About this opportunity
Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS) lists this Senior Applications Engineer opportunity in wixom, Michigan. Review the employer’s description below for duties, qualifications and application requirements.
Job description
Why This Role Exists
Kinetyc sits at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and deep product engineering — and our customers are building some of the most technically complex end products in their respective markets. This role exists because our customers need more than a contract manufacturer. They need a technical partner who understands their product, anticipates their engineering challenges, and can translate between their design intent and our manufacturing reality — fluently, confidently, and quickly.
What You’ll Own
Primary technical relationship with new and existing customers from onboarding through production
Lead customer engineering conversations — requirements gathering, DFM feedback, systems integration discussions, and technical risk identification
Bridge between customer product design and Kinetyc manufacturing engineering — translating CAD, BOM, and design packages into executable manufacturing plans
Support the 30‑day new customer launch process as the technical lead
Identify and communicate gaps between customer expectations and Kinetyc capabilities — early, clearly, and with proposed solutions
Contribute to FLEXembly™ and innovation initiatives where customer insight drives product development opportunities
Represent Kinetyc’s technical capability in customer‑facing settings — presentations, site visits, design reviews
What You’ve Done
8–15 years of engineering experience with meaningful time on the product/customer side — you’ve been the person the customer calls, not just the person who builds
Background in mechanical, electrical, or systems engineering; experience with electromechanical or complex assembled products strongly preferred
Comfortable in DFM conversations — you can tell a customer what’s not manufacturable and why, and offer a better path forward without losing the relationship
Experience reading and interpreting CAD, BOMs, and technical design packages
Worked in or with contract manufacturers, Tier 1/2 suppliers, or product development environments
Familiar with the pace and ambiguity of early‑stage or scaling hardware companies — you don’t need a perfect spec to get started
Strong communicator: equally effective in a technical design review and an executive business conversation
What Makes You Different
You think in systems, not just parts — you understand how design decisions upstream affect manufacturability, cost, and schedule downstream
You ask the uncomfortable question early instead of absorbing the problem late
You treat customer relationships as long‑term partnerships, not transactions
You’re organized enough to manage multiple customers in parallel without dropping the ball
You take pride in being the person who makes complex things happen smoothly
Why Kinetyc
We’re not a traditional contract manufacturer. We’re an adaptive manufacturing partner to companies building the hard things — drones, defense systems, robotics, clean energy, and advanced mobility. We operate with the discipline of Detroit manufacturing and the agility of a startup. Our customers are trying to change their industries; we’re trying to build the manufacturing capability that makes that possible.
This role sits at the center of that mission. If you want to work where the product engineering and the factory floor actually talk to each other — and you want to be the person who makes that happen — this is the job.
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Worksite address
wixom, MI, 48393, US
Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.