy. The basis of this growth strategy is business retention by ensuring the current market positions in mergers, rakes, and manure spreaders where Oxbo/H&S has market-leading positions. Keeping these positions will lead to substantial growth when markets return to normal cycles. Further growth will come from the execution of the strategic plans, which one of the main points being improving the product portfolio with development of new products, bringing innovation and value to the customers. Oxbo Forage plans to introduce forage mergers in Europe and will continue to develop new products to broaden its portfolio of forage products in the US market.

The position:

Engineering Manager, Forage

Position Overview

The Forage Product lines researches, develops and manufactures Mergers, Rakes, Boxes, Dump Carts, Tedders, Bale-wrappers and Manure Spreaders under the brands Oxbo and H&S. Oxbo/H&S has market leading positions with an aggressive plan for continuous growth with outstanding innovation, you will be serving as an Engineering Manager, Forage the position will be responsible for development of new machines with high quality, reliability, and efficiency of engineering outputs with the vision of advanced research, industry trends and developments that may impact the business.

This position involves leading locally the team of engineers and working with global functional teams on the development and maintenance of Oxbo’s Forage Platforms according to the market requirements globally, driving commonality with Modular Development including documentation and Validation, will develop product requirements, test cases and ensure product design and function meet stakeholder and customer’s expectations on performance, quality, product cost, budgets and program timing.

The Engineering Manager, Forage is part of the Division Management Team, consisting of the President Forage Division, and managers of Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales and Service

The ideal candidate will have an in-depth knowledge of Agricultural Equipment (self-propelled and/or pull-types), or Construction Equipment or Automotive including the setup, operation, and data analysis capabilities.

Responsibilities

· Effectively manage, lead and coach a team of engineers developing the Forage product platforms and cross functionally with Global Module Leaders

· Working closely with the Global Market/Sales Manager, defining the strategic product roadmaps for the forage platforms

· Develop Programs according Oxbo’s Product development process

· Develop, propose and manage engineering budgets (Resources, Materials, Validation etc) by project and department (OPEX and Eng CAPEX)

· Define project objectives and key collaborations within the strategical engineering roadmap

· Coordinate the Functional Teams on vehicle/implement development (i.e Technology, Hydraulics, Product Validation and Safety/Homologation)

· Plan validation activities (virtual, lab and field) with Product Validation Team

· Research, Conceptual designs and develop product innovations (including Field Autonomous and Robotics)

· Plan and execute strategies for engineering projects

· Build teams and staff development, including hiring and training of staff

· Present department reports and project presentations

· Strive to improve efficiency of processes and product designs

· Coordinate and Manage Design Contractors

Qualifications

The ideal candidate for the Engineering Manager, Forage position will possess the following qualifications:

· Proven Leadership: demonstrating success as an Engineering Management role within the agricultural equipment industry

· Knowledgeable in design of agricultural machinery with complex Mechanical, Hydraulic and Electric systems

· Experience or exposure to innovation as autonomous vehicles, robotics, machinery electrification and alternative propulsion systems

· Results-oriented project approach with quality and customer focus, project management standards & procedures usage is essential

· Excellent analysis skills to identify the root causes and to react in a short time following the defined procedures

· Market Knowledge: In-depth understanding of the forage equipment market and industry trends.

· Excellent Communication: Effective communication skills to lead and inspire the management team and engage with customers and stakeholders.

· Financial Understanding: Development of Project Costs (OPEX/CAPEX) and Business Cases creation and evaluation withing the division

Experience and Education Requirements

· Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural, Mechanical, Electronic, Mechatronic, Software Engineering; Master’s degree or MBA considered as a plus

· Minimum of 10 years of experience in development an validation of agricultural equipment industry, with at least 5 years in management or supervision role.

· Proven track record of successful products delivered in the market driving business growth

· Deep knowledge of the forage equipment market and competitive landscape.ok forward to your application!

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person

Salary : $100,000 - $130,000