Engineer III, Mechanical

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

Job Description

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, you’ll do meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Our teams are united by our Mission to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. We provide colleagues with opportunities to grow while developing innovative solutions that address complex scientific and manufacturing challenges. 

Position Summary  

We are seeking a Engineer III – Mechanical to lead should-cost analysis and cost engineering activities across complex mechanical components, assemblies, and products. This role will develop robust, data-driven cost models that improve cost transparency, enable design-to-cost decisions, strengthen supplier negotiations, and identify sustainable value improvement opportunities. 

You will partner with Design Engineering, Procurement, Category Management, Manufacturing, and suppliers to understand product cost drivers and evaluate alternative materials, manufacturing processes, and design concepts. The role requires strong manufacturing process knowledge, commercial awareness, and the ability to translate engineering data into actionable cost insights. 

Key Responsibilities  

Develop detailed should-cost and clean-sheet cost models for mechanical components, subassemblies, and complete products 

Analyze cost drivers including raw materials, manufacturing processes, cycle time, tooling, labor, machine rates, overhead, yield, and logistics  

Partner with Design Engineering to embed design-to-cost and value engineering principles throughout the product development lifecycle 

Perform supplier quote analysis and cost breakdown assessments , identifying gaps between supplier quotations and should-cost estimates 

Collaborate with Procurement and Category Management to provide fact-based cost insights that support supplier negotiations and sourcing decisions  

Evaluate alternative materials, manufacturing processes, design concepts, and sourcing scenarios to improve cost competitiveness without compromising quality or performance 

Assess supplier manufacturing processes and recommend opportunities to improve productivity, manufacturability, and cost efficiency  

Build product-level cost models by consolidating component, assembly, tooling, processing, and supply chain costs 

Perform cost-benefit, total cost of ownership (TCO), make-versus-buy, and manufacturing footprint analyses where applicable 

Establish standard work, methodologies, assumptions, and validation practices for should costing 

Improve cost-model accuracy by benchmarking estimates against supplier quotations, actual costs, and manufacturing data 

Lead continuous improvement of costing methodologies, databases, tools, and analytical processes  

Provide technical guidance and mentoring to engineers and cross-functional teams on cost engineering and design-to-cost practices 

Communicate cost insights, opportunities, risks, and recommendations clearly to technical and business stakeholders 

Minimum Qualifications  

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering , or a related engineering discipline 

10+ years of experience in should costing, cost engineering, manufacturing cost analysis, or value engineering  

Demonstrated experience developing detailed cost models for mechanical components and manufacturing processes

Preferred Qualifications  

Deep manufacturing knowledge across CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, casting, forging, plastics/injection molding, composites, rubber, metal injection molding (MIM), and related processes  

Strong understanding of secondary operations, heat treatment, surface treatments, coatings, finishing, and assembly processes  

Ability to interpret complex engineering drawings, GD&T, tolerances, material specifications, and BOM structures  

Working knowledge of engineering and drawing standards such as ASME, ANSI, ISO, DIN, JIS, and BS  

Hands-on experience with should-cost and manufacturing cost tools such as aPriori, DFMA, Costimator, or equivalent platforms  

Experience with TCO, NPV, make-versus-buy, supplier cost breakdown, and cost-driver analysis  

Proficiency in interpreting 2D/3D engineering data using tools such as Creo, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or equivalent CAD platforms  

Experience supporting VAVE, design-to-cost, teardown, benchmarking, and cost reduction initiatives  

Strong understanding of global manufacturing economics, supplier capabilities, and regional cost drivers 

Strong analytical skills with the ability to convert complex technical and commercial data into actionable recommendations 

Demonstrated ability to influence Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supplier teams in a global, matrixed environment 

Strong communication, presentation, negotiation-support, and stakeholder management skills

Key Skills  

Should Costing, Clean-Sheet Costing, Design-to-Cost, VAVE, Cost Breakdown Analysis, Supplier Quote Analysis, Manufacturing Process Costing, Machining, Sheet Metal, Casting, Forging, Plastics, MIM, GD&T, aPriori, DFMA, Costimator, TCO/NPV, CAD Interpretation, Supplier Negotiation Support, Make-vs-Buy, Cost Benchmarking, Value Engineering

Key Competencies  

Cost and commercial acumen 

Manufacturing process expertise 

Data-driven decision-making 

Structured problem-solving 

Cross-functional influence 

Supplier collaboration 

Continuous improvement 

Ownership and execution discipline