Staff Mechanical Components QA Engineer

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Generac is hiring a Staff Mechanical Components Quality Engineer to join our growing team. In this role, you will serve as the critical technical liaison between Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Contract Manufacturing partners to enable scalable, high-quality production of a rapidly expanding portfolio of solar energy storage products. The successful candidate will own all aspects of mechanical components quality used in power conversion and energy storage systems, ensuring products meet stringent performance, reliability, and durability requirement including warranty expectations of up to 25 years. This position will lead quality initiatives across qualified manufacturing sites, driving consistent delivery of high-quality products to Generac customers. You will play a key role in building robust processes, enabling scale readiness, and ensuring alignment between product design and manufacturing execution. We are looking for a candidate who is passionate about advancing distributed energy technologies and committed to achieving quality, reliability, and performance targets.

This role will require flexible work hours, including night meetings, in order to work with offshore supply locations in different time zones. It also includes up to 25-30% travel of which some may be international.

This position will ideally be located onsite in Waukesha, WI (alternate onsite locations are S. Portland, ME or Reno NV).

Major Responsibilities

• Working experience of mechanical components and assemblies design and development using CAD software’s like SolidWorks, Creo

• Strong understanding of 2D drawings and 3D CAD models, including application of proper tolerances and Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T)

• Familiarity with aluminum molding/casting processes (e.g., die casting) and their design implications, including draft angles, wall thickness, and tooling constraints

• Experience collaborating with tooling vendors and manufacturers to refine designs for production efficiency and quality

• Familiarity with aluminum molding/casting processes (e.g., die casting) and their design implications, including draft angles, wall thickness, and tooling constraints

• Experience collaborating with tooling vendors and manufacturers to refine designs for production efficiency and quality

• Align product quality targets with expected product performance and reliability requirements

• Own overall product quality from a mechanical component’s perspective throughout the product lifecycle

• Develop and execute comprehensive mechanical parts quality plans for new product introductions (NPI)

• Coordinate and conduct quality audits at Contract Manufacturers to ensure agreed inspection processes are followed and properly documented

• Develop detailed Quality Requirement Specifications for high-reliability products manufactured by external partners

• Provide expert input on inspection methods, measurement instruments, and manufacturing process selections

• Actively participate in Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) and Design for Manufacturability (DFM) activities

• Lead and enforce Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) to ensure processes and tooling consistently meet quality standards

• Lead Supplier Corrective Action Requests (SCAR) using the 8D methodology, ensuring timely and effective closure

• Drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) related to manufacturing defects and material non-conformances

• Utilize Engineering Change Order (ECO) systems to manage and ensure effective implementation of design and process changes

• Collaborate cross-functionally with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Testing teams, including support for materials and process validation when required.

• Monitor compliance with applicable quality and safety certification standards

• Ability in interpreting dimensional measurements and GD&T callouts from supplier’s First Article Inspection (FAI) and/or OQC reports, ensuring full compliance with customer engineering drawings.

• Demonstrate knowledge of manufacturing processes including casting, molding, and stamping, and perform Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) analysis

• Review mechanical drawings to identify gaps and ensure all necessary inspection requirements are clearly defined

• Develop and maintain quality documentation, ensuring Contract Manufacturers (CMs) properly implement and retain records

• Define, track, and continuously improve quality performance metrics

• Source vendors, obtain quotations, and coordinate environmental and reliability testing as required

• Collaborate with suppliers on part quality issues, including defect analysis and resolution

• Familiarity with industry testing and certification standards (e.g., IPC, UL), including interpretation and application to product design, validation, and compliance requirements

• Support cross-functional quality initiatives and perform additional duties as assigned

Minimum Job Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Work Experience

• Must have at least 7 years of manufacturing high reliability electronic, electromechanical or products with a focus on quality management in a contract manufacturing or electromechanical assembly environment.
• Strong experience with solder chemistries/processing, electronics cleaning and cleanliness validation processes, conformal coating and potting.  

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

• Solid quantitative skill set and the ability to analyze and communicate with well-supported data
• Knowledge of PCB design capability
• An individual critical thinker capable of devising plans and solutions for complex problems.

Preferred Job Requirements

Education

• Power electronics, consumer electronics or commercial electronics background preferred
• Experience working with international companies and in a matrix organization.
• Proven experience collaborating with multiple sites and functions to drive common solutions.
• Prior experience with hardware certification standards (e.g. UL1741)
• Mechanical and thermal analysis experience
• Familiarity with aluminum molding/casting processes (e.g., die casting) and their design implications, including draft angles, wall thickness, and tooling constraints
• Experience collaborating with tooling vendors and manufacturers to refine designs for production efficiency and quality

Certification / License

Familiarity with lean manufacturing principles.

Six Sigma green or black belt preferred.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

PCB materials and manufacturing

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“We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.”