Closures Engineering Lead

Who we are

Meet the team

Roles & Responsibilities

• Own the technical roadmap and product delivery for Glydways door and closure systems, including structures, mechanisms, rails, latches, seals, actuators, sensors, interfaces, electrical & electronic systems, and related software.
• Translate vehicle-level requirements into closure-system requirements, architectures, design decisions, verification plans, and acceptance criteria.
• Lead the design and integration of complex mechanisms, including kinematics, actuator selection, latch and hinge integration, packaging, tolerance definition, and interface management.
• Drive cross-functional alignment across mechanical, electrical, software, systems, product, safety, validation, manufacturing, quality, industrial design, and operations teams.
• Coordinate technical work with external engineering, manufacturing partners and suppliers, across Japan, the United States, and Europe.
• Lead prototype builds, vehicle integration, durability testing, root-cause investigations, design iterations, and production-readiness activities within a demanding development and build schedule.
• Anticipate manufacturing, assembly, service, quality, reliability, and cost challenges through design-for-manufacturability and design-for-assembly practices.
• Establish effective processes for requirements, issue tracking, design reviews, change management, documentation, and decision-making.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Significant experience developing automotive closures or complex mechanical and electromechanical systems through multiple product-development stages; sliding-door experience is highly valuable.
• Strong understanding of mechanism design, kinematics, actuators, latches, hinges, seals, tolerance management, design verification, and reliability.
• Experience collaborating with suppliers, manufacturing partners, and cross-functional teams in automotive, mobility, robotics, aerospace, or a similar complex-product environment.
• Strong communication, organization, judgment, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently in an ambiguous and rapidly changing international and multicultural environment.
• Experience taking a closure system or complex mechanism from concept through sourcing, validation, production, and launch.
• Working knowledge of design for manufacturability, design for assembly, GD&T, tolerance analysis, FMEA, and quality-planning methods.
• Experience with CATIA, 3DX, or comparable CAD and PLM tools, at least DMU-level proficiency; experience using CAE tools for product development is a plus.
• Professional fluency in English; Japanese language skills are a plus.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally, including extended collaboration or assignments in Japan and the United States, as business needs require.
• Glydways provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.