Director - Product Engineering & Systems - Xico Lighting

Job Description

Job Description

About Xico:

Xico is an innovative architectural lighting manufacturer focused on creating elegant, high-performance linear lighting systems for commercial and institutional environments. Our products combine thoughtful industrial design, advanced optical technology and precision engineering to deliver exceptional lighting solutions.

As we continue to grow, we are investing in modular product platforms, engineering systems, AI and digital automation to build one of the industry’s most advanced product engineering organizations.

Position Summary:

• We are seeking a hands-on Director of Product Engineering to lead the engineering organization behind Xico’s next generation of products and engineering systems.
• This is not a traditional engineering management role. We are looking for a builder—someone who enjoys designing products, developing engineering standards, implementing systems and creating scalable product platforms.
• Working closely with our Director of Product Design, you will transform innovative product concepts into configurable, manufacturable product families supported by world-class engineering data, documentation and digital workflows.
• You will lead mechanical and electrical engineering, CAD, shop drawings, product configuration, Product Data Management (PDM), engineering standards, product architecture and AI-enabled engineering automation.

Key Responsibilities:

Product Engineering:

• Lead engineering development of new architectural lighting products from concept through production.
• Develop modular product platforms that maximize component reuse while supporting broad product configuration.
• Own product architecture across lighting systems, ensuring consistency between product families.
• Establish engineering standards, design rules and best practices.
• Drive Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA).
• Lead prototype development, engineering validation and testing.
• Manage product certification activities including UL, ETL and other regulatory requirements.

Product Architecture:

You will own the engineering architecture behind the Xico product portfolio.

Responsibilities include:

• Developing common mechanical, electrical and optical platforms.
• Creating shared driver, optic, extrusion and mounting strategies.
• Standardizing engineering approaches across product families.
• Maximizing component commonality while maintaining design flexibility.
• Building scalable product platforms rather than one-off products.

Engineering Systems:

• Lead the Engineering, CAD and Shop Drawing functions.
• Develop standardized engineering documentation and submittal processes.
• Own Product Data Management (PDM), CAD standards, revision control and engineering documentation.
• Develop engineering standards for Bills of Material, product structures and engineering workflows.
• Lead Engineering Change Order (ECO) and product lifecycle management.
• Build engineering processes that improve speed, quality and repeatability.

Engineering Data & Digital Engineering:

One of the most important responsibilities of this role is creating Xico’s engineering data foundation.

You will:

• Develop and maintain the engineering data model that defines every product, option, compatibility rule and engineering standard.
• Build structured engineering knowledge that becomes the single source of truth across CAD, PDM, ERP and manufacturing.
• Create rules-based product configuration systems.
• Standardize Bills of Material, product structures and configuration logic.
• Eliminate dependence on tribal knowledge by capturing engineering knowledge as structured data.

AI & Engineering Automation:

You will lead Xico’s implementation of AI throughout the engineering organization.

• Developing AI-assisted engineering workflows.
• Automating shop drawings, submittals and engineering documentation.
• Building rules engines that validate product configurations.
• Automating repetitive engineering tasks wherever practical.
• Integrating engineering systems with ERP, CRM and manufacturing.
• Evaluating emerging AI technologies that improve engineering productivity and customer experience.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or related discipline.
• 10+ years of product engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading engineering teams or technical organizations.
• Strong hands-on product development experience.
• Experience designing configurable engineered products.
• Solid experience with CAD, PDM and engineering documentation systems.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes and product commercialization.
• Demonstrated ability to implement engineering systems and improve engineering processes.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills.

Preferred Experience:

• Architectural lighting or related engineered products.
• Product configurators and configurable product platforms.
• Product architecture and platform engineering.
• ERP and Product Data Management integration.
• Engineering automation.
• AI tools and digital engineering.
• UL, ETL or similar product certification.

What Success Looks Like:

Within your first few years you will have:

• Built a modern product engineering organization.
• Established scalable product platforms across the Xico portfolio.
• Created engineering standards and design rules used throughout the company.
• Implemented a comprehensive engineering data model.
• Reduced engineering cycle times through improved processes and automation.
• Introduced AI-enabled engineering workflows.
• Automated product configuration, shop drawings and engineering documentation.
• Created engineering systems that support long-term growth and exceptional customer experience.

Why Join Xico?

This is an opportunity to build something exceptional.

You won’t simply manage an engineering department—you will shape how engineering is performed across the business. Your work will define the product platforms, engineering systems and digital infrastructure that enable Xico to grow for years to come.

If you enjoy building products, improving engineering processes, implementing modern engineering systems and applying AI to solve real engineering challenges, we would like to hear from you.