Road Wheels Design Manager

Ford • Dearborn, MI

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Join us in shaping the future of Ford Motor Company, as part of a global organization with exceptional colleagues in world-class facilities. As part of Ford Design, you’ll be at the cutting edge of Ford’s most strategically critical work, designing people and society’s needs into the heart of our next generation of products, services, and experiences.
This position requires demonstrable expertise in automotive road wheel design solutions with strong visual design work, design sensibility, and articulate storytelling. As the Design Manager for Road Wheels, you will be responsible for leading a design team through the entire design and development process for all Ford and Lincoln road wheels, from initial concept to final delivery. You will also build strong relationships with internal vehicle engineering teams and external manufacturing and material partners. You will guide your team through concepting and sketching, designing low to high-fidelity wheel design prototypes, leading workshops, and managing asset production throughout the life cycle of assigned projects, pilots, and research initiatives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in industrial design, Transportation Design, Mechanical Engineering with a strong design focus, or a related field.
• Senior Designer level experience in the automotive industry, a transportation sector supplier, or a design consultancy with a focus on physical products.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite design tools.
• Proficiency with at least one 3D modeling software application (e.g., Alias AutoStudio, Rhino, Blender, CATIA, SolidWorks).
• Proficiency in relevant presentation applications (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, or similar).

Nice To Haves

• 5+ years of Industrial Design or Transportation Design studio work experience, specifically within the automotive or wheel manufacturing industry.
• Exceptional creativity and demonstrated inventiveness towards road wheel features and functional solutions.
• Exceptional ability to translate customer and research inputs into relevant, highly desirable, and feasible road wheel solutions.
• Exceptional communication skills through presentation and storytelling, particularly in conveying design intent for complex physical products.
• Exceptional product design aesthetic sensibilities, with a keen eye for automotive wheel design trends and brand identity.
• Exceptional sketching, visualization, modeling, and presentation skills tailored to automotive components.
• Exceptional 2D application skills (e.g., Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.).
• Exceptional 3D application skills (e.g., Alias AutoStudio, VRED, Rhino, Maya or Blender).
• Demonstrated ability to lead projects and a team of people through the design process in a multidisciplinary team environment, specifically in an automotive product development context.
• Demonstrated ability to build low-fidelity prototypes (e.g., hands-on with foam, clay, 3D printing) and a strong understanding of wheel production methods and prototyping processes (e.g., casting, forging, machining).
• Demonstrated ability to translate design vision into animated story-form through creative use of digital presentation applications (including AI visualization tools).
• Demonstrated ability to develop road wheel design proposals from concept to production.
• Knowledge of materials science and structural requirements pertinent to automotive wheel design.

Responsibilities

• Lead Design Innovation: Drive the creation of novel and unique road wheel designs and technologies that address meaningful problems for customers. Identify design opportunities and actionable concepts that align with user and business needs, Ford and Lincoln design principles, and technical capabilities specific to wheel manufacturing and vehicle integration.
• Subject Matter Expertise (SME) in Prototyping & Design Visualization: Serve as the expert on the team for all aspects of road wheel prototyping and design visualization methods. You will be proficient in initial rough prototyping ("build to learn") with a primary emphasis on physical wheel enablers and materials, iterating design solutions based on customer, user, and system feedback to meet user expectations and deliver successful outcomes.
• Insight-Driven Design Solutions: Be the expert in creating road wheel design solutions that are deeply rooted in customer and user insights, expertly translating these insights into highly desirable and feasible physical wheel products.
• Leadership & Vision: Demonstrate leadership throughout the entire road wheel design process, from inspiration and research to building prototypes and communicating a clear vision. You will lead a team of designers, be accountable for their goals and objectives, leading them to bring to life integrated wheel designs that enhance the digital-physical experiences of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, and inspire project teams to conceive, design, develop, test, and launch impactful new road wheels and related technologies.
• Systems Thinking: Apply systems thinking to road wheel design, ensuring seamless integration with vehicle architecture, performance, and overall brand aesthetic, engaging customers through every touchpoint.
• Stakeholder Collaboration & Communication: Bring clarity and focus through effective communication of road wheel functional needs, aesthetic sensibilities, and manufacturing considerations. You will represent our team in an advanced product development environment, building strong relationships with vehicle engineering, advanced materials, planning, and research stakeholders across Ford and Lincoln.
• Road Wheel Program Strategy & Feasibility: Partner to support the initial design and development of road wheel concepts. You will design and iterate key program applications of wheel design strategies, confirming design and manufacturing feasibility within program constraints for Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

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: Manager
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees