Technical Expert - Suspension Structural Component Design

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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.

Technical Expert (LL6) position leading the technical design, development, and in‑house process delivery for Suspension Structural Components (stampings, castings, and forgings) in Ford Vehicles. The main role of this position will be to develop and deliver an in‑house design process, executing engineering, manufacturing feasibility, and tooling optimization.

• Lead the development and delivery of an in-house design and manufacturing process for suspension structural parts.
• Develop and maintain the Suspension Structural Component internal engineering foundation documents including design guides, design rules (DR’s), requirements (RQTs), and interface contracts/agreements.
• Create and manage Level 2 technical materials including Process FMEAs, control plans, safe launch control plans, and sub‑component BOMs.
• Lead Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) feasibility reviews prior to tool kickoff, ensuring designs align with tool design specifications, plant equipment compatibility, and normal process capability limits.
• Drive in‑house manufacturing process simulations (e.g., stamping formability, casting solidification, forging flow) to optimize structure and ensure manufacturing process feasibility.
• Lead OK to tool process with BTP supplier including approving steel purchase, rough cut, and finish steps.

• Conduct test facility correlation study between Ford test facility (DV) and BTP supplier facility (PV) to ensure proper validation of the structure per core ES at both locations.
• Develop component and assembly GD&T for in‑house designs and sign‑off program prints for BTP structural parts.
• Support prototype development process with program teams on BTP parts.
• Manage the data collection and capability analysis for Significant/Critical Characteristics (SC/CC), calculating Ppk to ensure pre‑production and production capability requirements are met.
• Lead demonstrable process optimization trials and Design of Experiments (DOE) to confirm manufacturing processes are optimized.
• Develop comprehensive APQP plans, conduct OK‑To‑Build and OK‑To‑Ship reviews, and oversee gauge R&R trials, including the review and sign‑off of gauge and check fixture designs.
• Lead root cause analysis and problem resolution (8D, JIRA) for dimensional, processing, and manufacturing quality issues during launch, DV/PV testing, and production.
• Lead System‑Level Integration:
  Direct the system‑level development and integration of advanced active suspension systems, including ECU development, sensor integration, and electronically controlled dampers.
• Technical Specification & Design Control:
  Define system design guidelines, perform rigorous specification reviews, and author system‑level Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) covering signal I/O, control modes, and hardware/software interfaces.
• Chassis Technology Roadmap Alignment:
  Guide the development of next‑generation chassis technologies, including active dampers, air springs, and electronic roll control systems, ensuring alignment with future vehicle architecture glide paths.