Engineering Lab Supervisor

Eaton’s Global Energy Infrastructure Solutions (GEIS) division is currently seeking a Engineering Lab Supervisor. This role is onsite at our GEIS headquarters in Syracuse, NY. Relocation is not provided.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $86000 - $126000 a year. Please note the salary information shown is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What you’ll do:

The Engineering Lab Supervisor is the on-site technical and operational leader for the Syracuse Engineering Test Laboratory. The position leads day-to-day laboratory execution and provides direct supervision and work direction for three Engineering Technician IIIs and one Contractor / Technician I. The role ensures safe, efficient, predictable, and technically sound support for new product introduction, sustaining engineering, VAVE, certification, quality, and related business needs.

The position operates as a working supervisor, contributing approximately 45% of available capacity to complex testing, certification support, test planning, engineering analysis, and technical problem solving. The remaining scope is focused on laboratory leadership, scheduling, readiness, backlog management, technician development, equipment and process ownership, and continuous improvement. The role partners with the Laboratory Manager, who retains broader accountability for multi-site laboratory strategy, accreditation programs, capacity and capital planning, global coordination, and long-range capability development.

Laboratory Leadership and Supervision

• Provide daily on-site leadership for Syracuse laboratory operations and establish clear priorities for the technician team.
• Direct, coach, and develop four direct reports. Assign work based on qualifications, workload, business priority, and developmental needs.
• Serve as the first point of escalation for local execution issues, test interruptions, equipment conflicts, abnormal results, and project-readiness concerns.
• Apply company leadership processes for goal setting, feedback, development planning, performance management, attendance, safety, and employee engagement in partnership with the reporting manager and Human Resources.
• Promote a safe, inclusive, accountable, and continuous improvement culture.

Role Design and Time Allocation:

Scheduling, Readiness, and Backlog

• Own the laboratory schedule, near-term capacity view, priority alignment, and backlog execution.
• Lead test-readiness reviews and verify that samples, plans, standards, fixtures, equipment, resources, and expected deliverables are defined before work is committed.
• Coordinate multi-step programs across environmental, electrical, photometric, mechanical, ingress, pressure, vibration, and hazardous-location activities.
• Communicate constraints, risks, schedule changes, and recovery plans to engineering, quality, certification, project, and business stakeholders.
• Maintain visible operating metrics for backlog, schedule adherence, readiness, utilization, throughput, and corrective actions.

Laboratory Systems and Improvement

• Own local execution for equipment readiness, preventive maintenance coordination, calibration status, inventory, tool control, sample disposition, 5S, SOPs, and JSAs.
• Drive improvements in laboratory intake, workflow, test efficiency, data quality, scheduling visibility, and standard work.
• Support laboratory digitalization, LIMS adoption, data standardization, dashboards, analytics, and practical automation.
• Identify capability, equipment, staffing, and training needs and provide fact-based recommendations to the Lead Engineer / Laboratory Manager.
• Participate in capital-project definition, equipment acceptance, laboratory layout, and implementation activities as assigned.

Role Design and Time Allocation:

Test Engineering and Technical Leadership

• Develop, review, and execute test plans supporting NPI, sustaining engineering, VAVE, certification, quality investigations, and product improvement.
• Interpret product requirements, test standards, agency requirements, and engineering specifications to determine methods, data needs, instrumentation, fixturing, and acceptance criteria.
• Design or improve complex test setups, fixtures, data acquisition approaches, and test methods with appropriate safety and measurement controls.
• Review test setups, raw data, calculations, technical records, reports, and conclusions for completeness, accuracy, repeatability, and traceability.
• Lead troubleshooting, failure investigation, root-cause support, and technical recommendations; escalate unresolved risks appropriately.
• Provide technical consultation during design reviews and support capability development for future test needs.

Certification and Quality Systems

• Perform and review work supporting UL DAP, ETL/Intertek, hazardous-location, LM-79, IEC, and related certification or accreditation activities.
• Ensure local test execution and records to conform to approved procedures, applicable standards, laboratory controls, and audit expectations.
• Support witness testing, technical assessments, internal and external audits, corrective actions, proficiency activities, and scope of expansion.
• Maintain local readiness of certification evidence, controlled methods, equipment records, and technician qualifications.

Physical and Work Environment Requirements:

• Work is performed primarily in an engineering laboratory and office environment with regular exposure to operating test equipment and prototype or production hardware.
• Ability to use required personal protective equipment and comply with laboratory safety procedures.
• Ability to stand, walk, bend, reach, and work around laboratory equipment for portions of the workday.

Qualifications:

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Minimum of five (5) years of engineering, product validation, certification, or testing-laboratory experience.
• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1, H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, 1-485 job profitability, etc.
• No relocation is offered for this position. All candidates must currently reside within 50 miles of Syracuse, NY to be considered. Active-Duty Military Service member candidates are exempt from the geographical area limitation.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing test plans, interpreting technical requirements, analyzing data, and documenting engineering conclusions.
• Experience providing technical leadership, team leadership, mentoring, or supervision of technical personnel.
• Experience with industrial lighting, hazardous-location equipment, electrical products, fittings, cable glands, or related electromechanical products.
• Working knowledge of UL, CSA, IEC, ETL/Intertek, IECEx, ATEX, LM-79, ISO/IEC 17025, or comparable certification and accredited laboratory systems.
• Experience with photometric, environmental, electrical, vibration, ingress, pressure, mechanical, reliability, or power-quality testing.
• Experience with oscilloscopes, power analyzers, data-acquisition systems, environmental chambers, integrating spheres, goniophotometers, or programmable test systems.

All positions may require participation in video and in-person interviews as part of the hiring process. All candidates will be evaluated based on job-related competencies, and all candidates’ privacy rights and data security will be protected in accordance with applicable laws.

We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.

Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws.

You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

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We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.