Career Area:
Manufacturing
Job Description:
Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.
When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.
Job Summary:
The Senior Manufacturing Engineer (Painting) serves as a key technical leader responsible for optimizing industrial painting operations, including surface preparation, coating application, curing, paint booth performance, equipment utilization, tooling, and process controls. This role ensures that painted components are produced safely, efficiently, cost-effectively, and in full compliance with engineering specifications, customer requirements, environmental standards, and quality expectations for appearance, adhesion, corrosion resistance, and durability.
Responsibilities:
- Leads and develops manufacturing engineering teams focused on painting operations, providing technical guidance, coaching, and training to strengthen process capability and plant performance.
- Owns the design, optimization, and standardization of painting processes, including pretreatment, masking, primer/topcoat application, powder or liquid paint systems, flash-off, curing, touch-up, and rework methods.
- Drives continuous improvement initiatives to enhance first-pass yield, coating quality, transfer efficiency, line balance, throughput, cost performance, and overall equipment effectiveness in paint operations.
- Manages the installation, modification, and validation of painting equipment and process changes, ensuring safe, reliable, compliant, and cost-effective production of high-quality painted components.
Educational Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, Chemical, Materials, or a related technical field.
- Strong knowledge of manufacturing production operations, with proven experience in industrial painting, coating, pretreatment, curing, and quality control processes.
- Technical expertise in paint defects analysis, root cause problem solving, process parameters, paint booths, spray systems, ovens, conveyors, and environmental or safety requirements related to painting operations.
- Advanced English.
Skills:
Decision Making and Critical Thinking:
- Effectively applies structured critical thinking techniques to analyze complex situations and inform sound decision-making.
- Gathers, organizes, and evaluates pertinent data, ideas, and stakeholder perspectives.
- Identifies, clarifies, and prioritizes key concerns and supports risk-benefit analyses to inform alternative solutions.
Capacity Planning & Management:
- Utilizes advanced tools and analytical approaches to forecast production demands and manage resources effectively.
- Prepare detailed management reports and interpret forecasts to ensure adequate capacity for current and future needs.
- Contributes to the development of capacity plans and supports the efficient alignment of resources with organizational goals.
Lean Manufacturing:
- Champions the integration and adoption of lean manufacturing philosophies across the organization.
- Educates and mentors colleagues on lean principles, including their application to operations, logistics, and product development.
- Consults on work cell and layout designs, ensuring alignment with lean objectives, and leads initiatives to measure and monitor lean performance.
Manufacturing Processes:
- Applies advanced knowledge of industrial painting and coating technologies to select, optimize, and evaluate process methods, materials, equipment, and application parameters.
- Develops and maintains standardized work, process documentation, control plans, and best practices for surface preparation, coating application, curing, inspection, and rework.
- Leads process validation, capability studies, defect reduction, and continuous improvement activities to improve coating performance, appearance, adhesion, corrosion protection, and competitiveness.
Manufacturing Equipment:
- Supports the selection, installation, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement of paint booths, spray guns, pumps, ovens, conveyors, washers, filtration systems, masking tools, and related painting equipment.
- Defines and monitors critical equipment parameters to ensure stable paint application, curing performance, environmental compliance, safety, and repeatable coating quality.
- Partners with Maintenance, Quality, EHS, Operations, and suppliers to resolve equipment issues, improve uptime, reduce defects, and sustain painting process standards.
Problem Solving:
- Records issues and solutions.
- Considers multiple perspectives.
- Weighs risks and benefits.
- Uses diagnostic tools.
Additional Information:
- Location: Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon.
- This position is six-day a week in-office model.
- Sponsorship for foreign candidates is not available.
- Domestic Relocation assistance is available for this position.
- Do not forget to include a resumé in English in your profile in Workday.
Final details
Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application – please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.
The Caterpillar Code of Conduct states that we will select, and place employees based on their qualifications for the job to be performed, without regard to race, religion, national origin, color, gender, identity, sexual orientation, age or disability. In this company we do not request pregnancy tests, nor HIV tests as requirements for employment entry, permanence or promotion.
This position requires working onsite five days a week.
Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position.
Posting Dates:
julio 3, 2026 - julio 10, 2026
Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply
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