Product Development Engineer- Battery Cell/System Modeling Engineer

Ford Motor Company • Dearborn, MI

8d • $68,300 - $192,900 • Hybrid

About The Position

In this position, you will be part of the Ford Product Development team, contributing to the creation of smart vehicles for a smart world. This role is within the Electrified Systems Engineering (ESE) organization, which is responsible for delivering hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles. The goal is to provide vehicles with outstanding fuel economy, refinement, customer value, profitability, performance, and smoothness of operation. This is an opportunity to work in a dynamic and growing organization focused on advancements in autonomy, electrification, and smart mobility technologies.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in engineering, applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of academic or industry experience in electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, or battery modeling, including development, implementation, calibration, and validation of battery performance and degradation models.
• Deep understanding of lithium-ion battery principles, including electrochemical, electrical, thermal, performance, and degradation behavior.
• Strong technical background in mathematical modeling, numerical methods, data analysis, statistics, and interpretation of experimental data.
• Strong proficiency in at least one programming language or technical computing environment, including MATLAB, Python, or C++.
• Experience applying battery models to support engineering, research, product-development, or program decisions.
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills.
• Self-motivation and the ability to manage multiple tasks.

Nice To Haves

• 5+ years of extensive experience in developing, validating, and applying battery cell, pack, system, or controls models for electrified-vehicle applications.
• 2+ years of experience integrating battery electrical, thermal, and control models within system or vehicle simulation environments.
• 3+ years of engineering experience developing or deploying semi-physical, single-particle, P2D, P4D, or other physics-based lithium-ion battery electrochemical models using computational tools such as COMSOL, PyBaMM, or comparable platforms.
• 3+ years of experience developing or applying coupled electrical, electrochemical, thermal, mechanical, or other multiphysics battery models, including integration with system CAE or co-simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink, Simscape, Modelica, Dymola, AMESIM, GT-SUITE, or similar platforms.
• Experience with battery thermal CAE, including 1D and/or 3D thermal modeling.
• Experience in battery or powertrain system design, usage, controls, or testing for electrified vehicles.
• Experience developing, calibrating, or applying battery durability and degradation/life models.
• Experience with software development practices that support model quality and efficiency, such as automated testing, code review, version control, data management, and workflow automation.
• Experience with laboratory-scale battery cell fabrication, electrochemical characterization methods, and interpretation of cell-test data.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, deploy, and maintain advanced battery cell performance and degradation models, including semi-physical, single-particle, and electrochemical models, for battery, system, and vehicle simulation initiatives across the company.
• Develop and integrate battery electrical, thermal, and control models within battery, system, and vehicle simulation environments to support vehicle attribute assessments, energy analysis, controls development, and program milestones.
• Calibrate and validate battery models using laboratory, supplier, vehicle, and field-representative data to ensure model accuracy, robustness, and suitability for program applications.
• Apply models and battery expertise to address internal customer questions and support engineering decision-making.
• Support battery and cell specification development through model-based analysis of usage, performance, reliability, and life requirements.
• Improve existing battery-modeling tools, methodologies, and processes with a focus on model quality, repeatability, computational efficiency, automation, and usability.
• Maintain model calibration updates, documentation, and appropriate model configuration practices within various simulation environments, aligned with unit and program cadence.
• Collaborate with battery cell engineering, battery systems, thermal, controls, test, software, vehicle attribute, and supplier teams to resolve technical issues and support program decisions.
• Collaborate with BMS and controls teams, as needed, on model-based controls development, model requirements, and control-algorithm evaluation.

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