Industrial Designer

Ford • Dearborn, MI

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are the movers of the world and the makers of the future. We get up every day, roll up our sleeves and build a better world -- together. At Ford, we’re all a part of something bigger than ourselves. Are you ready to change the way the world moves?
In this position...
About the HCD Team: The Human-Centered Design (HCD) Team is responsible for the endto-end experience, including digital and physical design of new businesses, new products, and new services. We are looking for creative individuals to join us and help further the vision and mission of the HCD Ford’s team. We are committed to envisioning and crafting simple, thoughtful, enjoyable, and compelling products and services for customers! This position requires demonstrable expertise in physical product solutions with strong visual design work, design sensibility, and articulate storytelling. As a Designer, you’ll be responsible for concepting and sketching, designing low to high fidelity design prototypes, supporting workshops, and managing asset production through the life cycle of assigned projects, pilots, and research initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design or a related field
• A portfolio or work examples showcasing industrial design projects
• Designer level experience in a consumer product industry, transportation sector or supplier, design consultancy, or similar field.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite design tools.
• Proficiency with at least one 3D modeling software application (e.g., Alias AutoStudio, Rhino, or Blender).
• Proficiency in relevant presentation applications (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, or similar).

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in industrial design, Transportation Design or a related field
• 5+ years of Industrial Design or Transportation Design studio work experience.
• Strong creativity and demonstrated inventiveness towards features and functional solutions.
• Strong ability to translate customer and research inputs into relevant, highly desirable, and feasible product solutions.
• Strong communication skills through presentation and storytelling.
• Strong product design aesthetic sensibilities.
• Strong sketching, visualization, modelling, and presentation skills.
• Strong 2D application skills (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.).
• Strong 3D application skills (e.g., Alias AutoStudio, VRED, Rhino, Maya or Blender).
• Demonstrated ability to actively contribute to projects in a multidisciplinary team environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build low fidelity prototypes (e.g., hands-on with cardboard, foam core, wood, laser cutting, 3D printing) and understanding of production methods and prototyping processes.
• Demonstrated ability to translate design vision in animated story-form through creative use of digital presentation applications (including AI visualization tools).
• Ability to support the development of design proposals from concept to production.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to Design Innovation: Design novel and unique experience design solutions to meaningful problems for customers, identifying design opportunities and actionable concepts that align with user and business needs, design principles, and technical capabilities.
• Develop Prototyping & Design Visualization Skills: Assist in initial rough prototyping and design visualization methods. You will be skilled in initial rough prototyping ("build to learn") with a primary emphasis on physical enablers, and in iterating design solutions based upon customer, user, and system feedback to meet user expectations and deliver successful outcomes.
• Support Insight-Driven Design Solutions: Assist in creating design solutions that are deeply rooted in customer and user insights, expertly translating these insights into highly desirable and feasible physical product solutions.
• Design Leadership & Vision: Actively contribute throughout the entire design process from inspiration and research to building prototypes and communicating a clear vision. You will help bring to life integrated digital-physical experiences through brand, products, and services, and collaborate with project teams to conceive, design, develop, test, and launch impactful new products and services.
• Systems Thinking: Apply systems thinking to physical experience design that seamlessly engages people through touchpoints along a service journey for consumer and business applications.
• Stakeholder Collaboration & Communication: Bring clarity and focus through e6ective communication of functional needs and aesthetic sensibilities. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams in an advanced product development environment, building strong relationships with engineering, planning, and research stakeholders.
• Experience Content Strategy & Feasibility: Partner to support the initial design and development of experience concepts. You will design and iterate key program applications of the domain-based Experience Content Strategies, confirming key experiences are feasible within program constraints.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees