Hybrid Laser Welding Engineer – Battery Manufacturing

at Ford Motor Company

• Job title: Laser Welding Engineer – Battery Manufacturing
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Junior, Mid level
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Assembly, Python
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Dearborn, United States

About the role

• Laser Welding Engineer developing and optimizing laser welding processes for battery manufacturing at Ford. Collaborating with engineering teams to deliver scalable solutions for electric vehicles.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own laser welding processes for:
• Joining battery cell terminals (e.g., Al, Ni-plated steel) to copper/aluminum busbars/current collectors
• Tab-less / cell-to-pack architectures and high-density interconnects
• Define and optimize welding parameters (power, speed, focus, pulse shape, shielding gas, overlap, focal position, etc.) to meet mechanical, electrical, and thermal performance requirements.
• Plan and execute structured Design of Experiments (DoE) to establish process windows, main effects, and sensitivities across cell, busbar, and fixture variants.
• Lead process characterization including pull/shear testing, microsection analysis, porosity/crack evaluation, electrical resistance, and thermal performance.
• Specify and validate laser systems and subsystems:
• Fiber lasers (CW and pulsed), beam delivery optics, scanners, galvos, clamping/fixturing, and motion/robot systems.
• Vision systems for seam tracking, part localization, and weld path alignment.
• Inline weld monitoring (e.g., photodiode, pyrometer, imaging, acoustic/optical sensors).
• Define and implement tooling and fixturing concepts that ensure repeatable cell positioning, pressure/contact, alignment, and thermal management.
• Collaborate with controls and automation engineers to integrate laser welding equipment into automated assembly lines, including interfaces to PLCs, robots, MES, and quality systems.
• Support equipment FAT/SAT, commissioning, and ramp-up at Ford plants and pilot lines.
• Develop and maintain PFMEAs, control plans, and standardized work for laser welding operations.
• Define critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics, inspection methods, and acceptance criteria; establish inline and offline inspection strategies.
• Work with quality and product teams to correlate weld process parameters and defects to pack-level performance, durability, and abuse-test outcomes, and ensure compliance with Ford’s safety standards and industry best practices for high-power laser systems.
• Partner with:
• Battery cell and pack design teams to influence joint design, materials, and stack-ups for manufacturability and weldability (DFM/DFW).
• Cell and materials engineers to understand coating stacks, current collector materials, and their impact on weld behavior.
• Manufacturing and industrial engineering to plan line layouts, takt times, and scaling strategies.
• Suppliers and integrators to qualify equipment, tooling, and consumables.
• Provide laser welding expertise to support design reviews, technical trade studies, and cost/feasibility assessments.
• Support problem-solving activities (8D, 5-Why, Ishikawa) for build issues, field returns, and validation test failures linked to weld integrity.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Welding Engineering, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in laser welding process development, manufacturing engineering, or equipment engineering in an industrial setting.
• Demonstrated experience with:
• Developing and optimizing welding or joining processes (laser, resistance, TIG/MIG, ultrasonic, etc.).
• Metallurgical evaluation of welds (microstructure, defects, joint design considerations).
• Running structured experiments and analyzing data (DoE, regression, statistical analysis).
• Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline, or 4+ years of relevant industrial experience (even better).
• Experience with battery manufacturing (cells, modules, or packs) or high-reliability electrical interconnects (even better).
• Direct experience with:
• Laser welding dissimilar metals (e.g., Cu–Al, Al–Ni, Cu–Ni-plated steel) (even better).
• Fiber laser systems, scanner-based welding, wobble welding, and remote welding (even better).
• Weld monitoring technologies and closed-loop process control (even better).
• Vision-guided robotic welding or precision positioning systems (even better).
• Proficiency with engineering tools and systems such as:
• CAD tools (e.g., CATIA, NX, 3DX) for joint and fixture reviews (even better).
• Data analysis tools (e.g., Minitab, JMP, Python, MATLAB, Excel) (even better).
• Quality tools (PFMEA, control plans, SPC, 8D, 5-Why) (even better).
• Experience working with equipment OEMs and system integrators: defining URS/FRS, reviewing designs, and overseeing build/commissioning (even better). Knowledge of relevant standards and guidelines (ISO/ANSI laser safety, automotive quality systems, battery safety standards) (even better).

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.