Senior Industrial Designer

Canopy•Detroit, MI

10h

About The Position

Join Canopy, a Ford-backed company developing advanced threat detection and security products for Ford vehicles. Our mission is to help eliminate vehicle and contents theft through next-generation consumer hardware, aftermarket connectivity and AI-driven security solutions. As part of the Canopy team, you’ll help solve one of today’s most pressing vehicle security challenges, building intelligent hardware products that protect customers, their vehicles and the equipment they rely on every day. As a Senior Industrial Designer, you’ll play a central role in defining the next generation of vehicle security products for Ford. Sitting within the Hardware team, you’ll be involved throughout the product development process, shaping the hardware design language and end-to-end customer experiences from concept through to mass production.

Requirements

5–7+ years’ experience in industrial design, with a strong track record of developing physical products from concept through to production.
A bachelor's or master's degree in Industrial Design or related field or equivalent experience.
A strong portfolio of hardware product design work, showing how you think through user needs, technical constraints, product form, and manufacturability.
Exceptional 2D and 3D design skills, with expertise in sketching, digital rendering, 3D CAD (Solidworks preferred) and rapid prototyping to develop clear, compelling hardware concepts.
Strong visual and verbal communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to turn complex ideas into clear design narratives that help align design, engineering, product and leadership teams.
Deep understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, and Design for Manufacturability (DFM).
The ability to work through ambiguity, with strong problem-solving skills, sound judgement and the ability to make clear recommendations while balancing customer experience, technical feasibility, cost, quality and manufacturing realities.
A collaborative, hands-on working style, with experience managing multiple complex workstreams in a fast-paced product development environment.
A willingness to support and develop others, mentoring junior and mid-level designers through feedback, reviews and day-to-day collaboration.

Responsibilities

Drive the industrial design work for Canopy’s next-generation vehicle security hardware, developing innovative product solutions from early concept exploration through to prototyping, validation and mass production.
Translate complex technical capabilities and engineering constraints into clear, compelling hardware experiences, working closely with AI, sensing, electrical, mechanical and embedded software teams to understand our technical challenges and opportunities.
Integrate advanced sensors, processors and bespoke ML models into products that remain intuitive, useful and customer-centered.
Champion a customer-centered design approach, partnering with Ford and internal stakeholders to run user research and prototype testing, ensuring our design work responds to customer insights and delivers a frictionless experience for our customers and their vehicles.
Create and communicate design direction through sketches, CAD, prototypes, renders and design narratives that help align Canopy Engineering and Ford Product teams around the right product decisions.
Support the transition from prototype to mass production, working with internal engineering teams, suppliers and manufacturers on CMF and product quality expectations to protect design intent through to launch.