Imagine when

You are a vital member of our growth-minded, industry-leading, innovative, brand-driven, global employee-owned company. You are challenged to grow, expected to challenge others, are part of something much bigger than yourself, and leave an indelible legacy through the people your life has impacted.

You have the opportunity to lead the design and development of innovative fasteners, tools, and building materials for the CAMO, STINGER, and PRO-FIT brands. This role also focuses on turning jobsite insights into production-ready solutions, generating intellectual property, and mentoring junior engineers.

Your assignment

The Lead Product Engineer is a senior technical contributor responsible for leading the end-to-end design and development of innovative products—focusing on fasteners, supporting tools, and building materials across the CAMO, STINGER, and PRO-FIT brands. This role balances early conceptual design with technical rigor and cross-functional collaboration to create intuitive, high-performing solutions that meet real-world contractor needs and align with strategic brand goals.

With a strong emphasis on innovation, advanced mechanical design, manufacturability, and field engagement, the Lead Product Engineer plays a pivotal role in transforming jobsite insights into production ready solutions. This position also contributes to intellectual property generation, design validation, and continuous improvement across product lines. As a senior team member, the engineer also provides mentorship and technical leadership to junior engineers, helping foster a collaborative and growth-oriented development environment.

Essential duties:

• Lead the end-to-end design and development of innovative products, focusing on fasteners, tools, and supporting building materials that elevate user experience and field performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners including product management, sourcing, and engineering to ensure designs align with brand vision, user needs, and manufacturing capabilities.
• Conduct field research and engage directly with contractors and end users to gather insights, validate prototypes, and identify unmet needs that drive design direction.
• Translate early-stage concepts into robust, manufacturable mechanical designs using 3D CAD and iterative prototyping.
• Balance performance, cost, durability, and usability in design execution, while ensuring alignment with manufacturing methods, especially with overseas partners.
• Partner with legal and IP resources to contribute to the development of invention disclosures and patent applications supporting unique product innovations.
• Embed quality and durability considerations into early design activities, supporting a proactive approach to product reliability and customer satisfaction.
• Stay current on trends in materials, tools, fasteners, and installation systems to inform development of differentiated solutions.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers, providing technical leadership, design reviews, and support to help build a high-performing, collaborative engineering team.
• Build productive external relationships with contractors, suppliers, and industry partners to inform development and support long-term adoption of our products.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required skills:

• Advanced mechanical design skills with demonstrated success in developing tools, fasteners, or building products from concept through commercialization.
• Demonstrated proficiency in 3D CAD design tools (SolidWorks preferred), including experience developing complex assemblies and tolerance-based mechanical designs.
• Strong understanding of design for manufacturing (DFM) principles, and experience collaborating with overseas suppliers or external manufacturers.
• Experience incorporating user insights and field-based feedback into product development decisions.
• Familiarity with the patent process and supporting invention disclosures or intellectual property protection.
• A practical understanding of quality engineering principles, with the ability to design for reliability, durability, and ease of use.
• Excellent problem-solving, project management, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Hands-on, curious, and solutions-oriented, with a passion for improving contractor workflows and delivering jobsite value.

Success criteria:

• Deliver innovative, manufacturable product designs that address real-world contractor and industry partner needs while reinforcing brand positioning.
• Lead concept-to-launch execution of high-performing products that meet or exceed performance, durability, and safety expectations—on time and within budget.
• Contribute to the creation and protection of intellectual property that enhances National Nail’s competitive advantage.
• Serve as a trusted technical leader, effectively bridging early design, field engagement, and production readiness.
• Mentor junior engineers and cultivate strong relationships with contractors, OEMs, and suppliers to support innovation, field validation, and long-term adoption.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, product design, or a related field (master’s preferred).
• 12+ years of progressive experience in product design and development; background in building materials, fasteners, or construction products is a plus.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional product development initiatives from concept through commercialization.
• Hands-on experience partnering with overseas manufacturers to support scalable, cost-effective production.
• Demonstrated success mentoring junior engineers and fostering a collaborative, high-performance technical environment.
• Previous involvement in patented technologies or proprietary product feature development is strongly preferred.
• Be an outstanding person and teammate, elevating those around you.
• Align with our purpose, 8 character traits, and cornerstones.

About us

We are an employee-owned company and a proud part of the American building materials industry for nearly 75 years. We have a storied history of innovation, which many say is in our DNA. We agree. From product to brand, to sourcing to customer-centric solutions, we constantly ask the “what, why and how” questions that many are afraid to ask.

Our core brands of CAMO, PRO-FIT, and STINGER are the “asked for brands” in their respective segments and can be found at the finest names in the LBM, Roofing, Home Center, Distribution and STAFDA channels of the building industry and more recently, through our E-Commerce presence.

Our brand users are the hardworking folks who build things with their hands, and just like us, are business owners. They build our homes, our decks, install our roofs, and depend on our brands to support them in delivering a job well done.

Our company's reason for existing

Whether supporting our customers, suppliers, employee-owners and their families or the communities in which we live and work, our purpose is simple; inspire whoever we engage with to help them become better. Better people, families, businesses, and ultimately leave better the communities in which we live. We get this is a moonshot reason for existing. Yet it is one we are committed to.

Our culture is characterized as

• Servant focused.
• Founded on Four Cornerstones, 8 character traits, and a simple operating philosophy of Serve • Better • Value • Fun.
• High standard, embraced by a dedicated team of employee-owners who enjoy the fruits of hard work while having a “bit of fun” along the way.
• Growth-minded, driving intentional investments in developing our people, our customers, and our communities.
• Innovative.

So, if this is an assignment, culture, brands, and industry you desire to explore further, contact us. Your new adventure awaits.

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