This is both a challenge and an opportunity: the successful candidate will help build a new engineering capability in Pune, shape the operating model, recruit and develop talent, and create a high-performing team that can support both rapid response sustaining needs and disciplined new product development execution. You will be expected to translate priorities from US-based leadership into clear local direction while creating a team culture built on ownership, accountability, practical problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
Reporting to US-based engineering leadership, you will collaborate closely with stateside sustaining, NPDI, product, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and operations teams. You will operate as a strong local leader and trusted extension of the Edinboro, Pennsylvania engineering team, ensuring seamless coordination across time zones while progressively building Pune-based technical capability and capacity.
Responsibilities People Leadership & Team Building
Establish, grow, and lead a Pune-based engineering team supporting sustaining engineering, new product development, and engineering change management activities.
Recruit, interview, hire, onboard, mentor, and develop engineers and technical support roles needed to build a scalable Pune engineering capability.
Provide day-to-day people management, technical guidance, coaching, and career development for direct reports.
Create a strong team culture of ownership, urgency, accountability, customer focus, engineering discipline, and continuous improvement.
Manage workload, priorities, resource allocation, and execution commitments in coordination with stateside engineering leadership.
Drive performance management, skills development, succession planning, and team capability growth as the Pune organization expands.
Help define practical processes, communication rhythms, and handoff mechanisms that allow Pune and US-based teams to operate as one integrated engineering organization.
Technical Leadership & Mechanical Design Oversight
Provide experienced mechanical design leadership for data center rack, enclosure, and infrastructure product lines, including both released-product support and new design development.
Apply practical knowledge of sheet metal enclosure design, manufacturing processes, tolerancing, component selection, and configuration control.
Guide engineers through complex design decisions involving manufacturability, fit/function, structural integrity, serviceability, cost, quality, and compliance impact.
Review and approve technical work products including 3D models, drawings, BOM updates, engineering changes, and supporting documentation.
Support development and release of mechanical designs using Autodesk Inventor and PTC Creo, while ensuring consistent use of engineering standards, templates, and best practices.
Ensure lessons learned from manufacturing issues, quality feedback, field concerns, and customer requirements are captured and applied to future product improvements.
Sustaining Engineering, NPDI & Change Management Execution
Lead and coordinate sustaining engineering activities including issue resolution, design updates, product improvements, cost reductions, component substitutions, and lifecycle support for released products.
Support new product development execution by helping the Pune team contribute to design documentation, drawing release, design updates, prototype support, and transition-to-production readiness.
Oversee effective execution of engineering change orders, documentation updates, BOM maintenance, part-number/revision control, and product data accuracy within ERP and PLM systems.
Partner with engineering change analysts and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure changes are properly reviewed, approved, released, tracked, and implemented with minimal disruption.
Investigate and resolve manufacturing, quality, supplier, and field-reported issues using structured root-cause analysis and corrective/preventive action methodologies.
Balance fast response to production and customer needs with disciplined engineering change control and long-term product robustness.
Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration
Partner closely with US-based engineering leadership and technical leads, taking direction on priorities while providing clear local execution ownership in Pune.
Maintain a few hours of daily working overlap with US Eastern Time to support standups, design reviews, issue escalation, handoffs, and real-time collaboration.
Collaborate with Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Operations, Product Management, Compliance, and other engineering teams to implement changes and product improvements effectively.
Support smooth transitions between new product development, production launch, and ongoing sustaining ownership.
Communicate clearly across geographies, functions, and levels of the organization, escalating risks and resource needs early with proposed solutions.
Qualifications Minimum Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent technical experience.
12+ years of mechanical engineering experience with strong exposure to product development, sustaining engineering, lifecycle support, manufacturing support, or related design leadership responsibilities.
Demonstrated people-management experience, including hiring, onboarding, mentoring, performance management, workload planning, and career development for engineering teams.
Strong mechanical design background with the ability to review, guide, and challenge detailed engineering work while also leading through others.
Experience leading engineering work across cross-functional teams and globally distributed organizations.
Proficiency in 3D CAD modeling and drawing release processes; Autodesk Inventor and PTC Creo experience strongly preferred.
Hands-on experience with PLM/PDM systems such as Autodesk Vault, Windchill, or Agile.
Experience with ERP systems such as Oracle PD Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar business systems.
Strong understanding of engineering change management, BOM/documentation control, root-cause analysis, corrective action processes, and disciplined product data management.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to collaborate effectively across geographies and time zones.
Ability to make sound technical and organizational decisions with limited supervision while keeping leadership informed of risks, tradeoffs, and resource constraints.
Preferred Qualifications
Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Management, or related field.
Experience building, scaling, or transforming engineering teams in a global or multi-site environment.
Experience designing and supporting sheet metal enclosures and assemblies for data center, ICT, or technology infrastructure applications.
Working knowledge of manufacturing processes including laser cutting, punch press, press brake, welding, assembly, and powder coating.
Experience supporting high-volume, configurable, or engineered-to-order products in production.
Familiarity with mechanical compliance standards relevant to data center and infrastructure products, including UL, IEC, CB schemes, seismic qualification, and environmental standards such as RoHS and REACH.
Experience coordinating engineering change analysts, configuration management resources, or documentation-control activities.
Experience with automation or scripting tools such as iLogic, VB.NET, Python, C#, or C++.
What Will Make You Successful?
Proven ability to lead people while remaining grounded in practical mechanical engineering and design fundamentals.
Strong ownership and accountability for team performance, engineering output, product quality, and execution commitments.
Comfort building structure in a growing team environment where processes, responsibilities, and capabilities are still being established.
Ability to create clarity from broad priorities and translate stateside direction into executable plans for the Pune team.
Bias toward action, with disciplined follow-through and the judgment to balance urgency with engineering rigor.
Collaborative mindset across time zones, cultures, functions, and levels of the organization.
Continuous improvement mindset focused on reliability, cost, manufacturability, documentation accuracy, and engineering excellence.
Ability to mentor engineers, develop future leaders, and build a team that earns trust through consistent execution.
Travel Requirements
Periodic international travel to Edinboro, PA, USA and other Vertiv locations as needed to support team integration, training, hiring alignment, and cross-site collaboration. Domestic travel within India may also be required.
Vertiv Core Principles & Behaviors
Our Core Principles: Safety. Integrity. Respect. Teamwork. Diversity & Inclusion.
Our Strategic Priorities: Customer Focus. Operational Excellence. High-Performance Culture. Innovation. Financial Strength.
Our Behaviors: Own It. Act With Urgency. Foster a Customer-First Mindset. Think Big and Execute. Lead by Example. Drive Continuous Improvement. Learn and Seek Out Development.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Vertiv is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We promote equal opportunities for all with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational health, without discrimination.
