Product Development Engineer, Amsted Seals at Amsted Rail in Petersburg, Virginia

Job Description:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Product Development Engineer, at Amsted Seals.  Born out of innovation within Amsted Rail, the Amsted’s Seals business was created to maximize and scale the disruptive spin-forming technology across high-impact applications within Amsted Industries and with external customers.  Through direct sales and partnership programs, this business will continue to expand its service offering into new industry applications.  Combined with the expertise and design foundation of Amsted’s long-standing seal businesses, it creates a rare combination of value and performance.  As part of this new business, you will be an important partner in shaping the business’s continued growth and development as a strategic growth business for Amsted.

Position Summary:

As a Seals Product Development Engineer, you will be primarily responsible for engineering product design and development of seal products to meet customer needs from conception to realization.  A successful candidate will assist in growing the company by generating marketable-engineered products and becoming a part of a global seal center of excellence across our business.  Our Center of Excellence for Seals is located in Petersburg, Virginia, and shares a campus with Amsted Rail’s Brenco Bearing Business which is not only a sister company but also provides our business a high degree of shared service support while also being a significant customer.  We have additional locations in Vancouver, WA, Ningbo, China, Hebron, IL, and Chicago, IL, with plans to add an additional facility in Sahagun, Mexico as well as joint ventures in Phillipsburg, NJ and Jaipur, India.

What you will do:

• Act as a driver of innovation within the seals engineering teams.


• Establish and enforce good engineering practices for change management, documentation, new product introduction, product design, project management and continuous improvement


• Work with customer product development teams to establish and meet requirements with finished product designs


• Create and utilize design criteria and process capabilities for seal products


• Support plant quality assurance efforts for operations, joint venture partners, and purchased components


• Provide engineering support to joint venture partners when assigned


• Patent innovations in the seal products as they are created


• Create technical drawings and documentation for Seals and Forming business


• Run or participate in DFMEAs as required to deliver products for Seals and Forming customers


• Present compiled testing and product results to customers as part of the approval process when assigned


• Work with Research and Test Center to execute testing required for the development or approval of new products


• Compile capital project requests for NPI or other product related expenses


• Develop and maintain process expertise for FEA, CAD, and design methodology including the attendance of training and conferences on an as needed basis


• In conjunction with supply chain, interact with vendors to determine appropriate specification and arrange for the evaluation, purchase and acceptance of equipment, materials or services

What we are looking for (Educational/Experience Requirements):

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from an accredited university or equivalent experience


• Minimum of 2 years in Seal Design & Manufacturing


• Proven track record of accomplishments and experiences


• Willingness to travel, up to 25% of the time, as needed


• High Volume stamping experience is a plus


• Familiarity with IAFT 16949 is a plus


• Rubber and plastic injection molding experience is a plus

Additional Preferences:

• Must possess high energy and be highly adaptable to work in a nimble, innovative, and fast pace environment that supports a culture of continuous learning and development


• Must have ability to exercise independent judgement and creativity in problem solving


• Must be very approachable and able to develop strong professional relationships and foster involvement at all levels of organization including the customer


• Must be a self-starter, effectively working alone or as a member of a team


• Requires the ability to communicate effectively with and persuade employees


• Must have high attention to detail


• Strong understanding of FEA modeling and empirical testing methods for product validation

About Amsted Seals

Amsted Seals offers employees the stability of an established industry leader, along with the change to learn, grow, advance, and make a difference.  As a private company, under the umbrella of global leader Amsted Rail, we are 100% employee-owned company!  We have all have a common goal to make this company not only profitable, but also a place to grow our careers.  We strive to be a place that people are attracted to, and like to think, we go steps beyond to make sure our employee owners are happy on the job and away from it. 

About Amsted Rail

Amsted Rail is the world’s leading provider of fully integrated bogie systems for the heavy haul freight market, with facilities spanning 40 locations across 10 countries and 6 continents. Through their state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, Amsted Rail is redefining industry standards for innovation and technology, providing customers worldwide with unmatched performance and reliability for the long haul.

 Benefits include being an employee-owner participating in our ESOP program and benefiting from an additional full range of benefits including medical, dental, vision and 401(k) with employer matching.   

Amsted Seals/Amsted Rail’s commitment to Affirmative Action:

Amsted Rail is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

To review our EEO Policies or to request assistance please go to www.amstedrail.com/careers/ and select EEO Compliance/Statements.  To learn more about us, please visit us online at www.amstedseals.com or www.amstedrail.com.