Product Development Engineer - Exterior Structural Castings

Ford Motor Company • Dearborn, MI

10d • $86,600 - $166,200 • Hybrid

About The Position

This Product Development Engineer position is part of Ford’s Product Development organization and the Structural Castings team. The role focuses on designing and developing structural high-pressure die-cast (HPDC) components for future body-in-white, closure, and frame designs. The engineer generates casting design solutions, including casting CAD concepts, gating systems, and overflows, while assessing manufacturing feasibility.

The position works with cross-functional teams to validate vehicle attributes such as crash safety, durability, and NVH, and revises casting designs as needed to improve results. It also provides technical support during program execution and industrialization, develops core engineering documentation, and supports less experienced engineers with CAD, casting manufacturing knowledge, and interpretation of simulation results. The role contributes to casting solutions for Ford’s global programs and offers involvement with technologies such as Rheocasting and Thixomolding.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or higher-level degree in Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 4 years of casting design experience.
• Ability to design solids in CAD using Catia, NX, or 3DX.
• Ability to interpret simulation results using tools such as Magmasoft, Flow 3D, or Procast and improve casting designs based on those results.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills, including the ability to manage multiple projects in a highly variable and uncertain environment.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Microsoft Office experience.

Responsibilities

• Create casting designs that integrate multiple parts into one casting.
• Develop business cases for proposed casting solutions for management consideration.
• Provide direction on design or process changes to optimize casting processes for quality and cost efficiency.
• Support technical documentation, including lessons learned, best practices, design rules, and design requirements, and keep it updated in Ford’s internal system.
• Work with cross-functional teams on vehicle packaging compliance and issue resolution.
• Support less experienced engineers in CAD, tooling design, and on-site casting quality assessment for prototype part buy-off, including recommendations for process- or tooling-level improvements.
• Support external suppliers and tool shops with process and tooling verification before production startup.
• Generate HPDC structural casting design solutions, including casting CAD concepts, gating systems, and overflows, while checking manufacturing feasibility.
• Work with cross-functional teams on vehicle attribute validation, including crash safety, durability, and NVH, and modify castings as needed.
• Provide technical support during program execution and industrialization.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized backup child care.
• 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 time between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

What This Job Offers

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