Cost Engineer - Body Closures

Description

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Warren, MI three times per week or other frequency dictated by the business.

The Role

The Cost Engineer is responsible to create, analyze and validate component material costs and targets. The cost engineer will be responsible for generating detailed material cost estimates that encompass both piece price estimations and production tooling estimations. Collaboration with key internal cross functional peers is essential. The selected candidate will have a working relationship with the product engineering team, the purchasing and supply chain team, the vehicle program team, our global teams, and to an extent the external component supply base.

This role involves a high level of independent judgment, initiative, creativity, and the management of multiple estimates that focus specifically on identifying accurate cost estimates as well as proposed cost reductions. The cost engineer will have exposure to the next generation of automotive vehicles while working with leading edge automotive experts and technologies.

• Analyze, organize, and understand large amounts of data.
• Possess comprehensive knowledge of manufacturing processes, including regional differences and assumptions.
• Actively partner with the internal GPSC purchasing team to provide fair yet competitive component costs for GM.
• Occasionally travel domestically to supplier facilities for enhanced costing collaboration and support of specific engineering and purchasing teams.
• Support the assigned GM SMT from a tooling and piece price perspective.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field.
• 3-5 years of experience in automotive cost estimating, manufacturing, product design/engineering, or purchasing.
• Financial evaluation skills and understanding of production processes.
• Knowledge of automotive industry trends, including new technologies, autonomous driving, and electrification.
• Ability to condense and communicate cost data efficiently to the GM team.
• Analytical skills to solve unique and complex problems using data-driven analysis.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills for building relationships with global team members and cross-functional peers.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerBI; ability to learn GMCO$T software.
• Willingness to travel up to 10% (domestic and international).

• Master's degree in Business (MBA), Technical Management, or Engineering.
• Experience in developing supplier component quotes for OEMs.
• Manufacturing or launch experience in an automotive setting (OEM, tier 1 or tier 2).
• Broad knowledge of BIW and closure stamping processes, weld line, and assembly manufacturing, including metal forming, coating/painting, carbon fiber, SMC, and general assembly.
• Understanding of manufacturing technical cost factors (material, labor, burden) and commercial factors (SG&P, logistics, capital recovery).