Mold Designer (Injection Molds)

The Mold Designer is responsible for leading the mechanical design, development, validation, and continuous improvement of high-precision plastic injection molds for new and existing products.

This role serves as the technical expert throughout the complete mold development lifecycle, from concept design through production launch, ensuring optimal manufacturability, quality, cycle time, reliability, and cost efficiency.

The Mold Designer partners closely with Tool Room, Manufacturing Engineering, Product Engineering, Suppliers, and Operations to develop innovative tooling solutions that support business objectives while maintaining Hunter Industries quality standards.

Essential Responsibilities

Mold Design & Development

• Lead the complete design and development of complex plastic injection molds for new product introductions and engineering changes.
• Develop 3D CAD models, detailed manufacturing drawings, assemblies, BOMs, and engineering documentation.
• Design multi-cavity, family, hot runner, valve gate, unscrewing, lifter, slide, insert, and specialty mold systems.
• Ensure designs comply with DFM, DFA, GD&T, SPI standards, company standards, and customer specifications.
• Perform tolerance stack-up analysis to ensure dimensional capability.
• Design cooling circuits to optimize mold performance and cycle time.
• Design venting systems, gating, runners, ejector systems, cooling layouts, and wear components.

Engineering Analysis

• Perform Mold Flow analysis interpretation and implement design improvements.
• Analyze part geometry and recommend tooling improvements for manufacturability.
• Evaluate shrink factors and resin behavior.
• Resolve molding defects through tooling modifications.
• Develop engineering solutions for quality, dimensional, and productivity issues.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive tooling optimization projects focused on:
• Cycle time reduction
• Mold reliability
• Maintenance reduction
• Scrap reduction
• Tool life improvement
• Cost reduction