Exterior Lighting Engineer: CAD to Launch

Ford; Dearborn, Northern (MI, KY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 166,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vehicle discount program for employees

Tuition assistance

Paid time off and holidays

Paid time off for community service

Employee resource groups

Job summary

Ford Exterior Lighting Engineer role targets a recent graduate or early‑career engineer to develop into a lighting Design & Release engineer. You will learn how exterior lighting systems are designed, packaged, validated, released, and launched while collaborating with experienced engineers, suppliers, studio, software, electrical, purchasing, manufacturing, supplier quality and quality teams.

The ideal candidate has CAD fundamentals, strong problem‑solving skills, and a demonstrated interest in

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or related field.
• 0–2 years of engineering experience, with interest in automotive product development.
• CAD design skills for preliminary design work, package studies, section development, or similar engineering design activities.
• Automotive background through a co‑op, internship, Formula SAE, Baja SAE, senior design project, or other hands‑on vehicle‑related experience.
• Basic understanding of engineering design, testing, problem solving, and documentation.
• Ability to work with suppliers and cross‑functional teams with coaching and guidance.
• Strong communication, ownership, curiosity, and willingness to learn in a fast‑paced engineering environment.
• Self‑starter who can work independently, seek guidance when needed, and follow through on assigned responsibilities.
• Ability to apply engineering fundamentals to design tradeoffs and technical issue resolution.

Responsibilities

• Systems Engineering for Exterior Lighting
• Generate and execute technical solutions for Exterior Lighting components to support new vehicle programs
• Support engineering evaluation, problem solving, and data analysis for exterior lighting components
• Learn how vehicle, regulatory, appearance, optical, electrical, software, manufacturing, and quality requirements are translated into exterior lighting designs
• Develop preliminary CAD design proposals, package studies, section reviews, and conceptual CAD models with guidance from experienced engineers
• Work cross‑functionally to implement cost savings, product improvements, and to support prototype and production build activities
• Support supplier technical discussions, design reviews, CAD/data reviews, issue resolution, and launch readiness activities
• Balance attributes such as cost, weight, complexity, and timing
• Production release of Exterior Lighting systems, subsystems, components, and features
• Support validation readiness through DFMEA, DVP&R, inspection/testing review, functional assessments, and corrective action tracking
• Core requirement and technology development
• Communicate information to and from internal and external organizations
• Lead team meetings (suppliers, designers, engineers, manufacturing, supplier quality, etc.)
• Travel as required (including international)

Skills

CAD design

Problem solving

Communication

Teamwork

Autonomy

Education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical or Electrical or related field

Tools

CATIA

Teamcenter/TCE

3DX

WERS

FEDEBOM

Job description

Ford Exterior Lighting Engineer role targets a recent graduate or early‑career engineer to develop into a lighting Design & Release engineer. You will learn how exterior lighting systems are designed, packaged, validated, released, and launched while collaborating with experienced engineers, suppliers, studio, software, electrical, purchasing, manufacturing, supplier quality and quality teams.

The ideal candidate has CAD fundamentals, strong problem‑solving skills, and a demonstrated interest in