Director of Engineering - Body Structures & Closures

Oshkosh Corporation•Okemos, MI

21d•$136,800 - $253,200•Onsite

About The Position

As Director of Engineering you will make a difference by setting the design and technical direction of Body Structures and Closure systems for the Delivery business unit, ensuring targets for cost, performance, and timing are met while mentoring the team. You will provide technical direction, evaluate and select technologies and architectures for vehicle applications, plan and estimate program needs, and guide the Body and Closures team. Applying broad industry experience and collaborating with Manufacturing, Purchasing, Program Management, Suppliers, and Corporate stakeholders are key to delivering to plan and developing systems, methods, and tools for efficient and robust new product development.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering; or equivalent.
Twelve (12) or more years of experience in engineering, contracts, lean and value stream management; or in a related area.
Five (5) or more years of management experience.
Ability to travel up to 25%.

Nice To Haves

15 years or more years of experience within product design and development of Body & Closure systems in Automotive or Truck segments.
5 years or more of experience in a senior management role directing Body & Closures engineering from concept to launch.
Broad industry knowledge, insights into Body and Closure design and Engineering methods, processes, tools and techniques.
Comprehensive understanding of Body and Closures performance requirements such as legal and regulatory, Durability, Crash, NVH and other key attributes.
Detail understanding of product engineering tools and techniques (CAD, BOM management, PLM and product development systems) and the use engineering problem solving and quality tools such as, DFMEA, DVP, 8D, DoE, Fault trees, SPC, VSA, GD&T, … etc.
Good knowledge and familiarity with FEA, test and validation techniques.
Understanding and experienced in the use of widely used body materials Steel, Aluminum, Plastics and composites.
Understanding and experienced in widely used body manufacturing and assembly methods such as stamping, casting, extrusion, bending, roll forming, molding and assembly and joining technologies such as Jigs, Fixtures, Welding, Riveting, Bolting and mixed material joining technologies.
Good knowledge of body components and systems cost and timing characteristics.
Business Acumen: Drive connection between individual roles, functional goals and organizational goals to ensure we have workforce plans that align with short and long term needs
Knowledge and ability to integrate state-of-the-art design and manufacturing methods into product concepts and designs including familiarity with manufacturing robustness, GD&T and dimensional engineering
Advanced degree in relevant discipline is preferred.
Specific delivery vehicle design and development segment experience.
Expert knowledge of Body and Body systems integration and new product development processes.
Experience across different body architectures (Unibody, Body on frame) and segments (Passenger car, light and heavy truck, vocational vehicles, ... etc.)

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Sr Director of Engineering you will direct Oshkosh Body and Closures Engineering activities for all delivery vehicles (Including Structure, Hardware, Sealing, Paint & e-Coat systems).
Direct internal, external resources and supplier activities to meet agreed technical and commercial targets.
Ensure delivery of Body and Closures systems to meet technical performance requirements (such as Legal and Regulatory, Durability, Crash, NVH, Sealing and other key attributes) and Cost (Variable and Investment) targets.
Works closely with Suppliers, Manufacturing and Operations to ensure released designs are feasible to manufacture and produce at intended volume and robust (tolerant of normal manufacturing process and tolerance variation).
Define, plan and estimate Body and Closures activities needed to deliver assigned programs. Program plans to provide comprehensive delivery direction recognizing available Oshkosh product development policies and standards supplemented with industry tools techniques and best practice as required specific to Body and Closure systems.
Working across supporting functions and stakeholders (such as Vehicle Engineering, Program Management, FEA, Test, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Quality etc.) ensure delivery plans are aligned and coherent to ensure robust Body & Closure system design and delivery.
Create and maintain appropriate Body and Closures technical compliance and program delivery metrics to support tracking and reporting needs, demonstrate and ensure timely delivery to plan.
Represent Oshkosh Body & Closure systems as the technical expert (internally across Oshkosh and externally with customers and suppliers) as required.
Select appropriate Body technologies and architectures that can meet the technical and commercial objectives of the vehicle program.
Working closely with Purchasing, create RFI’s and RFQ content as required to identify and select Engineering Services and Production suppliers required for Body & Closure system delivery.
Establish and maintain department and cross functional meetings, design reviews and communications as required to co-ordinate and manage design and development activities.
Prepare and approve body status and open issues reports to support design recommendations and program milestone review as required.
Conduct and direct body systems problem solving investigations (such as test issues, manufacturing feedback, etc.) and ensure route cause understanding to develop effective countermeasures to close open issues.
Define the organizational, methods skills and capabilities needed to deliver Body and Closure systems from concept through to SOP and achievement of production quality targets.
Maintain effective communication with suppliers, internal and external customers, and outside resources concerning technical issues.
Enforce compliance with applicable Oshkosh corporate and technical standards and policies.
Approves overall Body and Closures systems design release (for prototype and production) and associated manufacturing and tooling investments.
Designs and develops an appropriate organization and establishes an operating environment in which subordinates know their authorities and responsibility and assigns workloads to challenge and strengthen employees.
Develop the skills and capabilities of the team with appropriate development assignments, day to day coaching and mentoring including regular 1:1 reviews with direct reports.
Conduct performance reviews of subordinates and recommend position or salary changes
Accepts and delegates authority, establishes priorities for work delegated to others.
Maintain and apply knowledge in latest Body & Closures technologies, Engineering process and Manufacturing technologies to integrate new technologies and engineering practices into Oshkosh.