Project Journey Resident Engineer at Ford®

Job description

Description As the Resident Engineer – Automatic Transmission Launch & Localization , you will represent Product Development onsite at a new manufacturing facility producing automatic transmissions. You will provide technical leadership throughout equipment commissioning, pre-production builds, production validation, launch, ramp-up, and ongoing production. You will also lead regional Product Development activities associated with localization of components and assemblies. The position combines two closely related areas of accountability: Resident engineering leadership for the transmission manufacturing operation. Regional Product Development leadership for component localization and implementation. You will work closely with regional and global transmission engineering teams to ensure localized products, manufacturing changes, supplier proposals, validation activities, and production approvals meet applicable engineering, functional, durability, quality, and manufacturing requirements. The role reports to the Product Development General Manager for Underbody Systems in Chennai , with a matrix reporting relationship to the Global Rear-Wheel-Drive Transmission Manager . Responsibilities Serve as the onsite Product Development technical representative Act as the primary Product Development interface between the transmission plant and regional and global engineering organizations. Represent Product Development in decisions related to product engineering, manufacturing feasibility, quality, production readiness, and launch. Interpret engineering drawings, specifications, design requirements, validation results, and product acceptance criteria. Connect plant concerns with the appropriate Product Development, Design and Release, systems engineering, manufacturing, quality, supplier, and vehicle engineering owners. Establish productive working relationships with plant leadership, engineers, manufacturing personnel, suppliers, and regional and global Product Development teams. Support plant launch and production readiness Provide onsite engineering support during installation, commissioning, pre-production builds, production validation, launch, ramp-up, and ongoing production. Support applicable prototype, development, validation, tooling-trial, pre-production, and production builds. Coordinate engineering disposition of build concerns and ensure unresolved risks have defined owners, containment actions, and closure plans. Support transmission and component approval for regional vehicle builds and vehicle assembly plants. Lead or support Product Development reviews for Production Validation, part approval, production sign-off, and Ok-to-Ship decisions. Identify emerging product and manufacturing concerns early and escalate issues requiring regional or global engineering support. Capture launch lessons learned and support the transition to stable production. Lead technical problem solving Lead Product Development response to transmission and component concerns identified at the plant. Determine whether concerns originate from product design, supplier quality, manufacturing processes, assembly execution, specifications, or interactions among these areas. Lead structured root-cause analysis using appropriate problem-solving methods and coordinate interim and permanent corrective actions. Review end-of-line test results, process audit data, component measurements, transmission build history, teardown findings, and other engineering evidence when assessing product acceptability. Support investigation of plant concerns, vehicle assembly plant concerns, field/warranty returns, and transmission teardowns. Ensure significant technical issues are documented, tracked, escalated, and driven to verified closure. Manage engineering changes and plant concerns Initiate, review, approve or reject, track, and close engineering concerns within delegated authority. Coordinate implementation of engineering changes at the transmission plant and affected r