Hayden Ernst

About Hayden Ernst

As an Engineering Director in the heavy manufacturing industry, I lead multi-disciplinary teams responsible for new product development, sustaining engineering, customer service support, and enterprise process transformation across mobile cranes, outback equipment, and specialty vehicle platforms. Over the past nine years, I’ve progressed from manufacturing, quality, and design engineering into senior leadership, now overseeing 4 teams that transcend typical engineering boundaries. My scope includes strategic product execution, ISO compliance, PLM system integration, customer satisfaction, and cross-functional alignment between engineering, production, and supply chain. I specialize in scaling engineering organizations to support growth—eliminating bottlenecks, improving implementation velocity, and building high-performance teams. Recently, I led a structural overhaul of our engineering change process, cutting backlog nearly in half and reducing cycle time by more than 60%, significantly improving production responsiveness and operational predictability. I’m driven by building systems and teams that enable sustainable growth—aligning technical execution with business strategy while developing the next generation of engineering leaders.

Experience

1. Engineering Manager

   Custom Truck One Source

   Mar 2025 — Present · Kansas City, MO, US

Education

• University of Massachusetts Lowell

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Entrepreneurship

• Oklahoma State University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Mechanical Engineering

  2014 — 2018