Cost Engineer – Water/Oil Pumps and Plastic Components for ICE (Internal Combustion Engines)
Summary
Cost Engineer at Mercedes-Benz evaluates and optimizes manufacturing costs for water/oil pumps and plastic components in internal combustion engines, using technical and financial analysis to guide sourcing and design decisions.
Join our Drive Systems Cost Engineering team and contribute to smart, competitive, and sustainable cost decisions for key vehicle components. This role offers the opportunity to combine technical expertise, cost transparency, and analytical thinking in a dynamic automotive engineering environment.
As a Cost Engineer, you will evaluate water pumps, oil pumps, and plastic components for ICE applications. Your insights will support sourcing decisions, product changes, benchmarking activities, and strategic discussions with internal teams and suppliers.
How You Will Contribute
• Create transparent bottom-up cost calculations for water pumps, oil pumps, and plastic/injection-molded parts throughout the entire product lifecycle
• Analyze requirement specifications, technical drawings, and CAD data to define target costs and identify cost drivers
• Evaluate manufacturing processes (e.g., aluminum die casting, precision machining for pumps, injection molding, and assembly) to optimize production costs
• Create target cost structures, validate supplier quotations, and derive technology benchmarks
• Assess supplier processes, machine concepts, capital expenditure, and cycle times
• Support procurement in technical supplier discussions, price negotiations, and strategic sourcing decisions through transparent bottom-up cost calculations
• Review and validate supplier quotations to ensure competitiveness
• Collaborate closely with R&D and Engineering from the early concept phase to drive Design-to-Cost initiatives for your parts and modules
• Propose alternative materials, manufacturing technologies, or design simplifications to optimize product costs without compromising quality or performance
• Prepare clear technical and commercial decision briefs for management and specialist departments
• Support procurement material assessments and supplier compensation evaluations\:
o Assess supplier compensation requests when negotiated volume assumptions have not been achieved
o Evaluate supplier compensation requests when key negotiation assumptions have changed significantly, including material costs, energy, and labor