Vehicle Launch Engineer - Body Exteriors

Workplace: On-site, 5 days per week.
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Salary: $105,000-130,000

You will be a key contributor within a world class automotive body exterior engineering team, responsible for driving exterior systems from design intent through prototype builds, pilot, and job one at the assembly plant. This role sits at the intersection of design release, manufacturing, and quality, and owns the launch readiness of exterior commodities including fascias, claddings, moldings, spoilers, roof systems, glazing, ornamentation, and sensor apertures. You will be the exteriors team's on the ground presence during build events, translating engineering intent into repeatable plant execution and closing issues fast enough to protect program timing.
 
Responsibilities: 
    • Own launch readiness for assigned exterior commodities across all build phases, from early prototype and integration builds through pilot, pre-production, and start of production
    • Lead build event support at the assembly plant and prototype shop, including part staging, first time build documentation, issue capture, containment, and daily issue review
    • Serve as the primary interface between exterior DREs, plant vehicle team, manufacturing engineering, STA, and quality on part availability, buildability, and process capability
    • Drive root cause and corrective action on exterior fit, finish, gap and flush, squeak and rattle, water leak, and craftsmanship findings discovered during build and validation
    • Manage the exterior launch issue list, prioritize by program risk, and drive closure through design change, tooling change, or process change with clear ownership and timing
    • Support tolerance and dimensional strategy execution, including fit to nominal execution, locator and datum verification, gap and flush measurement, and correlation of variation studies to build results
    • Assess molded part conditions against the tool and the process, connecting observed defects back to gating, flow, cooling, wall thickness, and tool condition, and drive the corresponding supplier or tooling action
    • Coordinate part readiness with suppliers and purchasing, including tooling maturity, PPAP status, off tool and off process part timing, and escalation of at risk parts
    • Support DFM and DFA reviews on exterior components and assemblies, providing manufacturing and assembly feedback into the design during the release window
    • Track and report launch metrics and readiness status to program leadership, including open issue burn down, part readiness, and quality gate performance
    • Support engineering change execution during launch, verifying change implementation in the plant and confirming effectiveness on subsequent builds
    • Participate in buck reviews, teardown events, and vehicle audits, documenting findings and driving them into the appropriate engineering or manufacturing lane
 
Required Skills:
    • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Automotive Engineering, or equivalent experience
    • 5+ years of automotive engineering experience with direct involvement in vehicle launch, prototype builds, or plant side product engineering
    • Hands on experience with exterior body commodities such as fascias, bumpers, claddings, moldings, spoilers, glazing, or ornamentation
    • Demonstrated personal ownership of launch issue resolution, including root cause analysis, corrective action, and cross functional escalation, with specific issues the candidate can walk through from discovery to verified closure
    • Applied command of dimensional fundamentals, including GD&T, datum and locator strategy, degrees of freedom and over constraint, tolerance stack up, and dimensional measurement methods. Candidates should be able to define a locating scheme and work a stack up live rather than describe them in general terms
    • Working knowledge of injection molded plastics as they behave at build, including gating and flow, shrink and sink, warpage, and the difference between off tool and off process parts
    • Familiarity with automotive product development milestones and launch gates, including prototype build phases, PPAP, and production validation
    • Experience working directly with suppliers on tooling maturity, part quality, and delivery recovery
    • Ability to operate credibly and communicate clearly with plant floor personnel, engineers, suppliers, and program leadership under launch timing pressure
    • Ability to start with minimal ramp up and work independently
    • Located in the Louisville, KY area or willing to relocate, with the ability to work on site daily and to support extended hours and weekend coverage during build phases
 
Bonus Skills:
    • Prior in plant launch experience at an OEM, including first build support, issue tracking, and containment decisions made in real time
    • Prior experience launching an electric vehicle program or a new nameplate at a greenfield or low volume plant
    • Experience with Ford or other OEM launch processes and terminology
    • Proficiency with CATIA V5, 3DEXPERIENCE, Siemens NX, or Teamcenter
    • Experience with dimensional and quality tools such as CMM data interpretation, blue light scanning, checking fixture use, or variation simulation analysis
    • Exposure to exterior sensor apertures, sensor cleaning systems, or ADAS related exterior integration and the launch challenges they introduce
    • Background in Class A surface quality, paint and film processes, or adhesive and fastening systems
    • Experience managing issue tracking systems such as Jira or equivalent in a launch environment
 
Salary Range:
    • $105,000-$130,000
    • The actual salary offered is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, location, the candidate’s combination of job-related knowledge, qualifications, skills, education, training, and experience