Electrical Engineering Manager, Cary, NC

Join EAD to help solve complex electrical engineering challenges in industrial facilities.

EAD supports projects across industrial manufacturing facilities, including food processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and parcel handling environments. This role offers the opportunity to lead an electrical engineering team across projects of varying size and complexity in a fast-paced, multi-discipline, and practical engineering setting.

The Electrical Engineering Manager leads the electrical engineering team to deliver high-quality work on scope, on time, and on budget while building a strong, healthy, and capable team. This role is responsible for coordinating schedules and resources, guiding proposal and estimate development, mentoring team members, and ensuring electrical engineering work meets applicable codes, stamping requirements, EAD standards, and client expectations. The Electrical Engineering Manager carries an active engineering workload - personally producing, reviewing, and stamping electrical deliverables as the Professional Engineer of record - while also leading the team, planning work, managing risk, developing people, and improving team performance. Success requires both strong hands-on electrical engineering and sound leadership judgment.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means:

• Delivering electrical engineering work on scope, on time, on budget, and at the expected quality level.
• Personally producing and stamping high-quality electrical deliverables while leading the team - a true working manager.
• Planning and balancing team workloads so the right people are on the right work at the right time.
• Leading strong proposals and estimates with clear scope, realistic assumptions, and early identification of execution risk.
• Strengthening client relationships and contributing to follow-on opportunities that support a healthy pipeline of electrical work.
• Growing and mentoring the electrical team so capability, accountability, and engagement increase over time.
• Strengthening quality, code compliance, and continuous improvement across electrical engineering practices, including properly stamped deliverables.
• Building trust with Project Managers, clients, and internal partners through proactive communication and dependable execution.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the electrical engineering team by setting priorities, assigning resources, and coordinating work to meet scope, schedule, budget, and quality expectations.
• Build and maintain strong client relationships, identify follow-on opportunities, and partner with Business Development, Project Managers, and other leaders to support continued growth of the electrical team.
• Balance workloads across engineers and designers to maximize productivity, support healthy utilization, and avoid burnout or idle time.
• Lead the electrical portion of proposals and estimates, including scope definition, staffing assumptions, schedule input, hours forecasting, and risk identification.
• See around corners on proposals, estimates, staffing, and project execution by identifying likely risks, gaps, dependencies, and delivery challenges before they create problems.
• Guide and review electrical engineering work - including power distribution, one-lines, load, short-circuit, coordination, and arc-flash studies, lighting, grounding, and construction documents - to ensure sound technical judgment, practical execution, and compliance with applicable codes and EAD standards.
• Ensure engineering deliverables are properly reviewed and PE-stamped where required, and that professional engineering responsibilities are met.
• Partner with Project Managers and other discipline leaders to align electrical scope, staffing, priorities, and client expectations across projects.
• Mentor, coach, and develop electrical engineers and designers through regular feedback, technical guidance, and career development support, including progress toward PE licensure.
• Support hiring, onboarding, performance management, and succession planning for the electrical team.
• Build and maintain department processes, tools, and standards that improve quality, predictability, efficiency, and consistency.
• Communicate clearly with clients, utilities, and internal teams regarding priorities, risks, decisions, and status, especially when tradeoffs or course correction are needed.
• Personally perform electrical engineering design and analysis as a hands-on, contributing member of the team, and serve as the Professional Engineer of record who seals and stamps deliverables.
• Carry an active, billable project workload alongside management responsibilities, balancing personal production with the demands of leading a team.
• Champion safety, quality, and continuous improvement across the electrical team.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field; equivalent relevant experience may also be considered.
• Strong experience in electrical engineering for industrial or manufacturing facilities, including power distribution, lighting, grounding, and power system studies (short circuit, coordination, and arc flash).
• Active Professional Engineer (PE) license - required, as this role serves as the Professional Engineer of record and personally stamps electrical deliverables.
• Leadership experience overseeing people, work assignments, and team performance - or demonstrated readiness to step into people leadership through project leadership, mentoring, and coordinating work in a multi-project environment.
• Experience leading or materially contributing to proposals, estimates, staffing plans, and execution planning.
• Experience working with multi-discipline project teams and coordinating with Project Managers, clients, utilities, vendors, and other stakeholders.
• Strong ability to prioritize resources, manage competing demands, and make sound decisions with incomplete information.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including the ability to communicate effectively with both technical teams and client decision makers.
• Working knowledge of applicable electrical codes and standards (NEC, NFPA 70E, and IEEE).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in food and beverage, life sciences, pharmaceutical, parcel, or other industrial manufacturing environments.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or similar relevant credentials.
• Experience with power system analysis software (e.g., SKM, ETAP, or EasyPower) and CAD-based design environments (e.g., AutoCAD or Revit).
• Established industry relationships and a demonstrated ability to build client trust, support repeat business, and contribute to growth are strongly preferred.
• Experience developing team standards, department processes, and quality review practices.
• Experience mentoring engineers into broader project leadership and client-facing responsibilities, including towards PE licensure.

Behavioral Expectations:

• Acts with integrity, sound judgment, and professionalism.
• Owns outcomes, follows through, and creates clarity when priorities or conditions change.
• Brings a calm, solution-oriented mindset to complex delivery and people challenges.
• Leads in a way that helps the broader team succeed, not just the individual project.
• Seeks to understand first, especially when assessing project risk, team issues, and client concerns.
• Anticipates problems early and addresses them before they affect scope, schedule, budget, or quality.
• Demonstrates a high degree of self-motivation and performs in a highly independent manner with minimal supervision.

Working Conditions:

• Office, plant, or client site environment*
• Ability to perform occasional field and client-site work and maintain a valid driver's license.
• Ability to sit and work at computer for extended periods of time
• Ability to walk up numerous flights of stairs or ladders multiple times a day and/or work in tight spaces in extreme conditions
• May work near moving mechanical parts and equipment*
• Office, commercial and/or industrial setting with the potential of exposure to fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals*
• Ability to lift and/or move up to 50 lbs.*
• Periodic weekend, holiday or evening work as needed
• Travel required

*EAD will provide training, administrative/engineering controls, and personal protective equipment as necessary.

We strongly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and background will lead to a better workplace for our employees and a better product for our customers.

EAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Duties, responsibilities and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.