Technical Specialist, Mechatronics

Ford • Dearborn, MI

13d • $115,500 - $218,100 • Hybrid

About The Position

Product Development uses design thinking & user experience methods to deliver breakthrough products and services that delight our customers. We bring innovative, exciting, and sustainable ideas to life. We have opportunities around the world for you to contribute to advancements in autonomy, electrification, smart mobility technologies, and more! At Ford, the Vehicle Hardware Engineering teams are using Design Thinking & User Experience methods to deliver breakthrough products and services that will delight our customers. Our employees are laser-focused on bringing innovative, exciting, and sustainable ideas to life. From autonomy and electrification to smart mobility technologies, our teams around the world are working together with excitement to make smart vehicles for a smart world.
In this position, we are seeking a Technical Specialist, Mechatronics to serve as the subject matter expert for the robust design, validation, integration, and production performance of closure-related electronic modules and subsystem interfaces. This role provides technical leadership across closure features such as door and window systems, liftgates, tailgates, frunk and interfaces such as hood mechanisms, latches, actuators, switches, sensors, and others.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10 or more years of progressive engineering experience
• 3+ years of experience with engineering requirements, validation planning, design validation, DFMEA, Design Rules, technical documentation, and evidence-based issue resolution.
• 3+ years of proven ability to lead complex technical reviews with suppliers, internal engineering teams, manufacturing teams, quality teams, and program stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of closure system interfaces, including mechanical mechanisms, electronic modules, sensors, actuators, switches, software interactions, wiring, and vehicle-level integration.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and communicate technical topics clearly to leadership and working-level teams.
• Recognized technical leadership experience in body, closure, enclosure, or electronic module systems.
• Experience mentoring engineers, creating technical training, and deploying best practices across multiple vehicle programs.
• Experience supporting supplier technical assistance, manufacturing launch, design verification, quality actions, and customer concern resolution.
• Demonstrated ability to drive continuous improvement, apply lessons learned, and strengthen corporate engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, maintenance, and deployment of Ford closure electronic module and subsystem design requirements, ensuring best practices are applied across applicable closure features and module designs.
• Define and document technical requirements for materials, environmental exposure, durability, electrical interfaces, mechanical interfaces, architectural compatibility, and system-level robustness.
• Establish clear design expectations for closure-related modules and interfaces such as sensors, actuators, switches, latches, cinching or power open-close features, window lift systems, liftgates, tailgates, frunks, hoods, and related interfaces.
• Review early program assumptions to identify unique noise factors, customer usage patterns, quality history concerns, and potential failure mode risks.
• Lead the electronic module assembly validation requirements process, including definition of validation expectations for electrical performance, mechanical stresses, environmental exposure, and system interactions.
• Own and maintain corporate validation documents, module validation best practices, and closure subsystem validation guidance for use across programs and engineering teams.
• Audit physical test data, CAE evidence, Design Rules, requirement compliance evidence, and program-level verification artifacts at key milestones.
• Confirm that testing meets Ford standards, corporate requirements, Design Rules, and applicable program-specific validation needs.
• Support technical reviews with module suppliers to confirm compliance with closure subsystem design, validation, assembly, and manufacturing requirements.
• Collaborate with Supplier Technical Assistance, module core engineering, component engineering, system engineering, manufacturing, and vehicle program teams to resolve requirement compliance, configuration, function, and assembly validation issues.
• Drive data-based audits and deep dives at key vehicle program milestones to evaluate closure subsystem design maturity, evidence quality, and production readiness.
• Troubleshoot closure feature behavior, customer concerns, functional issues, module configuration concerns, and interface-related failures across mechanical, electrical, and software boundaries.
• Document failure modes, root causes, corrective actions, and lessons learned to improve future design requirements, validation methods, quality history, and engineering standards.
• Lead cross-product communication of closure system design and manufacturing best practices, including updates to technical documentation and corporate knowledge repositories.
• Develop and deliver training, seminars, mentoring, and technical coaching for design and release engineers, module engineers, supplier-facing teams, and cross-functional stakeholders.

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: Senior