Hydraulic Systems Engineer – Hydraulic Cylinder Resourcing and Redesign

About JLG, an Oshkosh company

JLG began in 1969, when our founder, John L. Grove set out to resolve growing safety concerns in the construction industry. Since then we have been committed to understanding the challenges and delivering innovative solutions to the access market. We partner with customers to provide quality equipment, training opportunities and trusted support within the access industry. We are a global company, and our products—including mobile elevating work platforms, telehandlers, utility vehicles and accessories—can be found all over the world.

We are seeking a Hydraulic Systems Engineer to lead hydraulic cylinder resourcing, redesign, validation, and production release activities for mobile equipment and other hydraulic systems.

The engineer will be responsible for managing cylinder-related projects from initial scope definition through design approval, testing, documentation, and engineering change release. This position requires close collaboration with internal engineering teams, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, test organizations, and hydraulic cylinder suppliers.

The ideal candidate has a strong understanding of hydraulic cylinder design, mobile hydraulic systems, engineering validation, supplier development, and configuration control.

YOUR IMPACT

- Lead hydraulic cylinder resourcing and redesign projects from project initiation through production implementation.
- Develop project plans, schedules, milestones, deliverables, resource requirements, and risk-mitigation actions.
- Define technical, functional, performance, durability, packaging, interface, environmental, and regulatory requirements for hydraulic cylinders.
- Review existing cylinder designs, field performance, failure history, warranty data, manufacturing concerns, and cost-reduction opportunities.
- Develop engineering specifications, statements of work, technical requirements, and supplier request-for-quotation documentation.
- Collaborate with hydraulic cylinder suppliers to evaluate design concepts, manufacturing capabilities, quality controls, cost, capacity, and technical feasibility.
- Provide suppliers with technical direction related to cylinder geometry, mounting interfaces, stroke, bore and rod sizing, operating pressure, structural loads, sealing systems, materials, surface treatments, porting, cushioning, position sensing, and environmental protection.
- Review and approve supplier design proposals, drawings, calculations, tolerance studies, material selections, sealing arrangements, and design-analysis results.
- Perform or review hydraulic, mechanical, structural, fatigue, buckling, pressure, and load calculations as required.
- Ensure proposed cylinder designs meet machine-level performance, safety, reliability, serviceability, manufacturability, and cost objectives.
- Lead design reviews with cross-functional stakeholders and document decisions, risks, open issues, and required actions.
- Define cylinder design-validation plans and acceptance criteria based on application requirements, duty cycles, failure modes, and applicable standards.
- Establish validation requirements for proof pressure, burst pressure, internal and external leakage, drift, friction, breakaway pressure, durability, fatigue, side loading, buckling, corrosion resistance, temperature exposure, contamination tolerance, cushioning, and position-sensor performance.
- Coordinate prototype builds, test-cylinder procurement, laboratory testing, machine testing, field validation, and supplier testing.
- Work with test engineers and suppliers to develop test procedures, instrumentation plans, duty cycles, data-acquisition requirements, and test reports.
- Review test results, identify failure mechanisms, lead root-cause investigations, and coordinate corrective design actions.
- Apply engineering tools such as Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, tolerance analysis, design reviews, and structured problem-solving methods.
- Confirm that corrective actions and design changes are validated before production release.
- Create, review, and maintain engineering documentation, including specifications, drawings, interface-control documents, bills of material, calculations, validation plans, test reports, and design-review records.
- Prepare and release Engineering Change Notices or Change Notices in accordance with the company’s product-development and configuration-management processes.
- Coordinate implementation of approved changes with supply chain, manufacturing, quality, service, and production teams.
- Support production launch, supplier part approval, first-article inspection, pilot builds, and resolution of manufacturing or assembly issues.
- Provide technical support for supplier quality concerns, production deviations, warranty issues, and field failures involving hydraulic cylinders.
- Identify opportunities to improve cylinder reliability, performance, commonality, manufacturability, serviceability, lead time, and cost.
- Maintain awareness of hydraulic cylinder technologies, sealing systems, coatings, manufacturing processes, sensing technologies, and industry best practices.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related engineering discipline with five (5) or more years of relevant experience in hydraulic systems, hydraulic cylinders, fluid power components, or mobile-equipment engineering.

Preferred Qualifications

- Working knowledge of hydraulic cylinder design principles, including:

- Bore, rod, stroke, and force calculations
- Column strength and rod-buckling analysis
- Pressure containment and structural loading
- Sealing systems and leakage control
- Bearing and wear-band design
- Materials, heat treatment, coatings, and surface finishes
- Welding, machining, and cylinder manufacturing processes
- Mounting, alignment, side loading, and pin-joint interfaces

- Experience reviewing engineering drawings, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, tolerance stacks, and bills of material.
- Experience developing engineering requirements, validation plans, test procedures, and acceptance criteria.
- Experience working directly with component suppliers on technical development or product-resourcing projects.
- Experience coordinating prototype builds, laboratory testing, machine testing, and design-validation activities.
- Understanding of engineering change-control and product-release processes.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, project-management, and technical communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities while working effectively across functional and organizational boundaries.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and engineering documentation systems.