Principal Automotive Cost Engineer​/Consulting Lead

This posting represents an advanced recruiting initiative to identify highly qualified candidates or consultants for a strategic engineering role within our European division. While immediate hiring may vary based on business timing, we are proactively building a pipeline of top-tier talent to support upcoming client engagements and growth initiatives.

Role Summary
The Principal Automotive Cost Engineer / Consulting Lead is a senior, client-facing role responsible for delivering advanced manufacturing and component-level cost intelligence to global automotive manufacturers across the United States, EMEA, and APAC regions
. This position supports both solution development and ongoing client delivery
, working with geographically distributed client teams to drive consistent, high-quality outcomes across regions.
The role leads consulting engagements that span component and commodity cost estimation
, Design-for-Manufacturing (DFM),
Design-to-Cost (DTC), sourcing strategy, and lifecycle cost optimization. In parallel, the position serves as a technical and strategic leader for Galorath Automotive Consulting Solutions
, integrating Galorath’s cost-engineering platforms into client workflows, enabling global client teams through training and advanced support, and contributing to industry thought leadership.
The successful candidate is effective operating at part-level technical detail and executive decision altitude
, while supporting global delivery, regional adoption, and continuous improvement of Galorath solutions worldwide.

Core Responsibilities

Client Consulting & Cost Engineering Delivery

• Lead automotive consulting engagements focused on:
  • Manufacturing and assembly cost estimation
  • Component and commodity-level should-cost analysis
  • DFM/DFA and Design-to-Cost initiatives
  • Sourcing strategy, make/buy analysis, and supplier negotiations
• Develop defendable, transparent cost models across:
  • Individual parts and sub-assemblies
  • Component families and commodities
  • Systems, platforms, and vehicle programs
• Support cost-informed decisions from early concept and design through launch and steady-state production.

• Build and maintain cost models for automotive components and commodities
  , including:
  • Materials (metals, plastics, composites, electronics, textiles, etc.)
  • Manufacturing processes and routings
  • Purchased parts and supplier-provided assemblies
• Establish and normalize:
  • Material cost tables
  • Process and cycle-time assumptions
  • Regional labor and overhead benchmarks
• Perform comparative cost analysis across:
  • Design alternatives
  • Suppliers and sourcing regions
  • Manufacturing processes and levels of automation
• Support purchasing and supply-chain teams with target costing, cost breakdowns, and negotiation support.

• Partner with Engineering to evaluate cost impacts of:
  • Design changes
  • Material substitutions
  • Tolerance and specification decisions
  • Manufacturing process selection
• Identify primary cost drivers and communicate tradeoffs clearly to engineering, manufacturing, finance, and program leadership.
• Influence decisions before cost is locked into the design.

• Lead implementation and integration of the SEER suite (e.g., SEER-MFG, SEER-H, SEER-3D, SEER-SEM) into client environments.
• Configure and calibrate cost models aligned to:
  • Client manufacturing realities
  • Data availability
  • Decision maturity
• Provide advanced technical support to clients, including:
  • Model validation and troubleshooting
  • Assumption development and refinement
  • Executive interpretation of results
• Act as a feedback conduit between clients and Galorath product teams to inform roadmap and feature evolution.

• Apply and…