Lighting Value Optimization Engineer

About the Role

We are seeking a proactive Value Optimization Engineer – Lighting & Restraints to drive total cost management, design efficiency, and competitive benchmarking across vehicle exterior/interior lighting and occupant restraint systems.

In this role, you will lead Value Analysis / Value Engineering (VA/VE) initiatives to identify design simplification, mass reduction, process optimization, and material cost-out opportunities without compromising quality, safety, or regulatory compliance. You will partner with Product Engineering, Purchasing, Manufacturing, and Tier-1 suppliers to transform tear-down insights and engineering ideas into validated, production-ready cost savings for lighting (headlamps, tail lamps, ambient lights) and restraints (airbags, seatbelts, sensors).

Key Responsibilities

• VA/VE Idea Generation: Lead competitive tear-downs, design benchmarking workshops, and cross-functional brainstorming sessions to identify design optimization and cost-reduction proposals for lighting and restraint systems.
• Technical & Financial Feasibility: Evaluate the engineering, manufacturing, and financial feasibility of proposed changes, conducting business case analyses (tooling investment vs. piece-cost savings, mass impacts, payback period).
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Design Release Engineers (DREs), Systems Engineers, Purchasing, and Manufacturing teams to gain technical buy-in and shepherd cost-out ideas through implementation gates.
• Supplier Optimization: Work with Tier-1 lighting and safety restraint suppliers to analyze cost drivers (material selection, manufacturing processes, part consolidation, sub-tier components) and drive joint value-creation projects.
• Validation & Compliance Tracking: Coordinate with validation teams to ensure value optimization changes maintain full compliance with FMVSS/ECE safety standards (FMVSS 108 for lighting, FMVSS 208/209 for restraints) and internal functional requirements.
• Plant & Workshop Execution: Travel to assembly plants and supplier facilities to evaluate physical part-fitment, line-assembly efficiency, and verify implementation during running engineering changes.

Qualifications & Skill Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience: Minimum 3+ years of automotive engineering experience, specifically within Value Optimization, VA/VE, Design for Cost, or Product Engineering for lighting or safety restraint systems.
• System Domain Knowledge: Strong technical understanding of automotive lighting (LED drivers, optical lenses, housing construction) or restraint systems (airbag module construction, inflators, seatbelt mechanisms, sensor mounting).
• Cost Modeling & CAD: Exposure to product cost estimation, shoulder-cost modeling, and 3D CAD platforms (CATIA V5/V6 or Siemens NX) for evaluating packaging, section changes, and part consolidation feasibility.
• Analytical Skills: Demonstrated proficiency in business case preparation, trade-off analysis, mass-versus-cost optimization, and engineering change management.
• Travel Flexibility: Willingness and capability to travel 20%–35% to support supplier teardowns, plant reviews, and engineering optimization workshops.

Preferred Qualifications

• Formal training in VA/VE, Value Management (SAVE International), or Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFMA).
• Prior experience managing cross-functional cost-down tracking boards or cost-reduction program pipelines in PLM systems.