Lead Manufacturing Systems Engineer, Apparel Product Integrity

Overview

Location: Beaverton, OR (Headquarters) – Hybrid with up to 20% travel to U.S. manufacturing facilities (including East Coast, West Coast, Wisconsin, and select regional partners)
Duration: 1-Year Contract (with potential for conversion to full-time)

About the Role

We are seeking a Lead Manufacturing Systems Engineer to help drive operational excellence, product quality, and manufacturing capability across a global apparel manufacturing network. This role sits at the intersection of quality engineering, industrial engineering, lean manufacturing, and garment production systems, with a strong focus on ensuring products are made right the first time.

You will partner closely with internal engineering teams and external manufacturing partners to improve quality systems, resolve production issues, and standardize manufacturing processes across multiple factory environments.

What You’ll Do

Manufacturing Quality & Product Integrity

• Lead end-to-end product quality initiatives across apparel manufacturing partners
• Investigate, analyze, and resolve complex manufacturing quality issues (root cause analysis, CAPA, corrective actions)
• Support inspections, audits, and post-production product evaluations to ensure compliance with product standards
• Partner with factories to improve quality consistency and reduce defects

Manufacturing Systems & Process Engineering

• Develop and optimize manufacturing processes to improve efficiency, cost, and quality outcomes
• Apply industrial engineering principles to production systems, workflows, and factory operations
• Support factory capacity planning and production flow optimization

Lean & Continuous Improvement

• Implement Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement methodologies across supplier base
• Drive operational excellence initiatives focused on waste reduction, cycle time improvement, and quality yield
• Standardize best practices across multiple manufacturing partners

Cross-Functional Leadership & Collaboration

• Partner with product engineering, quality engineering, advanced manufacturing, and sourcing teams
• Align manufacturing partners with global product performance and quality standards
• Act as a key liaison between internal teams and external factory partners

Manufacturing Readiness & Standards

• Support deployment of manufacturing and product integrity standards across global partners
• Ensure readiness of manufacturing processes to support production scale and consistency
• Contribute to development and refinement of standardized manufacturing systems

What You Bring

• 10+ years of experience in manufacturing systems engineering, quality engineering, industrial engineering, or related fields
• Strong background in apparel, garment, sewn goods, or textile manufacturing
• Proven experience managing or resolving manufacturing quality issues in factory environments
• Deep understanding of factory operations, production systems, and manufacturing workflows
• Experience applying Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies
• Familiarity with industrial engineering concepts, including process optimization and capacity planning
• Experience working with external manufacturing partners or global supplier networks
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven approach to decision-making
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field (advanced degree or certifications preferred)

Nice to Have

• Experience in large-scale global apparel or footwear manufacturing environments
• Prior experience working with enterprise-level manufacturing or product lifecycle systems
• Exposure to structured motion/time study systems (e.g., GSD or equivalent methodologies)
• Background working with major global apparel brands or high-volume manufacturing organizations

Why This Role Matters

This is a high-impact role focused on ensuring product integrity, manufacturing consistency, and operational excellence across a complex global supplier network. You will directly influence how apparel products are built, tested, and delivered at scale—helping elevate both quality and manufacturing capability across the system.

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