When you join Daimler, you become an agent of change within our global community of people working to create a cleaner, safer, and more efficient world for today and tomorrow. Through innovation at all levels, our teams ensure our world-changing brands continue to increase the quality of life and the business success of our customers, their customers, and the world around them. The Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) brand portfolio is second to none, and includes Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Detroit engines and components, Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner Custom Chassis.

We are the undisputed leader in the commercial vehicle market and the industry’s technology trendsetter. Empowered by purpose, DTNA employees drive a Technology Revolution through innovative products and a customer-centric culture. Our dedication to our customers and society does not end once our products hit the road. That’s because we believe that business success and social responsibility go hand in hand. We immerse ourselves in our customer’s experience, and support the environmental responsibilities of our sites to ensure our products are the reliable, sustainable and the desired tools of the future.

Job Overview

Mechatronics combines mechanical engineering, controls engineering, software design, electronic hardware, sensors and electrical harnesses. In a dynamic and collaborative global engineering environment, this leadership role will drive the development of electronic control units and features essential for enabling vehicle operation. The manager will lead and develop the mechatronics design team by applying leadership principles in the workplace: purpose, empowerment, and agility, driven to win, pioneering spirit, co-creation, learning and customer orientation.
 
Our ideal candidate is obsessed with innovation, dreams to contribute to more sustainable transportation solutions in the school bus industry and is committed to increase safety on the roads.  If that sounds like you- come share the future of pupil transportation with us!
 
In this position, you will create a foundation and roadmap for integrating safety and communication technology to production school buses that are safe, reliable, serviceable and competitive in the market.  You will work across engineering disciplines to build consensus for common electrical architecture features and the rollout for the next generation of school buses.  This is an emerging area in pupil transportation and the right person will drive Thomas Built Buses' success by helping our engineering department, customers, and network adopt the new vehicles into their operations. 

Responsibilities
- Daily Duties Include - Leading and reviewing team progress for assigned functional activities.

- Setting and aligning project goals including priorities e.g. budget, master schedules and resources.

- Creating development schedules.

- Resource allocation and development.

- Evaluating design development, maturity and quality of features and components.

- Creating and monitoring team key process indicators (KPIs).

- Managing the team’s production support activities.

- Providing technical guidance over area of responsibility.

- Strategic Duties Include - Analyzing customer needs, market conditions and technical trends to develop effective long-range technical roadmaps and implementation plans to deliver the best products in the market.

- Develop robust and cost effective technologies through active participation in product engineering groups and regional development teams.

- Professional development for self and personnel.

- Identify areas of professional and technical improvement for department staff.

- Provide coaching, mentoring and training to staff.

- Provide opportunities that offer new challenges for team members.

- Establish collaborative processes and clear cross-departmental roles and responsibilities with partner organizations.

- Electrical Engineering and Mechatronics at Freightliner Custom Chassis, Detroit Diesel and DTNA; Product Validation Engineering, Purchasing, Manufacturing Operations, Service, Changeover and Quality.

- Continuously improve competitive market position by keeping abreast of state of the art developments in the commercial vehicle industry and applying knowledge to new designs.

- Co-Create innovative solutions and demonstrate good judgement when working with suppliers, purchasing, manufacturing operations and quality in the product development process.

- The manager will be a functional and strategic leader providing a balance between empowerment and direction of the team. You will direct, plan, and lead the development and electrical integration of specialty vehicle systems and subsystems,  communication and controls modules, and associated body features across multiple product lines.

- Create a Customer Focused Culture by providing responsive assistance to internal and/or external customers with issues or inquiries.

- Drive innovation, development and the continuous improvement of designs, processes, and personnel within the department.

- Provide leadership and strategic planning regarding engineering estimates, lifecycle management and risk management in the setting and achievement of  goals aligned with company expectations

- Develop and mature standards, templates and specifications to increase consistency, replicability, and efficiency for departmental improvement activities

- Lead development and launch of safety and communication systems, both hardware and software, for all product lines including functional safety requirements (FSR) and technical safety requirements (TSR) including design confirmation analysis ( DFMEA, Fault Tree, etc.)

- Lead contact between Sales/Marketing/Product Planning & Strategy interfacing to define scope, imperatives of budget, resources, investment and operations impact reviewing product definition, feature mapping and architectural impact.

- Chair and assess Technical Bid Reviews and Department Design Reviews