Weld Engineer

General Motors LLC; Lansing (MI); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors LLC is seeking a Welding Engineer to provide daily technical support for body shop welding, dispensing, and joining systems. The role drives improvements in safety, quality, cost, and productivity while supporting launches and current production across North America.

The engineer will troubleshoot equipment, lead verification activities, and coach maintenance and production teams to improve troubleshooting capability and standardized work.

Qualifications

• Three or more years in manufacturing engineering or welding engineering, with automotive experience.
• Strong knowledge of body shop welding, joining processes, tooling, and equipment troubleshooting.
• Familiarity with weld verification procedures, documentation, and plant support.
• Ability to read CAD drawings and mechanical diagrams; understanding of welding standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide daily technical support to maintenance, quality, and production teams across welding systems.
• Lead weld verification, qualification, and validation activities for launches and current production.
• Coach trades and plant personnel to improve troubleshooting and standardized work.
• Develop and maintain welding and dispense procedures, data sheets, and change requests.

Skills

Analytical skills

Critical thinking

Problem-solving

Project management

Multitasking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor of Science in Welding Engineering

Tools

FANUC robots

WTC weld controllers

Teamcenter

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Description

The Role

The Welding Engineer provides daily technical support to Maintenance, Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, and Production teams across body shop welding, fastening, sealing, and adhesive systems. This role supports current production and vehicle launches by troubleshooting equipment and process issues, leading weld verification and qualification activities, applying GM standards, coaching skilled trades, and driving improvements in safety, quality, cost, and productivity.

What You’ll Do

Plant and Launch Support

Support body shop vehicle launches and current production from prototype builds and tryouts through system validation, integration, startup, launch, and production. Provide technical direction during equipment integration, debug, troubleshooting, and resolution of weld and dispense quality issues. Support Process Tryouts (PTRs), new-part builds, weld verification, qualification, deviation testing, and program testing. Work with Manufacturing Engineering, Product Integration, Manufacturing Architects, Quality, Maintenance, skilled trades, suppliers, laboratories, and plant operations to deliver manufacturing readiness and stable production across North America. Support off-shift repair follow-up and provide rotational coverage as required.

Welding, Dispense, and Joining Technical Support

Troubleshoot welding and dispense equipment failures and process issues with Maintenance and Quality teams; implement and verify corrective actions. Coach and develop maintenance team members and other plant personnel to improve troubleshooting capability. Support compliance with Process Control Plans, GM Welding and Joining Standards, Manufacturing Requirements, and applicable plant procedures. Develop, implement, and improve common welding systems, specifications, standards, and manufacturing requirements. Review product designs and CAD information for resistance-welding and joining-process compliance. Support the Body Shop weld teardown team by investigating discrepancies and non-conformances, coordinating follow-up, and documenting closure. Adjust body dispense systems to address identified body leak-test findings in partnership with Quality Control Engineering. Drive continuous improvement in welding and dispense performance, safety, quality, cost, productivity, and standardized work.

Technical Systems and Process Scope

• Resistance spot welding for steel, aluminum, and advanced high-strength steels.
• Laser welding, laser brazing, MIG brazing, and plasma arc brazing.
• Projection nut and stud welding.
• SCA Schucker dispense systems and camera monitoring systems.
• Mechanical clinch nut and self-piercing rivet applications.
• FANUC robotic welding systems and WTC weld controllers.
• TPW resistance-welding and TPS dispense monitoring systems.
• Raft gateway WTC weld-controller software, including weld schedule updates as required.

Validation, Data, and Documentation

Develop welding parameters and processes and execute organized validation projects when standardized work is not yet available.

Conduct and document weld evaluations, including mechanical testing, microscopy, microhardness, metallography, scanning electron microscopy, and other laboratory or supplier testing as needed.

Generate, review, and close Welder Miscompare and Dispense Miscompare reports.

Maintain weld and dispense schedules, equipment-maintenance validation records, discrepancy databases, and supporting documentation in accordance with ILM requirements.

Update Weld Tool Information Sheets and Weld Process Data Sheets and maintain them in SharePoint with HMS support.

Generate and distribute Manufacturing Change Requests (MCRs) to update welding and dispense records.

Capture lessons learned, digitize weld data, and support data-based identification of repetitive issues.

Support ISO and GMS audits for welding and dispensing-related requirements.

Safety and Collaboration

Follow all plant safety policies and regulations and consistently demonstrate safe behaviors. Serve as a technical resource for Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, skilled trades, Production, suppliers, and plant leadership. Communicate technical issues, recommendations, status, training, and approvals clearly across functions and cultures. Estimate cost and timing, support funding and approval activities, and coordinate implementation of new technologies and process improvements.

Required Qualifications

At least three years of experience in manufacturing engineering, welding engineering, or a related technical discipline, including experience with automotive welding technology or manufacturing operations.

Strong knowledge of automotive body shop equipment, resistance welding, gas metal arc welding, joining processes, tooling, and equipment troubleshooting.

Understanding of weld verification procedures, weld documentation, build-shop support, and the mechanical and electrical systems used in welding processes.

Knowledge of welding and dispense standards and the ability to apply them to plant-floor processes.

Ability to read and interpret CAD drawings, mechanical-system diagrams, wiring and hose diagrams, and vehicle product designs.

Strong analytical, critical-thinking, problem-solving, project-management, multitasking, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Ability to create and execute validation plans, solve complex welding and joining issues, and develop practical solutions when established methods are unavailable.

Strong verbal and written communication skills, including technical documentation, training, status reporting, and stakeholder facilitation.

Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Office, Teams, Teamcenter, and standard manufacturing software applications.

Ability to travel internationally and support vehicle launches, suppliers, and assembly plants across North America.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor of Science degree in Welding Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.

Experience programming FANUC robots and WTC weld controllers.

Experience applying resistance spot welding to advanced high-strength steels and aluminum alloys.

Experience with weld-fixture design, waterjet cutting, machining, weld coupon fabrication, and common manufacturing processes.

Experience with metallographic sample preparation, Keyence microscopy, microhardness testing, scanning electron microscopy, and MTS tensile or fatigue testing.

Experience with Miyachi ADAM weld-monitoring systems, Simufact welding simulation, CAD programs, and digital weld databases.

Knowledge of GM Welding and Joining Standards, Process Control Plans, Manufacturing Requirements, Global Engineering Processes, and body shop troubleshooting or plant support.

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).

This role is categorized as onsite. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location on a full-time basis. Relocation benefits are available for candidates who qualify under company policy.

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