Manager, Studio Engineering

The Manager Studio Engineering  is leading a team of studio engineers and is responsible to provide direction and feasibility studies for the studio design team in the Styling division's interior and exterior commodities. The main responsibility is to create the intersection between his team , design studio and vehicle engineering to make design studio concepts and ideas feasible. The Studio Engineering team is directly linked to exterior and interior designers to guide the designers in technical aspects of the vehicle in the different stages of the vehicle design development.

Key Responsibilities:

Work alongside the engineering, architecture, and product development teams to bring concepts to reality

Responsible for bringing design and engineering together, In the pursuit of turning concepts into production designs, working with an extended team, discovering, and resolving issues, and implementing effective solutions by program timing. Prepare study files with the minimum parameters which will guide the designers and the modelers to create the A surface. In the early stages of the program the studies are focused on defining portfolio and silhouette, vehicle architecture, volume, and proportions, as the program progresses the support continues providing feedback and technical data to define the styling based on the Hardpoints definition.

• Support on Homologation requirements for Both ECE and FMVSS standards, including but not limited to lighting, vision, and safety.
• Processing engineering feedback to see if the surfaces need to change
• Evaluate the surface in a detailed form and overlay it with the engineering data developed and shared by engineers, hard points, identify the areas where the styling surface does not meet basics, volume and proportion, ergonomic requirements, minimum thickness, draft angles, safety criteria so the output is to provide details where the surface needs to change to align with the technical specifications.
• Challenge where we believe the change can be improved in design favor
• Create new proposals to evaluate the ones that meet the styling preferences and propose solutions to achieve the design incorporating regulations, cost, program assumptions, manufacturing process, bill of assembly ease of manufacture, etc. All of these can be challenges but the impact needs to be understood​
• Broad knowledge of whole vehicle packaging and all a-surface areas to challenge others, creating different scenarios to understand the variants, costs, and engineering constraints.
• Identify manufacturing strategies that enable the design vision, as well as advise on considerations required for common automotive manufacturing process
• Create and develop master sections for Interiors and Exteriors
• Creator of initial master sections for the designers to visualize parameters
• Collaborate with engineering teams to collect the the stake holder’s inputs
• Align master sections with hardpoints and identify the most critical areas for Studio and how these requirements will impact the Design concept and or theme.
• Design and Support prototypes, ergonomic and clay bucks
• Lead activities related to any A surface modifications
• Collect the engineering data and share what is the most critical for the upcoming deliverable to the modeler team
• Create study files with previous programs parts that simulate the Design intent when there is not an available design yet
• Collect all stakeholders and attributes feedback on studio engineering proposals to eventually get them implemented as plan of record.
• Lead Commodity Convergence meetings to get agreements between Studio Design and Engineering in a work-level stage.
• Organize and lead Upper management Convergence meetings when there are different options and discrepancies exist between Studio Design and Engineering, so the information is collected and presented to get the Program team Senior’s directions and decisions.
• Provide innovative engineering solutions to support Studio Design concepts trough experience and benchmarking
• Run studies taking into account the main competitors with a similar architecture and attributes
• Analyze OEMs executions and compare with Studio Design’s proposals
• Create graphics and schemes to summarize what are the pros and cons of the executions proposed by Studio Design
• Run comparison and analyze materials, costs, manufacturing process and customer trends.
• Provide Design surface status to the Program team
• Highlighting the hard points that need to be prioritized to solve them in A Surface and align with the program timing.
• Give an overall status to the Program Team Seniors in each state of the program for both Exteriors and Interiors.
• Present and lead presentations from cross functional up to executive level

Team Leadership Experience:

• Experience in leading teams
• Strong communication skills and clear goal and expectation setting
• Ability to manage change effectively
• Develop team strengths and identify areas for improvements
• Ensure that program timelines are met
• Oversee team performance and provide guidance and support
• Conflict resolving and strong decision making skills 

Qualifications:

• Minimum 8 years +  experience in a Studio Engineering team or similar field
• Bachelor's or Masters degree in engineering such as automotive, vehicle, applied or industrial design
• Excellent team and people leading skills
• Advanced Proficiency in CAD / 3DX
• Strong understanding of kinematics, rendering, simulations e.g. vision assessments, reflections and SPEOS, Knowledge of data management and security
• Deep knowledge how  vehicle and customer requirements are integrated into the vehicle and understanding of requirements balancing processes.

Project management skills:

• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail and ability to propose creative solutions
• Excellent communication and teamwork abilities internal and cross functional
• Experience and knowledge in prototype building
• General knowledge of manufacturing methods and constraints E.g. injection molding, sheet metal pressing etc. 
• Confident in challenging the status quo 
• Advanced knowledge of analytical options decision processes e.g. decision matrices, SWOT analysis, risk assessments, root cause analysis
• Comfortable in a fluid job role and proactive in nature