Senior Engineer - Fasteners

Magna International•Troy, MI

About The Position

The Senior Engineer - Fasteners leads engineering activities for vehicle body structures, mechanical joints, and fastening and joining systems across complete vehicle programs. The role supports architecture, design, analysis, validation, release, manufacturing readiness, launch, and production issue resolution from prototype through serial production. This position serves as a cross-functional technical lead and specialist, working with OEM customers, design and release engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, contract manufacturers, suppliers, validation teams, and global engineering locations to deliver robust, cost-effective, manufacturable, and reliable solutions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
10+ years of automotive, transportation, aerospace, electronics, or industrial product-development experience, including substantial responsibility for fasteners, mechanical joints, structural connections, and joining systems.
Experience with complete vehicle development, design release, validation, prototype and production builds, manufacturing launch, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.
Demonstrated knowledge of fastening and joining applications across ferrous and non-ferrous stampings, extrusions, castings, composites, adhesives, corrosion-protection systems, and applicable welded structures.
Strong knowledge of bolted-joint theory, torque-tension relationships, mechanical joint design, joint durability, material compatibility, tolerance stack-up, DFM, and GD&T fundamentals.
Proficiency with CAD and PLM tools; CATIA and ENOVIA experience preferred.
Working knowledge of CAE methods and Microsoft Office applications.
Knowledge of applicable fastener standards and vehicle regulations, with the ability to translate requirements into engineering specifications and verification plans.

Nice To Haves

Experience launching a complete vehicle, major subsystem, or fastening and joining system through serial production.
Experience supporting autonomous vehicle, advanced mobility, aerospace, electronics, or other high-reliability product programs.
Exposure to supplier quality, PPAP, Six Sigma, and design-quality methodologies.
Experience guiding technical personnel and coordinating global engineering teams.

Responsibilities

Lead development of fasteners, structural connections, and joining applications against performance, cost, weight, quality, and timing targets.
Develop and review design proposals using set-based engineering, Design for Manufacturing, tolerance stack-up, GD&T, and structured design-quality principles.
Create, review, and release CAD models, engineering drawings, specifications, CAE studies, and configuration-controlled product data through approved PLM processes.
Develop new fastening solutions when commercially available components do not meet technical, packaging, durability, corrosion, or manufacturing requirements.
Select and specify threaded fasteners, rivets, inserts, clips, retainers, adhesives, welded joints, and other joining technologies appropriate to vehicle structures and assemblies.
Perform or coordinate joint strength, clamp load, torque-tension, material compatibility, durability, corrosion, and reliability assessments.
Drive fastener commonality, catalog maintenance, standards, and best practices across applicable vehicle and subsystem programs.
Evaluate alternate components during supply constraints, confirm technical equivalency and compatibility, and support approval, release, and documentation.
Confirm that product performance, regulatory, manufacturing, cost, and timing targets are understood, achievable, and reflected in engineering plans.
Support resource planning, budget development, schedule tracking, technical status reporting, and third-party work-package coordination.
Ensure DFMEA and DVP&R activities address product risks, use cases, verification methods, and project targets; support technical reviews and engineering sign-off.
Lead benchmarking, knowledge capture, continuous improvement, and complex problem solving with cross-functional teams.
Collaborate with advanced manufacturing engineering, contract manufacturers, suppliers, and plant teams to confirm production feasibility, assembly sequence, takt-time capability, first-time quality, ergonomics, and launch readiness.
Provide hands-on support during prototype, validation, pre-production, and production vehicle builds; collect line data and resolve body, joint, fastener, and assembly concerns.
Lead or support containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and implementation using structured methods such as 8D, Ishikawa, and Five Why.
Partner with quality, deployment, operations, and engineering teams to investigate field issues and improve product robustness.
Lead technical touchpoints, milestone reviews, and decision-making with OEM customers, internal engineering groups, global locations, suppliers, and external service providers.
Coordinate with design studio, manufacturing, validation, supply chain, purchasing, and quality to balance appearance, packaging, performance, sourcing, and assembly requirements.
Escalate risks early, document decisions, and maintain clear engineering communication across multiple active programs.