About Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.
For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.
Visit johnsoncontrols.com for more information and follow @Johnsoncontrols on social platforms.
What you will do
Johnson Controls is seeking a driven and technical Senior Chiller Product Engineer to join our Air-Cooled Centrifugal Chillers team at the Advanced Development and Engineering Center in New Freedom, PA. In this high-impact role, you’ll be at the heart of our industry-leading, high-volume product lines—ensuring they consistently deliver exceptional performance in quality, cost efficiency, and manufacturability.
You’ll develop deep product expertise and play a pivotal role connecting design engineering with a global network of air-cooled centrifugal manufacturing facilities. This is a hands-on, execution-focused opportunity where your work will directly influence product performance and operational excellence—ideal for someone who thrives on ownership, problem-solving, and driving continuous improvement in a fast-paced environment. This position is based onsite at our office in New Freedom, PA. Candidates must be commuting distance to this location, or able to relocate. Various relocation packages are available.
How you will do it
Design-to-Factory Bridge
Serve as the primary technical interface between the air cooled centrifugal design engineering team and the global network of air cooled centrifugal manufacturing facilities — Stiva (Monterrey, MX), Pune (India), Izmir (Turkey), and Guangzhou (China) — ensuring that engineering intent is fully translated into executable factory process.
Collaborate with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, and Production teams across factory sites on-site and remotely to resolve drawing conflicts, tolerance concerns, and producibility issues in existing product documentation.
Participate in Change Control Board (CCB) reviews; author and process Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) with full factory impact analysis including effectivity date planning, BOM accuracy, and work instruction alignment.
Work closely with Contract Engineering teams to ensure that customer-specific modifications to standard product are engineered within factory capability constraints.
Quality Improvement
Own recurring and systemic quality issues on the air cooled centrifugal product line, driving root cause analysis through structured methodologies (8D, A3) and translating findings into permanent engineering corrective actions.
Implement DFMEA updates, tolerance studies, and design-level countermeasures for in-production quality defects identified through factory audits, warranty data, or field feedback.
Partner with the Quality Engineering team to disposition nonconforming material and determine engineering accept/reject criteria.
Support PPAP activities for component or supplier changes that result from quality-driven engineering modifications.
Design for Manufacturability (DFM) Improvements
Identify DFM gaps in existing product designs that result in assembly difficulty, rework, scrap, or extended factory cycle time, and champion engineering changes to address them.
Participate in DFM review events for product line changes, representing the factory's practical assembly perspective and ensuring new configurations can be built reliably at rate.
Work with Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering to validate that DFM improvements deliver measurable improvement on the production floor.
Cost Management
Identify and lead cost reduction opportunities within the existing air cooled centrifugal product line, including material substitution, specification rationalization, component standardization, and BOM simplification.
Develop engineering cases for value engineering changes, providing technical justification, risk assessment, and implementation plans to gain cross-functional approval.
Track implemented cost improvement projects against savings targets; maintain project status visibility for leadership reporting.
Engage with Supply Chain and Procurement to evaluate supplier-driven alternatives, ensure engineering requirements are maintained, and qualify new parts into the product.
PTS and Field Support
Provide engineering support to the Product Technical Support (PTS) team for escalated field issues on air cooled centrifugal product, including analysis of field failure reports, return material evaluation, and development of field-applicable corrective actions.
Author and support issuance of technical communications, service advisories, and field upgrade kits as needed.
Support occasional field visits to investigate high-priority customer issues requiring engineering-level analysis.
What you will need
Required
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or closely related engineering discipline.
7 years of experience in product engineering, sustaining engineering, or manufacturing engineering for complex mechanical equipment — preferably in HVAC, refrigeration, or rotating machinery.
Working knowledge of vapo+r compression refrigeration systems and the mechanical and thermodynamic principles governing centrifugal chiller performance.
Proven experience executing engineering changes in a manufacturing environment, including BOM management, drawing updates, and cross-functional coordination through change control processes.
Familiarity with SAP or equivalent ERP systems for BOM management, material status, and engineering documentation.
Experience with quality problem-solving tools (8D, A3, DFMEA) and demonstrated ability to drive issues to root cause and permanent corrective action.
Preferred
Direct experience with air cooled centrifugal chiller products, including familiarity with compressor staging, heat exchanger design, and refrigerant circuit architecture.
Experience in a factory-connected product engineering role (factory product engineer, sustaining engineer, or DFM engineer) in which direct engagement with manufacturing operations was a primary job function.
Familiarity with JCI engineering governance processes including ECN, CCB, P-status lifecycle, and PLM/Windchill documentation standards.
Experience supporting PTS or field engineering functions, including analysis of field failure data and development of field corrective actions.
HIRING SALARY RANGE: $90,000 - $130,000 (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.) This role offers a competitive Bonus plan that will take into account individual, group, and corporate performance. This position includes a competitive benefits package. The posted salary range reflects the target compensation for this role. However, we recognize that exceptional candidates may bring unique skills and experiences that exceed the typical profile. If you believe your background warrants consideration beyond the stated range, we encourage you to apply. To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may use technology assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluate candidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers. For details, please visit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us
Johnson Controls International plc. is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a qualified individual with a disability or any other characteristic protected by law. To view more information about your equal opportunity and non-discrimination rights as a candidate, visit EEO is the Law. If you are an individual with a disability and you require an accommodation during the application process, please visit here.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline
- 5 years of experience in product engineering or related fields for complex mechanical equipment
- Working knowledge of vapor compression refrigeration systems
- Experience executing engineering changes in a manufacturing environment
- Familiarity with SAP or similar ERP systems
- Experience with quality problem-solving tools
Johnson Controls Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Johnson Controls and has not been reviewed or approved by Johnson Controls.
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Retirement Support — Retirement support is positioned as a meaningful part of the package through employer 401(k) matching, repeatedly framed as a strong pillar of the overall rewards mix. The matching contribution is described with specific match levels in multiple places, reinforcing perceived value for long-term saving.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is presented as comparatively robust, with multiple paid holiday categories, vacation time, and sick time described as generous or “amazing” in places. Paid time off breadth appears to be a consistent contributor to total rewards attractiveness beyond base pay.
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Flexible Benefits — Benefits are described as broad and customizable, spanning standard medical/dental/vision plus optional add-ons like pet insurance, identity protection, and legal support. Tuition reimbursement is repeatedly highlighted as a high-value option supporting professional development.
Johnson Controls Insights
What We Do
At Johnson Controls, we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. From optimizing building performance to improving safety and enhancing comfort, we drive the outcomes that matter most. Dedicated to protecting the environment, we deliver our promise in industries such as healthcare, education, data centers and manufacturing. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries and over 130 years of innovation, we are the power behind our customers’ mission. Our leading portfolio of building technology and solutions includes some of the most trusted names in the industry, such as Tyco®, York®, Metasys®, Ruskin®, Titus®, Frick®, Penn®, Sabroe®, Simplex®, Ansul® and Grinnell®.
