Sustainable Polymer Specialist

In this position

Ford's Materials, Process, Structures & Safety team within Ford's Research and Advanced Polymer Technology Department. The department's focus is to anticipate and innovate for current and future plastics and polymer needs to support Ford Motor Company at all levels. The group comprises a multidisciplinary team of researchers in mechanical engineering, material science, chemical engineering, and polymer chemistry from PhD level experts to laboratory technicians.

This role is focused on development and implementation of sustainable polymer technologies to deliver enhanced features and performance while improving cost and quality for our vehicles.

At Ford Motor Company, we believe freedom of movement drives human progress. We also believe in providing you with the freedom to define and realize your dreams. With our incredible plans for the future of mobility, we have a wide variety of opportunities for you to accelerate your career potential as you help us define tomorrow's transportation. Ford's Research and Advanced Engineering team explores new vehicle and societal innovations that require some level of invention before they can be applied to our products and services. The team is building on a history of Ford innovation. We are seeking to fill an exciting opportunity as a Research Engineer to be a leader in polymer sustainability.

What you'll do

• Execute and maintain polymer sustainability strategic roadmap.
• Drive implementation of critical sustainable polymer technologies into vehicle programs.
• Interface with PD, Purchasing, Materials Engineering, and Suppliers to identify gaps and prioritize applications with opportunities to deliver sustainable solutions.
• Collaborate with internal Polymers team to align research project portfolio to address now, near, and far needs.
• Develop database and utilize modeling techniques to identify separation and recycling technologies that maximize environmental benefits while minimizing cost levels.
• Develop internal workflow with digital tracking tools for LCA and product carbon footprint.
• Collaborate and align with Ford's Environmental & Sustainability organization on corporate sustainability target setting and tracking.
• Maintain global benchmarking related to sustainability strategies of other OEMs.
• Partner with external suppliers and consortia to create value chain infrastructure for polymer waste collection, separation, recycling, and recovery.
• Communicate and present polymer research sustainability goals and accomplishments to internal and external audiences that are dedicated to the global automotive sustainability initiative.

What you'll do

• Execute and maintain polymer sustainability strategic roadmap.
• Drive implementation of critical sustainable polymer technologies into vehicle programs.
• Interface with PD, Purchasing, Materials Engineering, and Suppliers to identify gaps and prioritize applications with opportunities to deliver sustainable solutions.
• Collaborate with internal Polymers team to align research project portfolio to address now, near, and far needs.
• Develop database and utilize modeling techniques to identify separation and recycling technologies that maximize environmental benefits while minimizing cost levels.
• Develop internal workflow with digital tracking tools for LCA and product carbon footprint.
• Collaborate and align with Ford's Environmental & Sustainability organization on corporate sustainability target setting and tracking.
• Maintain global benchmarking related to sustainability strategies of other OEMs.
• Partner with external suppliers and consortia to create value chain infrastructure for polymer waste collection, separation, recycling, and recovery.
• Communicate and present polymer research sustainability goals and accomplishments to internal and external audiences that are dedicated to the global automotive sustainability initiative.