Product Manager- Customer Engineering; Automotive

Overview

Location:

United States (CA / TX preferred)

Employment Type:

Full-Time Department:
Product Management / Customer Engineering

Reports To:

Director of Sales / Head of North America Travel Requirements:
Up to 20-30% domestic and international travel

We are seeking a strategic and highly technical Product Manager, Customer Engineering to serve as the critical bridge between our OEM customers, product definition teams, and engineering execution. In this pivotal role, you will connect customer needs, product vision, and technical execution to translate ambiguous customer intent into concrete product reality and production readiness. You will be the primary technical interface for our automotive clients, ensuring that our solutions in glass, optics, and exterior systems not only meet but exceed their stringent requirements.

By combining strong business acumen with deep engineering knowledge, you will drive early engagement, shape product architecture, and guide cross-functional teams from initial concept through to Start of Production (SOP).

• Customer Engagement & Opportunity Development
  • You will build and nurture strong, trust-based relationships with OEM Engineering, Purchasing, and Design Studio teams. By identifying key decision-makers and driving early technical engagement, you will position our company as a preferred partner. Your primary objective in this area is to deeply understand customer pain points and future vehicle architectures, converting these insights and customer needs into formal RFQs and securing design win opportunities.
• Product Definition & Technical Interface
  • As the technical authority for your product lines, you will lead comprehensive product definition, encompassing optical performance, mechanical integration, and overall system architecture. You will drive complex technical discussions with customers, acting as the definitive voice of the product. A crucial part of this responsibility involves translating ambiguous or high-level customer inputs into clear, actionable engineering requirements that our internal development teams can execute against.
• New Product Introduction (NPI) & Program Execution
  • You will take ownership of the product lifecycle from concept through execution. This includes managing prototype builds, tracking development milestones, and ensuring on-time delivery of critical project phases. You will coordinate and lead cross-functional teams—spanning R&D, manufacturing, quality, and sales—to ensure alignment and mitigate risks throughout the development process.
• Supply Chain & Industrialization
  • Ensuring that a product can be manufactured at scale is as important as its design. You will support the sourcing of critical materials and components required for your product lines. Furthermore, you will partner closely with factory teams to validating feasibility from the initial concept phase all the way through to SOP, ensuring quality and cost targets are met.
• Strategic & Competitive Intelligence
  • Beyond immediate customer needs, you will monitor the automotive landscape to identify emerging trends in exterior systems, optics, and EV architectures. You will analyze competitor offerings and market shifts to inform our long-term product roadmap, ensuring our solutions remain innovative and highly competitive in the North American market.

• Education:
  
  Bachelor’s degree in Design Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience:
  
  Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in product management, customer engineering, or technical program management within the automotive industry.

• Extensive experience working with Automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, or EV manufacturers.
• Demonstrated expertise with automotive glass, optics, lighting, or exterior systems is highly preferred.
• Proven track record of collaborating with OEM Design Studio teams and navigating the complex approval processes of automotive design.
• Deep understanding of the full automotive product lifecycle, including Proof of Concept (POC), New Product Introduction (NPI), and Start of…