Prototype Development Engineer

Prototype Development Engineer

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Ford's Electric Vehicles, Digital and Design (EVDD) team is charged with delivering the company's vision of a fully electric transportation future. EVDD is customer-obsessed, entrepreneurial, and data-driven and is dedicated to delivering industry-leading customer experience for electric vehicle buyers and owners. You'll join an agile team of doers pioneering our EV future by working collaboratively, staying focused on only what matters, and delivering excellence day in and day out.

Join us to make positive change by helping build a better world where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams.

In this position... As a Prototype Development Engineer, you will be the bridge between conceptual design and physical reality. You will own the design, build, integration, commissioning, and maintenance of critical electrical test assets, including advanced Labcars, HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) benches, test fixtures, prototype support equipment, and related EV development assets. This is a high-impact, hands-on role where you will collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and technicians to ensure our next-generation electric vehicle (EV) architectures can be built, tested, validated, and iterated quickly.

You will not just maintain hardware; you will develop test assets from the ground up, including CAD/layout, BOM creation, purchasing support, technician-ready build documentation, electrical test integration, debug, commissioning and final documentation.

What you'll do...

Test Asset Design & Build: Own the development of physical electrical test assets from concept through commissioning, including fixtures, racks, carts, panels, enclosures, brackets, harness routing, and lab/test hardware packaging.

CAD / Layout Ownership: Create CAD layouts, mechanical packaging concepts, drawing packages, and build-to-print documentation using CATIA, 3

DEXPERIENCE, Solid Works, NX, Creo, Inventor, AutoCAD, EPLAN, or similar tools.

BOM, Purchasing & Build Readiness: Develop complete BOMs, identify parts and alternates, support sourcing and purchasing, coordinate vendors or internal procurement processes, and ensure parts are available to support build timing.

Electrical Test Integration: Integrate power supplies, electronic loads, DAQ, NI/PXI/cDAQ hardware, oscilloscopes, meters, signal conditioning, instrumentation, safety interlocks, wiring, harnessing, and electrical interfaces into physical test assets.

Asset Bring-Up: Support the development, commissioning, and maintenance of Labcars, HIL benches, prototype vehicles, and related EV test assets.

Technical Execution: Perform and oversee component installation, complex wiring, harness fabrication/debugging, module software flashing, and network debugging (CAN, LIN, Automotive Ethernet).

System Diagnostics: Troubleshoot and triage complex electrical, mechanical packaging, software integration, wiring, signal, communication, grounding, and hardware issues during build events and commissioning.

Strategic Testing & Validation: Develop comprehensive test strategies to validate full-system functionality; perform regression testing to ensure system stability and performance consistency across hardware and software iterations.

Technician Direction: Direct technicians during fabrication, wiring, assembly, installation, and commissioning; inspect builds against design intent; capture redlines and drive design changes required after first build.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Interface with Systems Integration, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Prototype Operations, technicians, purchasing, and vendors to identify design changes between build phases and support iterative development cycles.

Field Support: Provide hands-on support during prototype build events, test asset deployment, fleet management activities, and off-site testing (requires travel).

Documentation: Maintain rigorous records of module status, hardware revisions, BOM maturity, installed components, configuration status, commissioning results, operating instructions, maintenance information, and integration maturity to provide clear visibility to stakeholders.

You'll have...

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Mechatronics, Computer, Software Engineering or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.

Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience in hardware development, test asset design, test equipment build, prototype development, HIL/lab systems, board bring-up, vehicle systems engineering, or manufacturing test environments.

Test Asset Ownership: Demonstrated experience designing, building, commissioning, or supporting physical test assets such as…