We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.
Join us in shaping the future of Ford Motor Company, as part of a global organization with exceptional colleagues in world-class facilities. As part of Ford Design, you’ll be at the cutting edge of Ford’s most strategically critical work, designing people and society’s needs into the heart of our next generation of products, services, and experiences.
This position requires demonstrable expertise in automotive road wheel design solutions with strong visual design work, design sensibility, and articulate storytelling. As the Design Manager for Road Wheels, you will be responsible for leading a design team through the entire design and development process for all Ford and Lincoln road wheels, from initial concept to final delivery. You will also build strong relationships with internal vehicle engineering teams and external manufacturing and material partners. You will guide your team through concepting and sketching, designing low to high-fidelity wheel design prototypes, leading workshops, and managing asset production throughout the life cycle of assigned projects, pilots, and research initiatives.
What you'll do...
- Lead Design Innovation: Drive the creation of novel and unique road wheel designs and technologies that address meaningful problems for customers. Identify design opportunities and actionable concepts that align with user and business needs, Ford and Lincoln design principles, and technical capabilities specific to wheel manufacturing and vehicle integration.
- Subject Matter Expertise (SME) in Prototyping & Design Visualization: Serve as the expert on the team for all aspects of road wheel prototyping and design visualization methods. You will be proficient in initial rough prototyping ("build to learn") with a primary emphasis on physical wheel enablers and materials, iterating design solutions based on customer, user, and system feedback to meet user expectations and deliver successful outcomes.
- Insight-Driven Design Solutions: Be the expert in creating road wheel design solutions that are deeply rooted in customer and user insights, expertly translating these insights into highly desirable and feasible physical wheel products.
- Leadership & Vision: Demonstrate leadership throughout the entire road wheel design process, from inspiration and research to building prototypes and communicating a clear vision. You will lead a team of designers, be accountable for their goals and objectives, leading them to bring to life integrated wheel designs that enhance the digital-physical experiences of Ford and Lincoln vehicles, and inspire project teams to conceive, design, develop, test, and launch impactful new road wheels and related technologies.
- Systems Thinking: Apply systems thinking to road wheel design, ensuring seamless integration with vehicle architecture, performance, and overall brand aesthetic, engaging customers through every touchpoint.
- Stakeholder Collaboration & Communication: Bring clarity and focus through effective communication of road wheel functional needs, aesthetic sensibilities, and manufacturing considerations. You will represent our team in an advanced product development environment, building strong relationships with vehicle engineering, advanced materials, planning, and research stakeholders across Ford and Lincoln.
- Road Wheel Program Strategy & Feasibility: Partner to support the initial design and development of road wheel concepts. You will design and iterate key program applications of wheel design strategies, confirming design and manufacturing feasibility within program constraints for Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
