Staff Manufacturing Engineer
ZT Systems · Secaucus, NJ
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 2+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- Yesterday
The role in 30 seconds
A senior manufacturing role at ZT Systems (industrial) in Secaucus, NJ.
- They ask for
- 2+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Kaizen, Automation, Casting, Capacity planning
- Openings
- 2 with this title at this site
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in New Jersey: typical posted base $130k–$176k.
Median of the low and high ends of 4 live postings that list pay, out of 40 manufacturing engineer openings in New Jersey, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
New Jersey plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 39 other live manufacturing postings in New Jersey.
- Experience asked
- Less than usual (2+ vs 10+)
Similar roles usually ask 10+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- Lean 85%
- Root cause 83%
- ✓ Capacity planning 80%
- Team leadership 80%
- 5S 78%
- Time studies 75%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Kaizen, Automation, Casting, Power BI / Tableau, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at ZT Systems
We found 1 person at this company and state: 1 leaders, plus 3 likely hiring managers. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Ken → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: ZT Systems in Secaucus
18 other open roles at this site · 1 person we found in manufacturing roles at ZT Systems.
- Staff Product Operations Engineer · Production · Senior
- Robotics Technician · Controls · Technician
- Automation Controls Technician · Controls · Technician
- Staff NPI Engineer · Manufacturing · Senior
- Principal Quality Engineer · Quality · Senior
- Sr. Staff Customer and Product Quality Engineer · Quality · Senior
Full description from ZT SystemsAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
About the role
The Staff Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for leading the development, applied research, and implementation of industrial models, business analytics solutions, and analytical tools that set manufacturing performance targets and support business decision-making
The Sr. Manufacturing Engineer works with manufacturing leadership and cross-functional teams to analyze operational challenges and evaluate improvement opportunities to define the roadmap for changes to resources, infrastructure, and manufacturing processes driven by meaningful insights derived from the organization's key analytical tools.
What you'll do
- ◆Lead the Industrial and BI Engineering team in turning data into information, information into insights, and insights into key business decisions that steer the direction of the manufacturing organization.
- ◆Drive efforts in developing, maintaining, and continuously improving the effectiveness and scope of industrial models, analytical tools, data structures, and business intelligence solutions that support operational and strategic decision-making.
- ◆Work with the Industrial Engineering team to investigate, evaluate, and propose the use of new technologies and data-driven solutions in automation, modern manufacturing, business intelligence, and advanced analytics.
- ◆Identify and drive enterprise-level Kaizen and continuous improvement projects by applying statistical analysis, optimization techniques, and structured problem-solving methodologies that target key production metrics such as cycle time, cost, capacity utilization, throughput and on time delivery while influencing behaviors/decisions at several levels of the organization.
- ◆Serve as the focal point for engineering analysis related to changes in technology, AI, products, manufacturing processes, and systems by applying statistical analysis, analytical modeling, and evidence-based recommendations.
- ◆Own and continuously enhance the business intelligence suite of analytical models and decision-support tools for short-term and long-range planning, ensuring model accuracy, continuous improvement, and actionable business insights.
- ◆Interface with multiple departments to conduct statistical and business analyses that drive valuable business insights, using SQL, Python, and business intelligence tools to access, analyze, manipulate, and visualize complex multivariate data.
- ◆Lead cross-functional analytical projects from problem definition through solution implementation by identifying business needs, developing analytical strategies, and communicating insights and recommendations to stakeholders
- ◆Provide technical leadership and guidance to junior team members in the execution of complex analytics, modeling, and continuous improvement projects while promoting data-driven decision-making and analytical best practices.
- ◆Evaluate and apply advanced statistical, analytical, optimization, and simulation methodologies to manufacturing processes and operational challenges, using quantitative analysis to develop evidence-based recommendations to improve manufacturing performance, operational efficiency, and strategic decision-making.
- ◆Conduct applied research and analytical evaluations of manufacturing processes, production metrics, and business challenges by investigating trends, evaluating operational performance, and identifying improvement opportunities through data-driven and evidence-based analysis.
- ◆Develop, validate, and continuously improve predictive and prescriptive analytical models, dashboards, and decision-support solutions using statistical analysis and data mining techniques to support capacity planning, resource optimization, cost analysis, operational forecasting, and manufacturing performance improvement.
- ◆Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, and Finance, to translate complex analytical findings into actionable recommendations that support resource planning, technology investments, process improvements, and operational decision-making.
- ◆Investigate and evaluate emerging analytical methodologies, statistical techniques, optimization approaches, and business intelligence technologies to identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement in manufacturing operations.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
What you'll bring
- •Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field, with 2 years of experience. Alternatively, Master’s or Doctoral degree with any amount of experience accepted.
- •Exposure to business, finance, or economics is advantageous.
- •Relevant experience in an engineering role. Experience in manufacturing environments.
- •Experience with business intelligence and analysis tools such as SQL, Python, Tableau, and Power Bl.
- •Experience with Microsoft Office tools (Outlook, Excel, and Word).
- •Exceptional analytical capabilities, thrives in a fast-paced environment, loves problem-solving, is a good communicator, and is passionate about enabling the future of cloud computing through data-driven manufacturing and continuous innovation.
- •Growth mindset: you believe in continuous learning by dedication of time, effort, and energy.
- •Takes independent initiative to complete projects with a sense of urgency.
- •Fluency in mathematical computing with at least one programming language (e.g. Python, R, Java), and the ability to learn technical methods and tools independently
- •Fluency in data visualization / presentation skills, including the ability to simplify results & statistical concepts into simple and actionable insights
- •Hands-on experience building, running, and analyzing simulations; designing analytical models; and applying statistical analysis and optimization techniques
- •Ability to convert complex (often data driven) topics to clear overviews and insights.
- •Experience applying analytical methods, statistical analysis, and data-driven decision-making to improve ma