Senior Engineering Manager – Product Development
Surrey, BC
The Opportunity
Reliance Foundry is looking for an experienced engineering leader to take ownership of our engineering and product development function. This is a role for someone who enjoys leading people and solving real physical-product problems—moving ideas from concept through design, simulation, prototyping, testing, certification, and commercial launch.
You will lead an established engineering department, work closely with our Senior Leadership Team, and help shape how we develop the next generation of safety, security, and infrastructure products. Our products combine mechanical and structural engineering with civil, electrical, and electronic elements, so success requires strong technical judgment and the ability to bring specialists together—not expertise in every discipline.
We are more interested in someone who has successfully led an engineering function and brought complex engineered products to market.
About Reliance Foundry
Reliance Foundry has been improving public and commercial spaces since 1925. We design and supply bollards—protective posts used for safety, security, and traffic control—along with outdoor furnishings and custom metal components. Our expanding product portfolio is driving growth across North America’s security and infrastructure markets.
What You'll Own
Engineering Leadership
- Lead the engineering department, setting priorities, standards, accountabilities, and resource plans while developing the people on the team.
- Create an environment of strong technical debate, disciplined decision-making, continuous learning, and clear ownership.
- Contribute as a member of the leadership team and work cross-functionally with Product, Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, and HR.
Product Development & Execution
- Move complex engineered products from concept through commercialization using disciplined project and program management.
- Translate customer and market needs into clear technical requirements, development plans, design reviews, validation plans, and launch readiness.
- Ensure designs consider manufacturability, assembly, installation, serviceability, cost, quality, and supply-chain realities from the outset.
- Build stronger, more repeatable product-development systems while preserving the speed and practicality of a growing company.
Technical Direction
- Provide strong mechanical and structural engineering judgment across product design, materials, loading, stress, and failure modes.
- Guide FEA and simulation work: understand modelling assumptions, challenge inputs and results, identify risk, and determine when specialist analysis is required. You do not need to be the company’s primary simulation SME.
- Coordinate internal and external specialists across civil, electrical, electronics, testing, and other disciplines, ensuring the complete system works together.
- Oversee prototyping, physical testing, certification, and compliance with applicable standards such as ASTM, CSA, and UL.
What We're Looking For
- Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering, Structural Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- Approximately 8+ years of progressive experience in mechanical, structural, industrial, or complex physical-product engineering.
- Previous responsibility for leading an engineering department or engineering function, including people leadership, priorities, performance, and delivery.
- A strong track record taking complex engineered products from concept through commercialization—not simply completing isolated design projects.
- Solid understanding of FEA and simulation and the technical judgment to review and direct this work, even if you are not the hands-on specialist.
- Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple engineering disciplines and integrate specialist work into a successful overall product or system.
- Strong practical judgment: you can balance technical rigor, commercial realities, speed, cost, manufacturability, and risk.
- Clear communication skills and the confidence to challenge assumptions, make decisions, and explain technical trade-offs to non-engineers.
Experience That Would Be an Asset
- SolidWorks and/or Abaqus experience, particularly involving structural, dynamic, impact, or nonlinear analysis.
- Experience with safety, security, automotive, heavy equipment, industrial infrastructure, fabricated metal products, or other performance-critical physical products.
- Experience with product testing and certification standards such as ASTM, CSA, or UL.
- Design for Manufacturability (DFM), supplier collaboration, and outsourced manufacturing.
- P.Eng. designation or eligibility, and/or experience with SR&ED, IRAP, or other technical R&D programs.
Work Environment & Compensation
- Location: Surrey, BC. This is primarily an on-site role. During probation, the expectation is five days per week in the office because the work involves physical products, prototyping, testing, and close team collaboration. Some reasonable work-from-home flexibility is available after probation when the work allows.
- Benefits include extended health and dental coverage, vision care, life insurance, employee assistance program, paid time off, RRSP matching, on-site parking, and company events.
Why This Role
This is an opportunity to run an engineering function where your decisions are visible and consequential. You will have meaningful ownership of people, process, technical direction, and new-product development in a company that is large enough to tackle serious engineering challenges and small enough for a strong leader to materially change how the work gets done.
Pay: $100,000.00-$145,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Dental care
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Flexible schedule
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Paid time off
- RRSP match
- Vision care
Work Location: In person
