Product Development Engineer - AI-Enabled Innovation

freudenberg; Plymouth (MI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Freudenberg seeks a seasoned mechanical engineer to drive new product development from concept to validation. You will translate market needs into technical requirements and create differentiated engineering solutions.

You will design, prototype, test, and refine products using rigorous engineering methods, while collaborating with manufacturing, quality, and commercial teams to ensure robust, cost-effective designs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, or Robotics.
• 5+ years in product development, design, or related engineering.
• Proven track record leading products from concept to validation.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of new products from concept through prototype validation.
• Translate customer needs into technical requirements and concepts.
• Design, model, prototype, test, and refine products using engineering principles.
• Define validation plans with lab and technical teams to verify performance.
• Collaborate with materials, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and commercial teams.
• Leverage digital engineering tools, coding, automation, and AI workflows to improve outcomes.
• Manage projects, risks, and communicate results to stakeholders.

Skills

3D CAD

Python

AI in engineering

Product design

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Mechatronics/Robotics specialization

Tools

SolidWorks

ANSYS

MATLAB

Finite Element Analysis (FEM)

Job description

Working at Freudenberg: We will wow your world!

Responsibilities:

• Lead the development of new products from concept through prototype validation, applying structured engineering and innovation methodologies.
• Translate customer needs and market opportunities into technical requirements, product concepts, and differentiated engineering solutions.
• Design, model, prototype, test, and refine products and systems using sound engineering principles and data-driven decision making.
• Define and execute validation plans, collaborating with laboratory and technical teams to verify product performance and reliability.
• Partner with materials, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and commercial teams to ensure designs are robust, manufacturable, and cost-effective.
• Leverage digital engineering tools, coding, automation, and AI-assisted workflows to improve productivity, accelerate design iterations, and enhance engineering outcomes.
• Manage technical projects, risks, and deliverables while effectively communicating recommendations and results to customers, leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Robotics Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in product development, new product engineering, mechanical design, or a related engineering function.
• Demonstrated success leading products from concept through design, prototyping, testing, and validation.
• Strong proficiency with 3D CAD, engineering analysis, technical documentation, and product development processes.
• Solid understanding of engineering fundamentals, problem solving, design trade-offs, tolerance analysis, root cause investigation, and data-driven decision making.
• Experience working in a manufacturing environment and collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop innovative products.
• Exposure to coding, engineering automation, Python, AI-enabled engineering tools, or digital engineering workflows, with a passion for leveraging emerging technologies to improve engineering effectiveness.

The Freudenberg Group is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion. Employment opportunities are available to all applicants and associates without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership