Plant Vehicle Engineering Lead, Structured Problem Solving

Plant Vehicle Engineering Lead, Structured Problem Solving

At Slate, we're building safe, reliable vehicles that people can afford, personalize and love—and doing it here in the USA as part of our commitment to reindustrialization. The spirit of DIY and customization runs throughout every element of a Slate, because people should have control over how their trucks look, feel, and represent them.

Slate is looking for a hands-on Plant Vehicle Engineering Lead, Structured Problem Solving to support launch readiness, production quality, chronic issue resolution, and continuous improvement across the Slate manufacturing plant. This role will serve as the Plant Vehicle Engineering team's expert in structured problem solving, root cause analysis, variation reduction, corrective action validation, and defect elimination across vehicle systems and production processes.

This role serves as a technical problem-solving leader between the manufacturing plant, Plant Vehicle Engineering, Design & Release Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Suppliers, Production, Safety, Vehicle Integration, Service, and other cross-functional teams. The position focuses on solving complex and recurring plant issues, coaching teams through disciplined root cause analysis, protecting product intent in production, and improving build quality through data-driven problem solving.

This role does not own production release of individual component designs. It is responsible for leading high-priority investigations, developing problem-solving strategies, validating permanent corrective actions, improving issue resolution capability, and building structured problem-solving discipline across Plant Vehicle Engineering and the broader manufacturing organization.

Structured Problem Solving Leadership

• Lead complex, cross-functional root cause investigations for launch, production, quality, supplier, and vehicle integration issues affecting build quality, throughput, safety, or customer satisfaction.
• Apply advanced structured problem-solving methods such as Six Sigma, Shainin Red X, 8D, Kepner-Tregoe, 5-Why, fishbone analysis, hypothesis testing, DOE, measurement system analysis, and statistical analysis as appropriate.
• Develop clear problem definitions, investigation strategies, evidence plans, measurement plans, containment strategies, corrective actions, and validation plans.
• Serve as a technical coach to Plant Vehicle Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, Supplier Quality, and Design & Release teams on disciplined problem solving and root cause methodology.

Production Issue Resolution

• Investigate, diagnose, and resolve high-impact production issues related to fit/function, craftsmanship, process variation, installation quality, dimensional concerns, electrical interfaces, torque requirements, component interfaces, and system integration.
• Analyze production data, audit findings, repair trends, warranty/service feedback, supplier concerns, end-of-line results, and plant feedback to identify risks, trends, and improvement opportunities.
• Lead or support containment, clean points, breakpoints, suspect material management, deviation/waiver decisions, and validation of permanent corrective actions.
• Ensure problem-solving activity results in durable fixes that improve first-time quality, reduce rework, eliminate recurring defects, and strengthen production robustness.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Design & Release Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Production, Suppliers, Safety, Vehicle Integration, Service, and plant leadership to resolve plant and vehicle-level concerns.
• Communicate issue status, risks, containment plans, corrective actions, validation results, breakpoints, and support needs to affected teams and leadership.
• Translate plant learnings into product and process improvements that improve manufacturability, serviceability, quality, safety, and launch readiness.
• Support escalation and decision-making for high-risk issues, including safety-critical characteristics, no-build/no-ship situations, containment effectiveness, and corrective action readiness.

Engineering Change & Launch Support

• Support launch build phases from prototype and pilot through production ramp, including issue triage, prioritization, root cause investigation, containment, break point management, readiness reporting, and lessons learned.
• Support engineering change implementation by helping teams validate problem statements, technical risk, build trial results, process readiness, and corrective action effectiveness.
• Participate in Design for Manufacturing and Assembly reviews, PFMEA input, control plan reviews, quality readiness reviews, and launch lessons learned.
• Help identify systemic risks across commodities, processes, and interfaces before they become repeat issues in production.

Capability Building & Continuous Improvement

• Build structured problem-solving capability across the Plant Vehicle Engineering team through coaching,…