Product Development Engineer - Exterior Structural Castings

Ford Motor • Dearborn, MI

9d • $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 across Ford global programs. The engineer develops casting design solutions, including casting CAD concepts, gating systems, and overflows, while evaluating manufacturing feasibility. The role also supports vehicle attribute validation in areas such as crash safety, durability, and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), and modifies designs as needed based on validation results.

The engineer provides technical support during program execution and industrialization, creates and maintains core engineering documentation, and supports less experienced engineers with CAD, casting manufacturing experience, and interpretation of simulation results. The position offers involvement in emerging casting technologies such as Rheocasting and Thixomolding. It is hybrid and requires onsite work four or more days per week. The position is salary grade 7–8, with a stated salary range of $86,600–$166,200. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 4 years of casting design experience.
• Ability to design solids in CAD, such as 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.
• Ability to manage several projects simultaneously in a highly variable and uncertain environment.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Microsoft Office experience.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States; employment eligibility will be verified at hire.

Responsibilities

• Create casting designs that integrate multiple parts into one casting.
• Develop business cases for proposed casting solutions for management consideration.
• Recommend design or process changes to optimize the casting process 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 and tooling design, and in on-site casting quality assessment for prototype part buy-off; suggest 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.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on vehicle attribute validation, including crash safety, durability, and NVH, and revise castings as required.
• Provide technical support during program execution and industrialization.
• Generate core engineering documentation to continuously improve casting systems.
• Support less experienced engineers with CAD capabilities, casting manufacturing experience, and interpretation of simulation results.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Paid parental leave and new-parent ramp-up programs.
• Subsidized backup child care.
• 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: Mid Level