Key Responsibilities

• Strategy Development & Implementation: Develop and execute a comprehensive part commodification strategy from first principles. Create the roadmap, design guidelines, and governance processes to enforce commonality across all engineering teams.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Act as the central point of contact for all part commonality initiatives. Collaborate closely with Design, Body, Chassis, Powertrain, Electrical, Purchasing, and Manufacturing teams to gain consensus and drive adoption of common components.

• BOM & Data Analysis: Perform in-depth analysis of vehicle BOMs, CAD data, and cost models to identify high-potential candidates for commodification (e.g., fasteners, brackets, sensors, modules, motors).

• Business Case Development: Create compelling business cases for commonality projects, clearly articulating the expected savings in part cost, tooling investment, and engineering validation hours. Present your findings and recommendations to senior leadership.

• Technical Feasibility Studies: Lead technical deep dives to ensure that proposed common parts meet all functional, performance, and regulatory requirements for every application without compromise.

• Supplier Collaboration: Work with the procurement team to align the commonality strategy with supplier capabilities, ensuring a robust and cost-effective supply chain for standardized parts.

• Performance Tracking: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of the program, such as the percentage of common parts per vehicle, total cost savings, and reduction in part number count.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related field.

• 3+ years of experience in automotive product development, with a proven track record in a design and release role at an OEM or Tier-1 supplier.

• Direct, hands-on experience with part standardization, value engineering (VA/VE), or cost reduction initiatives. You must be able to provide specific examples of your past success.

• Deep understanding of the vehicle development process, from concept to launch.

• Strong proficiency in analyzing complex Bills of Materials (BOMs) and navigating Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems (e.g., TeamCenter).

• Familiarity with CAD software (e.g., CATIA, NX) for design reviews and analysis.

• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively across multiple engineering disciplines.

• Knowledge of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) principles.

• Experience with vehicle systems in multiple domains (e.g., Body-in-White, Closures, Interior, Electrical).

• Data analysis skills using tools like Excel or Tableau to process and visualize large dataset.