Exterior Structural Casting Technical Specialist

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

10d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Exterior Structural Casting Technical Specialist is a technical leadership role within Exterior Structural Castings, Vehicle Hardware Engineering. The position is responsible for technical content, strategy, and processes for casting-related matters, ensuring robust design and delivery of components and vehicle systems. It leads Ford’s global castings product strategy, covering concept development, business case approval, supplier and internal manufacturing partnerships, product development, verification and validation, launch and sign-off, ongoing product support, and field quality assurance.

The role also develops casting team members, oversees foundation document creation and prevention of recurrence, and guides standardized casting tools, methods, and execution. It leads structural casting design, development, and implementation across vehicle structures, including body-in-white (BIW), frames and subframes, and battery structures. The position works with product development, manufacturing, packaging, attributes teams, and suppliers to develop manufacturable large-casting solutions that combine the functions of multiple stamped parts and simplify assembly. It supports technical sign-offs, performance objectives, manufacturing process development, and troubleshooting of prototype and production quality issues.

This position is hybrid and requires onsite work four or more days per week. It is leadership level 6, with a stated salary range of $115,500–$218,100. Visa sponsorship is not available, and candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, metallurgical engineering, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of automotive engineering and/or manufacturing experience, or experience in a like industry, including direct team leadership responsibility for delivery of structural castings.
• At least 5 years of engineering experience with high-pressure die-casting design and manufacturing processes, including secondary operations such as trimming, straightening, and quality checks.
• At least 5 years of engineering experience with alloys, especially structural casting alloys, advanced lightweighting materials, and associated joining technologies.
• At least 5 years of engineering experience leveraging CAE to guide efficient and robust design and system execution.
• At least 5 years of engineering experience creating and applying DFMEAs, PFMEAs, Control Plans, standards, requirements, and specifications.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility verification is required at hire.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in an engineering discipline.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• 8D and 5Why corrective-action and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with DMAIC project methodology.
• Familiarity with MAGMA software.
• Microsoft Office experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead casting design, development, and implementation for structural systems engineering, including BIW, frames/subframes, and battery structures.
• Lead and develop a team of casting engineers to expand use of high- and low-pressure die casting, thixo-casting/thixo-molding, and rheocasting across Ford and Lincoln vehicle lines.
• Manage the engineering team responsible for forming simulations of cast designs, using flow, fill, pressure, temperature distribution, and solidification data to guide design changes, tooling, and process development.
• Lead development and management of engineering specifications, design rules, engineering requirements, virtual test methods, first-pick lists, and modular designs for high-pressure die-cast vehicle structures.
• Identify, develop, and implement technologies to improve the efficiency of structural castings.
• Collaborate with product development, manufacturing, packaging, attributes teams, and suppliers to develop large structural castings for BIW, frame/subframe, and battery structure applications.
• Guide development of cast solutions that are efficient to manufacture, incorporate features and functions of multiple stamped parts, and reduce assembly complexity.
• Support actions addressing noise, vibration, and harshness, durability, and safety performance objectives; work with analysis teams to develop efficient solutions to identified problems.
• Support creation of design solutions and development of manufacturing processes to achieve part quality and performance requirements.
• Work with external suppliers and Ford manufacturing teams to meet casting component and final assembly dimensional requirements.
• Sign off on designs before milestone completion and production tool kickoff, supporting component and vehicle analysis.
• Sign off on final parts and assemblies before builds, certification testing, and production startup.
• Support troubleshooting of supplier prototype and production processes to resolve part-quality issues.
• Lead technical aspects of Ford’s global casting product strategy, including concept development, business-case approval, supplier and internal manufacturing partnerships, product development, verification and validation, launch/sign-off, ongoing support, and field quality assurance.
• Develop casting team members’ professional capabilities, oversee foundation document creation and prevention of recurrence, and guide standardized tools, methods, and execution.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new-parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized backup childcare.
• Family-building benefits, including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement and fertility treatments.
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members, and management leases.
• Tuition assistance.
• Employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• Vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior