Technical Expert – Structures Safety

Ford Motor Company • Allen Park, MI

5h • $132,800 - $250,800 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Technical Expert, Structures Safety, leads the development, analysis, validation, and optimization of vehicle structural crashworthiness performance across all phases of vehicle development. The role provides technical leadership for vehicle body structure, load-path architecture, battery protection systems, and crash energy management, balancing safety performance with cost, mass, manufacturability, and program timing.

As the subject matter expert for structural crash safety, this position works closely with Design, CAE, Testing, Manufacturing, Vehicle Engineering, and Regulatory Compliance teams to deliver vehicles that meet or exceed global safety requirements and customer expectations. The role leads crashworthiness strategy, structural development, nonlinear crash simulation, physical-test validation, cross-functional technical decisions, and innovation in future vehicle and battery architectures. It also mentors engineers and serves as the organization's recognized technical authority for crashworthiness structures.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a related field.
• 10 or more years of experience in vehicle crashworthiness, structural safety, or automotive CAE.
• Extensive experience with nonlinear finite element analysis and crash simulation.
• Strong knowledge of vehicle structures, body-in-white design, and crash energy management.
• Experience with LS-DYNA, Hyper Mesh, ANSA, Primer, or equivalent CAE tools.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical projects and influencing engineering decisions.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Expertise in EV architecture, high-voltage battery protection, and structural battery systems.
• Experience supporting global vehicle development programs.
• Knowledge of materials, manufacturing processes, and structural optimization techniques.
• Experience presenting technical recommendations to executives and chief engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead crashworthiness strategy and technical direction for vehicle programs from concept through production.
• Act as the organization's technical authority for structural crash safety performance.
• Develop safety architecture concepts for frontal, side, rear, and pedestrian impact requirements.
• Mentor and coach engineers in crashworthiness analysis, testing, and design development.
• Establish engineering best practices, methodologies, and standard work procedures.
• Develop and optimize vehicle structures to meet global regulatory and consumer information test requirements.
• Lead development of crash load paths, occupant compartment integrity, and energy absorption systems.
• Drive structural solutions for body-in-white, front-end architecture, side structures, floor systems, and battery protection.
• Ensure robust integration between vehicle structure, restraint systems, and occupant safety performance.
• Provide technical leadership for EV structural battery pack crash protection and high-voltage system safety.
• Lead advanced nonlinear finite element simulations using LS-DYNA and related CAE tools.
• Conduct crashworthiness assessments for frontal, side, rear, and pedestrian impact scenarios.
• Perform root-cause investigations of safety performance concerns and drive corrective actions.
• Develop correlation methodologies between CAE predictions and physical test results.
• Use DOE, optimization, and sensitivity studies to identify high-value design improvements.
• Support crash test planning, execution, and post-test investigations.
• Lead vehicle teardowns and performance assessments following physical testing.
• Correlate structural deformation, intrusion, load paths, and failure modes with simulation results.
• Drive lessons learned and continuous improvement initiatives from test results.
• Recommend design countermeasures to achieve safety objectives.
• Collaborate with Vehicle Engineering, Design Studio, Manufacturing, Materials Engineering, and Supplier teams.
• Influence vehicle architecture decisions to improve safety performance early in development.
• Support executive reviews by communicating technical risks, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Work with regulatory and homologation teams to ensure compliance with global requirements.
• Lead technical discussions with suppliers, testing laboratories, and external partners.
• Develop innovative structural concepts to improve crashworthiness performance.
• Evaluate emerging materials, manufacturing processes, and safety technologies.
• Drive patent generation and intellectual property development.
• Support future vehicle platform and battery architecture development initiatives.
• Benchmark competitor vehicles and industry best practices.
• Drive technical excellence, innovation, and engineering best practices.
• Develop and mentor future technical experts.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, and subsidized back-up 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.
• Established and active employee resource groups.
• Paid time off for individual and team community service.
• 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: Senior