Senior Closures Systems Sealing Engineer

At Ford Motor Company, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Product Creation and Industrialization (PC&I) brings together Ford’s vehicle, electric, digital and design teams with our global manufacturing system. Working as one end-to-end organization, we turn ideas into high-quality vehicles, software and experiences across gas, hybrid and electric, designed around what customers need.

The Senior Closures Systems Sealing Engineer will be a key member responsible for the design, development, and integration of closure mechanisms and primarily sealing for Advanced EV development programs. This role spans the entire product lifecycle, from supporting early concept development and studio feasibility to leading production-level engineering and launch.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and integration of closure sealing systems. Work on dynamic seals (door primary/secondary seals, front/rear end closure seals) and static seals (glass run seals, applique seals, belt seals, glass integration, gaskets, water shields, plugs).
• Act as a senior individual contributor for production-level engineering, making sure sealing component meets demanding water leak, wind noise, dust, closing effort and durability targets for vehicle launch.
• Support early-stage concept development, working closely with Studio Design so that “Class A” surfaces, cut lines and glass layouts leave room for seal packaging, seal paths and appearance requirements.
• Integrate seals into sheet metal and closure environments, providing technical expertise on seal interface design, shaping body/closure to seal requirements, attachment strategies (push-on, clip, adhesive/PSA), and material selection (EPDM, TPV/TPE, PP, Metal Carrier patterns).
• Interpret and use CAE simulation results (nonlinear seal deflection, compression load deflection (CLD), closing effort, contact pressure and aeroacoustics) to optimize seal sections and resolve integration issues before physical prototypes are built.
• Own the CAD and BOM for closure sealing systems, delivering high-quality seal sections, seal paths, molded corners, datum strategies and complete GD&T, with tolerance stack-ups that manage seal gap and compression margin.
• Plan and run sealing validation, including water leak/shower testing, wind noise evaluation, door closing effort and velocity measurement, and environmental durability (heat aging, compression set, ice/freeze). Correlate test results back to CAE and design intent.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in engineering, NVH, manufacturing and purchasing to confirm that seals can be manufactured, assembled and serviced. Support vehicle development milestones and prototype/production build events, diagnosing water leaks, wind noise and closing effort issues on the vehicle and putting fixes in place quickly.
• Manage supplier technical execution, from tool kickoff through extrusion and molding trials to PPAP, so components meet Ford's strict quality and functional specifications.
• Problem-solve launch issues for all sealing interfaces, measure seal gaps, preform chalk traces, trial different part iterations, etc. to integrate solutions.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical, Materials, Polymer Engineering or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• 3+ years of experience owning components through a full vehicle development cycle and launch.
• 4+ years of experience in automotive closures or body sealing, both dynamic and static.
• 4+ years of experience using CAD collaboratively (3DX or CATIA preferred).
• Demonstrated experience designing, validating and releasing seals for water leak, wind noise and closing effort.
• Hands-on experience with sealing validation methods.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage
• Paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• Generous vacation time, sick/personal time, and paid holidays, including between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day