Thermal Test Engineer

We made history and now we work to transform the future - for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Product Creation and Industrialization (PC&I) brings together Ford's vehicle, electric, digital and design teams with our global manufacturing system. Working as one end-to-end organization, we turn ideas into high-quality vehicles, software and experiences across gas, hybrid and electric, designed around what customers need.

In this position...

Join our dynamic and agile team pioneering Ford's EV future. As a Thermal Test Engineer, you will be the person who proves our thermal management system works in the real world.

Be the one who proves it works. Your test plans, instrumentation, and data will be the final word on whether our thermal system meets its targets - validating the sizing and tuning our engineers designed and signing off the attributes that let our vehicles perform in the harshest real-world conditions.

What you'll do...

• You will own the planning, readiness, and execution of vehicle-level thermal testing, and deliver the data that validates system sizing/tuning and closes attribute signoff.
• Thermal Sizing/Tuning Validation: Plan and execute vehicle-level tests that validate thermal system sizing and tuning against targets, correlating results back to system models.
• Test Planning & Readiness: Develop comprehensive thermal test plans, including objectives, conditions, instrumentation, and success criteria, and drive test readiness so vehicles, facilities, and data systems are prepared ahead of each event.
• Vehicle Scheduling: Manage the allocation and scheduling of thermal test vehicles across competing program needs, ensuring the right vehicle configurations are available when required.
• Test Trip Planning: Plan and coordinate test trips and proving-ground events (logistics, timing, routes/conditions, and on-site execution) to capture the environmental extremes the thermal system must meet.
• Vehicle Chamber Scheduling: Book and coordinate environmental/climatic chamber and wind-tunnel time, sequencing test matrices to make efficient use of constrained facility capacity.
• Vehicle Instrumentation & Planning: Define and oversee thermal instrumentation of test vehicles (thermocouples, pressure/flow sensors, data acquisition), ensuring sensor placement, channel counts, and DAQ setup deliver the data quality the test objectives require.
• Data & Reporting: Process, analyze, and clearly report test results to program stakeholders, flagging risks to targets and supporting the decisions that follow.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the subsystem owners, Controls Engineers, and test technicians to align test content, and partner with the Thermal Technical Program Manager on test timing and critical-path milestones.

What you'll do...

• You will own the planning, readiness, and execution of vehicle-level thermal testing, and deliver the data that validates system sizing/tuning and closes attribute signoff.
• Thermal Sizing/Tuning Validation: Plan and execute vehicle-level tests that validate thermal system sizing and tuning against targets, correlating results back to system models.
• Test Planning & Readiness: Develop comprehensive thermal test plans, including objectives, conditions, instrumentation, and success criteria, and drive test readiness so vehicles, facilities, and data systems are prepared ahead of each event.
• Vehicle Scheduling: Manage the allocation and scheduling of thermal test vehicles across competing program needs, ensuring the right vehicle configurations are available when required.
• Test Trip Planning: Plan and coordinate test trips and proving-ground events (logistics, timing, routes/conditions, and on-site execution) to capture the environmental extremes the thermal system must meet.
• Vehicle Chamber Scheduling: Book and coordinate environmental/climatic chamber and wind-tunnel time, sequencing test matrices to make efficient use of constrained facility capacity.
• Vehicle Instrumentation & Planning: Define and oversee thermal instrumentation of test vehicles (thermocouples, pressure/flow sensors, data acquisition), ensuring sensor placement, channel counts, and DAQ setup deliver the data quality the test objectives require.
• Data & Reporting: Process, analyze, and clearly report test results to program stakeholders, flagging risks to targets and supporting the decisions that follow.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the subsystem owners, Controls Engineers, and test technicians to align test content, and partner with the Thermal Technical Program Manager on test timing and critical-path milestones.