Job Description

Description

About Us

Sunward Steel Buildings is a family-owned, American manufacturer, that has been in business for over 50 years. We sell, engineer, and manufacture custom metal buildings, including industrial and manufacturing facilities, barns, arenas, fitness facilities, agricultural buildings, shops, aircraft hangars, residential barndominums, self-storage facilities, and much more! We deliver these buildings to every state in the U.S. as well as Canada. We exist to fulfill our customers’ dreams and goals. We are different from other steel building companies because we partner with our customers to provide a needs-based solution. At Sunward Steel we are building a growing, sustainable company.

About the Role

The Drafting Operations Manager is a strategic leadership role responsible for overseeing all aspects of Sunward’s drafting and detailing operations. This includes managing internal drafting teams, coordinating with third-party detailing vendors, and driving innovation through technology and process improvements. The role ensures that all drafting output meets quality, accuracy, and timeline expectations while aligning with engineering and manufacturing requirements. This position plays a critical role in Sunward’s succession planning and will serve as a key technical leader within the organization, helping to shape the future of our design and drafting capabilities.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of drafting professionals and managers.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Provide technical guidance and training to ensure team members stay current with industry standards and software tools.
• Manage relationships with third-party drafting and detailing firms, including contract negotiations, performance monitoring, and quality assurance.
• Review and approve drawings and details for high complexity orders, ensuring compliance with engineering standards, manufacturing capabilities, and customer specifications.
• Collaborate with engineering, project management, sales consultants, and manufacturing teams to resolve technical challenges and ensure constructability.
• Standardize drafting processes and documentation to improve efficiency and reduce errors, including but not limited to making enhancements with the current MBS software setup.
• Monitor project progress and proactively address bottlenecks and quality issues.
• Assist the customer service department with field-related issues.
• Lead the evaluation, selection, and implementation of potential new drafting technologies (e.g., Tekla).
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

About You

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in drafting/detailing within the metal building or structural steel industries.
• 5+ years in a leadership or management role overseeing both internal teams and external vendors.
• High proficiency in AutoCAD and MBS.
• Strong understanding of metal building systems, fabrication, and the erection process.
• Excellent communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Drafting, Engineering Technology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience

Benefits

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Group Life, AD&D
• Long Term Disability
• 401(k) Program
• Voluntary Supplemental Benefits
• Employee Assistant Program
• Paid Time Off (PTO) – 128 hours
• Eight (8) paid holidays

EEOC Statement

Sunward Steel and its affiliates are an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibit Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind: we are committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Sunward Steel and its affiliates are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.