Senior Electronics Cost Estimator

Senior Electronics Cost Estimating Engineer

Flex-N-Gate is a leading manufacturer and supplier of components for the automotive industry, recently ranked 10th of the 150 Top North American Suppliers in "Automotive News." A growing and vital company, Flex-N-Gate provides a great opportunity for hard-working and skilled individuals.

The Senior Electronics Cost Estimating Engineer is the corporate subject matter expert for electronics cost estimating, design-to-cost architecture, and competitive electronics benchmarking. This role leads the electronics technical and cost-estimating activities associated with new customer RFQs, engineering changes, awarded programs, competitive teardowns, and reverse-engineering studies. The engineer reviews customer RFQ packages, identifies and interprets applicable electronics requirements, and works with assigned Electronics and Systems Engineers to develop the lowest-cost compliant electronic architecture, preliminary schematic, and costed electronic Bill of Materials (eBOM).

The position requires a senior-level electronics engineer who can move between requirements analysis, system architecture, circuit design, component selection, Altium schematic/eBOM development, component costing, PCB/PCBA manufacturing cost analysis, supplier engagement, reverse engineering, and management-level cost communication. The engineer serves as the primary Electronics Engineering interface between Engineering, Purchasing, global manufacturing teams, and the electronics supplier base for cost and quotation activities.

This engineer is expected to lead estimating work streams, guide supporting engineers, challenge unnecessary cost and architecture complexity, apply lessons learned from teardown activities, and provide technically defensible cost estimates - often under aggressive RFQ timing, including occasional turnaround requirements of less than 24 hours.

1. RFQ Design-to-Cost Architecture
- Translate customer requirements into the lowest-cost practical electronics architecture, schematic, and eBOM.

2. Electronics Cost Estimating
- Own component, PCB, PCBA, manufacturing, and total electronics cost estimates; align engineering estimates with hard quotes.

3. Program Cost Management
- Maintain current costed eBOMs, perform design-vintage cost walks, identify cost drivers, and lead cost-reduction recommendations.

4. Competitive Benchmarking & Reverse Engineering
- Reverse engineer benchmark designs, estimate their cost, identify architecture lessons learned, and feed findings into future designs.

• Review customer RFQ packages, specifications, drawings, interface documents, network files, validation requirements, and customer technical requirements to determine the electronics content required for quotation.
• Identify and interpret quote-driving electronics requirements including power and transients, connector and pinout requirements, LED performance and derating, driver architecture, CAN/CAN FD/LIN communications, diagnostics, EMC/EMI/ESD, microcontroller and software needs, thermal requirements, PCB/PCBA construction, customer-directed components, functional safety/cybersecurity considerations, programming, end-of-line testing, and validation requirements.
• Translate customer requirements into a practical electronic architecture suitable for preliminary schematic development and cost estimation.
• Identify missing, conflicting, or ambiguous customer requirements and coordinate technical clarification with the appropriate internal or customer-facing teams.
• Lead architecture decisions with a focus on achieving all applicable customer requirements at the lowest practical recurring and non-recurring cost.

• Develop or lead the development of preliminary electronics schematics for new RFQs and design studies.
• Work directly with assigned Electronics Engineers and Systems Engineers to create quote-level circuits and architectures.
• Use Altium Designer to develop, review, and modify electronic schematics and generate eBOMs.
• Review major functional blocks including power input/protection, voltage regulation and conversion, LED drivers, microcontrollers, vehicle communication interfaces, diagnostics, thermal monitoring, connectors, EMC/ESD protection, LEDs, and supporting passive components.
• Review architectures for unnecessary component count, excess capability, underutilized channels, oversized PCB requirements, avoidable interconnects, and other design-to-cost opportunities.
• Guide supporting engineers toward standardized, reusable, and cost-efficient architecture solutions where appropriate.

• Own the development and publication of internal electronics cost estimates for new RFQs, design studies, and major engineering changes.
• Assign accurate component pricing to engineer-generated eBOMs using direct supplier quotations, Purchasing-negotiated pricing, approved internal pricing, distributor/market pricing, and…