Product Platform Development Engineer - Air Springs

About the role

Continental's ContiTech group develops products and systems for the automotive, railway, mining and agricultural industries, and its Dynamic & Suspension Solutions (DSS) product group makes air springs. This position owns the Sleeve Type (seat and cabin) air-spring platform, which is material-focused (mainly rubber and thermoplastics) and steers the platform while material development is handled by Material Platform Development. The role is based in Nyíregyháza.

Key responsibilities

• Create and maintain the customer-focused Sleeve Type air-spring platform for all industrial business areas, consolidating materials, components and specifications.
• Collect Bill of Material (BOM) data and build the material and specification overview.
• Define strategic materials and specifications so that product requirements are covered in all markets.
• Drive global cost-saving, complexity reduction and sustainability measures.
• Coordinate the platform strategy with Regional Product Management, Product Development, Application Engineering, Material Platform Development and Operations, and turn global strategy and local plant activities into one coherent platform strategy.
• Lead project management within the Product Life Cycle (PLC) / Base Development (D1) process, including project, design and gate reviews.
• Steer material development, CAD, FEA, prototype production, product testing, Tech Centers, production concept, supply chain management concept, profitability checks and first production runs.
• Apply quality tools such as FMEA and Six Sigma.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree or higher in engineering, material science or a related field.
• At least 5 years' experience developing new products, including hands-on product and test-concept development.
• Proven project-management and project-leadership experience.
• Experience in international customer relations with cultural sensitivity.
• Excellent English communication; native-language proficiency is an advantage.

Required skills

• Development methodology experience (e.g. Design of Experiments, DOE) and understanding of production concepts.
• Material understanding and good cross-functional understanding.
• Preferred: experience with rubber / elastomer (and ideally thermoplastic) materials or air-spring products.