Research and Development Engineering Manager

• Drive a culture of patent creation, disclosure, and protection across the R&D organization.
• Identify patentable innovations, manage invention disclosures, and work closely with legal counsel on patent filings, prosecution, and strategy.
• Ensure freedom-to-operate awareness and support competitive IP analysis.
• Build and maintain robust technical documentation, knowledge repositories, and design histories.

• Lead, mentor, and motivate a multidisciplinary R&D team of engineers, scientists, and technicians.
• Establish clear goals, priorities, and performance expectations aligned with business objectives.
• Develop talent through coaching, succession planning, and technical skill advancement.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, creativity, and continuous improvement.

• Define, generate, and present key R&D metrics, including:
• Innovation pipeline health
• Time-to-market
• R&D spend efficiency
• Patent/IP output
• Technology readiness levels (TRLs)
• Communicate program status, risks, and results to senior leadership using clear, data-driven insights.
• Manage R&D budgets, resources, and external partnerships (universities, suppliers, labs).

• Engage with OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and industry partners to understand evolving aerospace assembly challenges.
• Support key customer technical reviews, demonstrations, and collaborative development programs.
• Represent the company in technical forums, industry working groups, and innovation partnerships as needed.
• Report immediately all suspicious and hazardous conditions to a supervisor.
• Understand and observe all safety guidelines and assure quality and safety by complying with all appropriate Click Bond policies and procedures.
• Assist in maintaining clean, orderly and hazard-free work areas.
• Able to work with minimal supervision, be a self-starter and be detail oriented.
• Other duties as assigned.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to demonstrate the following competencies:

• Set R&D direction: translate business strategy into clear technology roadmaps and priorities.
• Bring strong technical depth in materials and joining (adhesives, thermoplastics, surface prep/analysis, and mechanical fasteners).
• Drive innovation that is grounded in customer needs, market trends, and competitive benchmarking.
• Lead programs with disciplined experimentation, prototyping, validation/qualification, and documentation.
• Partner cross-functionally (Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Sustaining Engineering, Sales) to deliver smooth launches.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing R&D team with clear goals and accountability.
• Create and protect IP; drive invention disclosures and maintain strong technical documentation and design history.
• Use data to manage execution; define R&D metrics, manage resources, and communicate status, risks, and results.
• Ability to write and read English.