Design Engineer in Phoenix

The Design Engineer sits at the technical center of Sonoran Doors. The role owns the drawing function for both doors and millwork - reading the plans, asking the right questions, specifying the hardware, and preparing shop packets that hit the floor complete and accurate.

This is a full workload from day one. Sonoran Doors has a steady pipeline of custom projects, and the Design Engineer will be immediately responsible for keeping drawings moving, resolving technical questions during the design phase, and leading a junior drafter who will report into this role.

Who We’re Looking For

The right candidate understands doors as physical objects - not just as CAD symbols. Knows how a jamb meets a wall, which hardware works with which frame conditions, why a strike misaligns.

Understands hardware function at a working level - how locksets engage strikes, how hinges carry weight, how closers regulate swing, how thresholds seal against weather. Specifies hardware with confidence because it is genuinely understood, not just looked up.

Understands what a woodworking shop can and cannot build. Knows the capabilities and limitations of CNC equipment, panel saws, edgebanders, and finishing lines. Designs drawings that respect the shop’s actual capabilities so production runs cleanly without workarounds.

Solves problems in the drawing phase. Catches the missing hardware spec, the incompatible swing direction, the frame condition that will not work. Shop packets prepared by this person go to the floor and do not come back.

Leads with judgment, not authority; a junior drafter will report into this role, and the right candidate will raise that drafter’s ceiling by teaching through example.

Works skillfully within existing systems rather than trying to reinvent them. Twenty-six years of built-up tools and processes are here to be learned first, improved second.

• Ten or more years of technical design experience in custom doors, architectural millwork, high-end residential construction, or a closely related premium category.

• Deep working knowledge of door construction, hardware function, and how doors behave in real installations. Not just familiarity with hardware brands, but genuine understanding of how each piece of hardware works.

• Working knowledge of woodworking shop equipment - CNC machines, panel saws, edgebanders, finishing equipment - and how those capabilities shape what is buildable.

• Fluency with AutoCAD.

• Experience owning drawings from initial concept through approval and into production and installation.

• Experience mentoring or leading a junior drafter.

• Salary: $90,000 - $130,000, based on experience.

• Full benefits: health, dental, vision, life insurance.

• Two weeks paid vacation, plus paid holidays and sick time.

• A twenty-six-year-old company with a reputation to be proud of.

About Sonoran Doors Sonoran Doors has been building custom architectural doors and millwork in Phoenix for twenty-six years. We work with the region’s best luxury home builders, architects, and designers - and our work shows up in some of the most distinctive homes in the Valley. Every project is custom.

We are known in the Arizona market for two things: exceptional quality, and reliability. That reputation was built one project at a time, one relationship at a time, over more than two decades.

Company DescriptionAbout Sonoran Doors\r\nSonoran Doors has been building custom architectural doors and millwork in Phoenix for twenty-six years. We work with the region’s best luxury home builders, architects, and designers - and our work shows up in some of the most distinctive homes in the Valley. Every project is custom. \r\n\r\nWe are known in the Arizona market for two things: exceptional quality, and reliability. That reputation was built one project at a time, one relationship at a time, over more than two decades.