Senior Vehicle Accessory Product Development Engineer

Senior Vehicle Accessory Product Development Engineer

Irvine, CA, United States (Hybrid)

Ford’s Electric Vehicles, Digital and Design (EVDD) team is charged with delivering the company’s vision of a fully electric transportation future. EVDD is customer-obsessed, entrepreneurial, and data-driven and is dedicated to delivering industry-leading customer experience for electric vehicle buyers and owners. You’ll join an agile team of doers pioneering our EV future by working collaboratively, staying focused on only what matters, and delivering excellence day in and day out.

Join us to make positive change by helping build a better world where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams.

In this position, the Senior Vehicle Accessory Product Development Engineer will work closely with studio designers to develop new design concepts and collaborate with other vehicle engineering teams and cross-functional teams on technical, feasibility, and cost trade-off studies. In this role, you will play a key part in designing and engineering high-quality vehicle accessories that enhance the functionality and aesthetics of vehicles.

You will work closely with cross-functional teams to bring innovative concepts to life. The engineer will explore creative ideas covering a variety of systems, including roof solutions, bed solutions, and various innovative accessories to celebrate engineering and aesthetics design possibilities, from the concept phase all the way to manufacturing and quality teams for the launch.

• Design and develop vehicle accessories in CAD and other engineering tools.
• Conduct feasibility studies, prototyping, and testing to ensure product performance and durability.
• Define roadmap for accessories with build to print approach, as well as co-development approach together with suppliers.
• Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturers to select materials and optimize production processes.
• Support the product development lifecycle, from concept to production, ensuring adherence to timelines and quality standards.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues during the development, manufacturing, launching and service phases.
• Stay updated on industry trends, technologies, and materials to drive innovation.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams within engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing to ensure system manufacturing, assembly feasibility, and serviceability. Support vehicle development milestones and prototype/production build events.

You'll have...

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or a related field
• 2+ years of experience working on production vehicle development and launch
• 4+ years of experience utilizing CAD (3DX, Catia, NX, ICEMSURF, or Alias) collaboratively, 3DX and CATIA preferred
• 4+ years of experience in exterior, interior systems or accessory design, development, release and supplier management.
• Proof of record of development and launch experience for vehicle system and accessories, e.g. roof applications, bed applications, trailer hitch applications

Even better, you may have...

• Strong mechanical engineering fundamentals, with preferred to have experience designing mechanisms, electromechanical components
• Strong understanding of the materials and manufacturing processes such as stamping, injection molding, casting, composites, paint and other surface finishes
• Strong Understanding of differences in design and engineering based on production volume and functional and cosmetic features
• Strong familiarity with legislative requirements affecting the design feasibility
• Strong understanding of GD&T, craftsmanship and CMF and how design execution would be affected
• Experience in working on automotive Class A surface feasibility assessment and development, vehicle layout/package, including body structures, exteriors, closures, glazing
• Hands-on experience in building and launching automotive products

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose…