Job Description

Job Title: Plastic Tooling Engineer

Location: Newark, CA

Employment Type: Full-Time

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced plastic tooling engineer to support the development of high-quality automotive components. In this role, you will contribute to a world-class vehicle engineering team by providing expertise in plastic tooling and injection molding processes. You will work closely with design engineers and suppliers to ensure tooling feasibility, manufacturability, and cost efficiency from the Design for Manufacturing (DFM) phase through product launch.

Key Responsibilities

• Support vehicle engineering teams with plastic tooling and polymer expertise throughout product development.
• Collaborate with design engineers and suppliers to evaluate tooling feasibility, DFM, efficiency, and cost optimization.
• Review and approve mold concepts, mold designs, and flow simulation studies before tool kick-off.
• Ensure all tooling designs comply with company tooling standards and maintain detailed documentation of the review and approval process.
• Provide guidance on injection molding processes and tooling technologies to ensure product quality and manufacturing robustness.
• Conduct on-site supplier visits and tooling audits to assess tool quality and condition.
• Lead injection molding process optimization and tool validation activities.
• Support cross-functional teams and represent the tooling team in communications with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Participate in tool cost estimation, change cost evaluation, and process improvement initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in plastic injection molding and tooling design evaluation.
• Strong experience reviewing DFM for injection molded parts, including automotive Class-A surface components.
• Deep knowledge of injection molding tooling technologies such as:
• In-mold decoration (IMD) / in-mold labeling (IML)
• Overmolding
• Back-injection
• Foaming processes
• Vario-thermal processes
• Experience reviewing flow simulation results using tools such as Autodesk MoldFlow or similar software.
• Hands-on experience with plastic injection molding process setup and optimization.
• Experience with tooling cost estimation and tooling change evaluation.
• Strong documentation, analytical, and communication skills.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 25%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in an automotive product development environment from concept to launch.
• Hands-on experience performing MoldFlow simulations, first tool trials, and tooling approvals.
• Experience with tool should-costing analysis and cost impact evaluation for design decisions.

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