This position will use your expertise to expand the scope of Design Quality (AAR) across the entire vehicle development timeline. You will act as the voice of the customer for Perceived Quality Color and Materials from product concept to production. The role will fuse consumer science, branding and subjective attributes with established design and production quality techniques to deliver a world beating product – and you will be at the heart of it.

The mission of our team is to overdeliver on every aspect of the customer experience. You will be instrumental in achieving this goal for Design Quality and will be fully empowered by the Ford Advanced EV organization to achieve the best possible results. This role will exposure to the highest levels of leadership within the organization and present many opportunities for development.

Within Craftsmanship our objective is to curate the sensory ‘handshake’ which bonds customer to product via emotional connection. In achieving this goal you will get involved in all aspects of the color and materials development process, from initial scoping - benchmarking / target setting and content alignment, through to cosmetic standard development, component quality approval and color harmony on final product.

Required:

Bachelor's in Engineering, Product / Industrial / CMF / Automotive Design or technical discipline, Masters preferred. Or equivalent experience.  5+ years' experience with Design Quality, Mastering, Craftsmanship or Perceived Quality Standards at a global Automotive company Strong understanding of material impact on overall craftsmanship and perceived quality Proven technical knowledge and ability to collaborate with engineering, design, manufacturing, and suppliers Knowledge of various materials and decoration techniques (plastic, paint, leather/vinyl/fabrics, etc.) Knowledge of texturing processes and applications Knowledge of automotive components (interior/exterior) and relevant terminology Must pass a Munsell Hue Test with Superior Discrimination Must be willing to travel 10-20%

Preferred: 

Experience with Automotive product Marketing or Consumer Research Experience working in a manufacturing/production environment

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a leadership level 6.
For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/LL6SP4

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.
Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

Onsite work of up to three days per week may be required for candidates within commuting distance of a Ford hub location.

What you'll do

You will lead Perceived Quality evaluations for Color and Materials, assessing customer insight data, trends analysis, completing benchmarking and market spec assessments and generating targets and requirements to support your attribute,

You will be responsible for developing the process for alignment of the Color and Material specification on our vehicle projects, coordinating inputs from Color and Material Design, Marketing, Engineering and Programme, whilst also yourself acting as the voice of the customer for Perceived Quality. You will own the formal specification documentation which the whole team will use to understand the project intent.

You will lead the virtual phase development team to ‘build in’ Design Quality, ensuring that design solutions deliver best in class execution capability for all components including injection moldings, cut and sew, paint and films.

Entering the launch phase you will be responsible for setting the bar with respect to quality standards and requirements for Design Quality, ensuring that supplier sourced and internally produced components and assemblies meet the highest levels of competitiveness and meet world class standards.

As components are nearing approval you will engage closely with the color harmony process, defining and verifying requirements for our products, and collaborating with the Core Development and Manufacturing teams to uphold exacting standards of execution throughout production.