Johnson Controls, Inc.
Compensation: 180.000 - 240.000
Role Overview
The Joining & Surface Finishing Technologies SME is Johnson Controls' global technical authority for the joining and surface finishing processes that hold its products together and protect them for the field - robotic and automated welding (arc/resistance), automated brazing and leak-proof joint validation, and protective coatings and finishing (e-coat/powder coat, corrosion protection for outdoor-rated equipment). Operating within the newly established global Advanced Manufacturing PPO and reporting to the VP of Advanced Manufacturing, this role sets the enterprise standards, owns the technology roadmap, and defines the best practices that govern how Johnson Controls joins and finishes its key products across every region and plant. This is a hands-on, front-line role: the SME is expected to be at Gemba - on the plant floor, at the weld cell, at the coating line - not behind a desk, personally driving problem solving and results rather than delegating them. The role is deliberately positioned at the intersection of day-to-day plant operations, product engineering, and the global supply base - close enough to the shop floor to understand real constraints, close enough to engineering to influence design for manufacturability and durability, and close enough to suppliers of welding, brazing, and coating equipment to guarantee incoming capability. Success requires deep, hands-on technical mastery across joining and finishing disciplines; the credibility and influence to set direction across a global network without direct line authority; an intense, urgent focus on delivering substantial, measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost rather than incremental activity; and the ability to experiment quickly, prove out solutions at a single line or plant, and then scale what works decisively across locations and regions.
Key Accountabilities
A) Global Standards & Governance
Define, publish, and govern the global standards, specifications, and procedures that apply across all Johnson Controls plants for: robotic and automated welding (arc/resistance) and brazing, including welding/brazing procedure specifications and leak-proof joint validation for refrigerant and pressure-bearing joints; and protective coatings and finishing (e-coat/powder coat, corrosion protection for outdoor-rated equipment). Ensure alignment with applicable codes and international standards, and establish the audit and governance mechanisms that keep every site compliant and consistent.
B) Technology Roadmap & Innovation
Own and continuously refresh the multi-year global technology roadmap spanning joining and surface finishing. Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies - automated/robotic welding and brazing, leak-proof joint validation methods, adaptive process control, digital/Industry 4.0 weld and coating-line monitoring, and next-generation e-coat/powder coat and corrosion-protection systems - and drive their adoption where they create the greatest enterprise value.
C) Best Practice Deployment & Manufacturing Excellence
Identify, codify, and deploy joining and finishing best practices across the global plant network. Partner with plant, regional, and business-system teams to close performance gaps in weld/braze quality, leak integrity, coating durability and corrosion performance, cost, throughput, and first-time-right execution - building a common global playbook rather than site-by-site solutions. Favor rapid experimentation over lengthy analysis: pilot new standards, technologies, and practices quickly at a single line or plant, prove out the result, and then scale successful solutions decisively across other locations and regions rather than re-solving the same problem repeatedly.
D) Engineering & Supplier Partnership
Serve as the primary technical liaison between product engineering and manufacturing, ensuring new designs are manufacturable, joinable, and finishable/durable from the earliest stages - including corrosion protection requirements for outdoor-rated equipment. Qualify, develop, and audit the global supply base for welding/brazing equipment and consumables and for coating/finishing lines (e-coat, powder coat) to guarantee that the best available technology and capability reach Johnson Controls' products.
E) Technical Leadership & Capability Building
Build joining and surface-finishing technical capability across the network through training, certification pathways, and hands-on mentoring of plant and engineering talent. Act as the escalation point and final technical authority for the most complex welding, brazing, joint-leak, and coating/corrosion problems - leading root-cause investigations and ensuring fixes are sustained, not just applied.
F) Hands-On Gemba Leadership & Results Delivery
Spend the majority of working time at Gemba - on the plant floor, at the weld/braze cell, at the coating line - rather than remotely directing work from a desk. Personally lead problem solving on the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues with a visible sense of urgency, and hold self and others accountable for converting standards and roadmaps into substantial, measurable results, not just documented plans.
Winning Behaviors
- We Focus on What Matters — We align our teams around customer needs and opportunities identified at Gemba, set clear priorities that deliver the most value, and enable data-informed decisions closest to where the work happens.
- We Win as One Team — We seek and bring together different perspectives, connect teams across the value stream to achieve shared goals, address challenges constructively, promote collaboration and enable ownership closest to the customer.
- We Own the Outcome — We hold our teams accountable, take ownership for team results, drive clear and consistent execution, and build systems that enable sustained performance, always prioritizing safety and integrity.
- We Improve Everyday — We create an environment where problems are surfaced transparently, "red" is embraced as an opportunity to improve, root causes are sustainably addressed, and teams rapidly learn, experiment, adapt, innovate, and grow.
Key Leadership Attributes
A. Critical thinking. Ability to process and evaluate information, challenge assumptions, deal with complexity, and make logically sound technical judgments, especially under ambiguity.
B. Strategic and systems thinking. Ability to see across the full value stream — design, process, supply base, and plant execution — and anticipate upstream and downstream implications of technical decisions. Ability to connect technology choices to longer-term cost, quality, and capability outcomes.
C. Learning agility & adaptability. Ability and willingness to learn from experience and apply it in unfamiliar plants, regions, or processes. Curiosity to seek feedback, test new technologies, and learn from both successes and failures.
D. Drive & achievement orientation. High internal standard for technical excellence and an unmistakable sense of urgency; not satisfied with standards and roadmaps on a shelf, but driven to deliver substantial, measurable improvement in safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost. Persistence in converting plans into results in the field.
E. Resilience. Ability to remain calm, confident, and composed when a complex technical failure has to be diagnosed under pressure. Ability to sustain performance and credibility across a global network over time.
F. Interpersonal awareness and orientation & influence without authority. Ability to read plant, engineering, and supplier stakeholders and understand their constraints. Natural inclination to build trust, persuade, and shape technical direction across teams that do not report to this role.
G. Disciplined and conscientious. Natural tendency toward rigor, structure, and follow-through in documentation, standards, and qualification records. Internal bar for excellence, safety, and precision.
H. Leadership courage. Confidence and conviction to challenge a plant, engineering, or supplier decision on technical grounds, and to escalation risk clearly when standards or safety are at stake.
I. Humility. Ability to place the standard and the outcome above personal authorship; inclined to share credit generously, listen to frontline and supplier expertise, and recognize that the best answer often comes from the plant floor.
J. Bias for action & hands-on presence. Genuine preference for being at Gemba over being in a conference room or behind a screen. Comfort rolling up sleeves alongside operators, welders, and technicians. Ability to move fast — testing a solution quickly, learning from the result, and scaling it across other lines, plants, and regions rather than waiting for perfect information.
Knowledge & Experience
Required:
- Bachelor's degree in Welding Engineering, Materials/Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field (Welding Engineering strongly preferred)
- 12+ years of progressive experience in welding, brazing, or joining engineering within complex manufacturing or industrial operations, including hands-on process development and plant-floor deployment
- Deep, hands-on expertise across multiple welding and joining processes (e.g., resistance, MIG/MAG, TIG, laser, brazing) including leak-proof joint validation for refrigerant or pressure-bearing assemblies
- Working knowledge of protective coating and finishing processes (e-coat, powder coat) and corrosion protection design for outdoor-rated equipment
- Demonstrated experience setting technical standards, specifications, or procedures adopted across multiple sites or a global network
- Experience partnering directly with product engineering to influence design for manufacturability, joinability, and long-term durability/corrosion resistance
- Experience qualifying, developing, and managing a global or multi-regional supplier base for welding/brazing equipment and consumables, and/or coating and finishing lines
- Willingness and ability to travel internationally (approximately 30-50%) to plants and suppliers, with an expectation of spending the majority of time on the plant floor rather than in the office
- Track record of being personally hands-on at Gemba — leading problem solving on the floor, not just directing it from a distance — with a demonstrated sense of urgency in closing out safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues
- Demonstrated ability to pilot a solution quickly at one line or plant and then scale it successfully across multiple locations and regions, rather than pursuing lengthy, purely analytical rollouts
Strongly Preferred:
- AWS Certified Welding Engineer (CWEng) or Certified Welding Inspector (CWI); International Welding Engineer (IWE) credential through the IIW
- Experience with robotic/automated welding cells and digital or Industry 4.0 weld and coating-line process monitoring
- Direct experience with e-coat or powder coat line qualification, corrosion testing (e.g., salt spray, cyclic corrosion), and outdoor/harsh-environment product durability
- Six Sigma, Lean, or equivalent continuous improvement certification
- Experience in HVAC/refrigeration, automotive, or other high-volume manufacturing environments where leak integrity and corrosion performance are critical
- Prior global or multi-country role, with exposure to diverse regulatory and cultural operating environments
Core Knowledge Expectations
- Welding metallurgy and failure analysis (fatigue, distortion, porosity, cracking)
- Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS), Procedure Qualification Records (PQR), and welder/operator qualification
- International and industry welding codes and standards (e.g., AWS D1.1, ISO 3834, ASME Section IX, EN 1090)
- Leak-test methods and acceptance criteria for refrigerant/pressure joints (e.g., helium, pressure decay) and other relevant non-destructive testing (VT, RT, UT, MT, PT)
- Protective coating and finishing fundamentals (e-coat, powder coat) and corrosion-protection design principles
- Automation and robotics fundamentals as applied to welding, joining, and coating lines
- Financial acumen sufficient to build the business case for capital investment and new technology adoption
- Ability to challenge, and be challenged by, plant, engineering, and supplier technical experts as a peer authority
Success Measures
12-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard — Year 1)
- Global standards and specifications for welding/brazing joint integrity and for protective coatings/finishing published and communicated to all plants
- Technology roadmap for joining and surface finishing developed and aligned with Advanced Manufacturing leadership
- Baseline assessment of welding/brazing capability, coating-line condition, and supplier quality completed across the network
- Priority best practices identified and piloted at 2-3 lead plants
- Trusted technical relationships established with plant, engineering, and supplier leadership
- Escalation process defined for complex joint-quality, leak, and coating/corrosion issues, with early wins on root-cause resolution
- Majority of working time demonstrably spent at Gemba across plants, with visible, hands-on involvement in solving the highest-priority safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost issues
- At least one standard or best practice taken from pilot to multi-site scale within the year, demonstrating the experiment-deploy-scale model in action
24-Month Expectations for Success (Role Scorecard — Year 2)
- Global standards and best practices fully deployed and audited across the plant network for both joining and surface finishing
- Technology roadmap translated into funded capital projects with measurable ROI
- Supplier base optimized, with qualified, capable suppliers producing the majority of welded/brazed and coated/finished output
- Global training and certification pathway established for joining and finishing disciplines, with a growing bench of qualified practitioners
- Sustained, measurable improvement in weld/braze quality, leak integrity, coating durability/corrosion performance, cost, and productivity across the network
- Recognized as Johnson Controls' go-to global authority for joining and surface finishing, proactively sought out by plants, engineering, and sourcing
- Multiple piloted solutions successfully scaled across regions, with a repeatable experiment-deploy-scale rhythm now embedded as the standard way this role drives change
- Substantial, quantified improvement delivered against safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost targets — not just process and standards adoption — sustained through consistent Gemba presence and urgency
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