Core Engineering Leader

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

The Core Engineering Leader is responsible for leading product engineering across the full product lifecycle, with accountability for design integrity, product robustness, quality performance, cost competitiveness, and cross-functional execution. This role leads the division-wide CMP portfolio, establishing consistent engineering standards across the Personal Safety Division, and partners with business unit teams, Product organizations, BSC, suppliers, contract manufacturers, and external development partners to deliver business-critical engineering outcomes.

Primary Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the division-wide CMP portfolio, including portfolio strategy, execution model, prioritization process, and performance KPIs.
• Establish and maintain engineering standards that strengthen design integrity, robustness, documentation quality, configuration management, and lifecycle excellence.
• Partner with business unit teams and BSC to deliver core engineering capabilities, including molding, hardware design, digital components and related product-engineering competencies.
• Manage setup of external development partners, suppliers, and contract manufacturers against defined expectations for performance, quality, cost, schedule, and technical delivery in partnership with procurement
• Drive material and process standardization across PSD to improve product robustness, reduce cost, and support scalable execution.
• Govern engineering documentation, configuration management, and change-control practices to ensure consistency, traceability, and compliance with quality expectations.
• Optimize project cycle time, business impact, and resource allocation across the CMP portfolio and related engineering initiatives.
• Assign and align technical resources to critical CMP projects based on business priorities, risk, urgency, and expected value.
• Drive continuous improvement by reducing technology debt, mitigating product risk, and improving engineering execution discipline.
• Build, prioritize, and govern a cross-functional pipeline spanning service, repair, quality, manufacturing, and product-engineering needs.
• Own ongoing product support which may include digital updates

Key Relationships and Partnerships

• Co-own CMP execution and prioritization with business unit Product Engineering teams, and supply chain teams.
• Align technology-development priorities with Product organizations.
• Champion robust engineering practices across functions.
• Collaborate with suppliers, contract manufacturers, and external engineering partners for continuous improvement.

Your Skills and Expertise 

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M is looking for candidates who must have the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Science or Engineering (completed and verified prior to start) from an accredited institution.
• 8+ years of engineering experience across product development, product engineering, manufacturing, quality, or lifecycle management, including hardgoods, molding, hardware design, and/or electronic components.
• 4+ years of technical leadership experience managing cross-functional engineering programs, suppliers or contract manufacturers, portfolio priorities, KPIs, risks, and stakeholder alignment.

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

• Advanced degree in Engineering, Science, Business, or a related technical discipline.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale engineering, lifecycle management, quality improvement, productivity, or cost-savings initiatives across a complex organization.
• Experience working in a regulated, quality-driven, or highly technical manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of product engineering, design integrity, change control, product robustness, and continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean or Six Sigma.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders across business units, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, suppliers, and external partners.
• Experience establishing engineering standards, governance processes, and portfolio prioritization practices across multiple products or platforms.

Work location:

• Work location: This role follows an on-site working model, requiring the employee to work at least four days a week at the 3M in Maplewood, MN

Travel: May include up to 15% domestic/international

Relocation Assistance: May be authorized

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope. 

Resources for You

For more details on what happens before, during and after the interview process, check out the Insights for Candidates page at 3M.com/careers.