Sr. Design & Innovation Consultant at Munro & Associates

Senior Design & Innovation Consultant (Industrial Design + Engineering)

Location: Auburn Hills, MI (Onsite)
Team: Munro & Associates
Type: Full-time

About Munro

Munro & Associates helps manufacturers design and build better, more profitable products and processes. We combine deep engineering rigor with lean design principles to drive cost reduction, quality improvement, and time-to-market gains across industries. Our commercial team partners with product companies—especially those manufacturing in the U.S.—to uncover value through smart design, practical innovation, and hands-on implementation.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a Senior Design & Innovation Consultant who blends industrial design sensibility with solid engineering fundamentals. You’re the person who can walk a factory floor or tear into a product, see what could be, and then sketch, model, and lead stakeholders to a more elegant, cost-effective solution. You bring energy, curiosity, and the craft to turn ideas into manufacturable reality.

This role leans slightly toward industrial design—form language, UX of physical products, human factors, and persuasive storytelling—while staying grounded in DFMA, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost.

What You’ll Do

• Lead design ideation sprints and workshops with client teams to generate and converge on high-impact concepts (products and processes) that reduce cost and improve performance.
• Visualize solutions quickly—sketching, storyboarding, and building compelling narratives clients can rally behind.
• Develop feasible design directions with CAD and rapid prototypes; translate concepts into manufacturable geometry with clear documentation.
• Apply DFMA and lean principles to simplify assemblies, reduce part count, optimize processes, and select cost-appropriate materials and finishes.
• Partner with cost engineering to quantify value: create side-by-side concepts with cost/benefit trade-offs that enable executive decisions.
• Interface on the factory floor—observe, map processes, and co-create pragmatic improvements with operators and leaders.
• Drive client adoption via clear, engaging presentations, executive readouts, and crisp follow-through to implementation.
• Contribute to Munro IP and methods (playbooks, design standards, case studies) and mentor junior talent.

What You’ll Bring

• 6–12+ years creating physical products or production improvements in an industrial design and/or mechanical engineering capacity (consulting experience a plus).
• A portfoliothat demonstrates: 
  • Elegant simplification and cost-down wins (before/after examples).
  • Clear user-centered reasoning and form development tied to function.
  • CAD depth (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, or similar) and fast visualization skills.
• Strong manufacturing literacy (e.g., injection molding, die casting, stamping, machining, sheet metal, extrusion, basic composites, finishing).
• DFMA/lean mindset and comfort with part consolidation, tolerance/fit basics, and design standards.
• Storytelling & facilitation: you can lead a room, sketch live, make complexity feel simple, and keep momentum high.
• Bias to action: you prototype, test, iterate—and know when “good enough” beats “perfect.”

Bonus Points

• Experience in workcell/line design or factory layout optimization.
• Exposure to cost modeling or value engineering.
• Familiarity with usability testing, ergonomic analysis, or design research.
• Comfort with Munro-style client workshops and rapid, executive-level communications.

Why Munro

• Real impact, fast: help clients realize meaningful cost reductions and launch better products—quickly.
• Variety & challenge: diverse industries, from industrial and white goods to building products and electronics.
• High-energy culture: work with builders and problem-solvers who value clarity, efficiency, and results.
• Growth path: shape Munro’s commercial design practice, mentor others, and lead marquee engagements.
• Competitive package: salary + performance bonus, robust benefits, and the tools you need to do your best work.

Benefits Overview:

• Competitive salary 
• Paid time off including vacation days and holidays
• Healthcare, dental, vision, and life insurance plans
• Generous company 401K contribution 

Munro & Associates is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Munro & Associates does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.