Senior Product Costing Engineer

Blue Bird (NASDAQ: BLBD) is recognized as a technology leader and innovator of school buses since its founding in 1927. Our dedicated team members design, engineer and manufacture school buses with a singular focus on safety, reliability, and durability. School buses carry the most precious cargo in the world – 25 million children twice a day – making them the most trusted mode of student transportation. The company is the proven leader in low- and zero-emission school buses with more than 25,000 propane, natural gas, and electric powered buses sold. Blue Bird is transforming the student transportation industry through cleaner energy solutions.

About the role

The Senior Product Cost Engineer is responsible for developing and executing the product cost strategy for a next-generation commercial chassis platform from concept through production launch. This role owns engineering cost modeling, design-to-cost execution, value analysis/value engineering (VA/VE), design for manufacturing and assembly (DFM/DFA), and cost optimization across the complete vehicle. Working alongside Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Strategic Sourcing, this position ensures cost objectives are achieved without compromising safety, quality, reliability, manufacturability, or vehicle performance. This engineer will influence vehicle architecture, supplier selection, manufacturing processes, and engineering decisions by providing data-driven cost analyses, technical trade studies, and design recommendations throughout the product lifecycle. This is a high-impact role for an experienced engineer who thrives in ambiguity, challenges conventional thinking, and wants meaningful ownership over one of the primary drivers of program profitability and launch success.

Responsibilities

• Own product cost development, tracking, and optimization across the complete commercial chassis platform from concept through production launch.
• Establish and drive design-to-cost objectives by partnering with engineering teams to balance cost, performance, quality, manufacturability, durability, and customer requirements.
• Lead VA/VE activities to identify cost reduction opportunities through design optimization, material selection, process improvements, supplier innovation, and product simplification.
• Drive DFM/DFA principles throughout product development to improve manufacturability, reduce assembly complexity, minimize labor content, and improve production efficiency.
• Develop detailed component, subsystem, and vehicle-level cost models to support architecture decisions, supplier sourcing strategies, make-versus-buy analyses, and engineering trade-offs.
• Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Development, Quality, Finance, and Program Management to ensure technical decisions support program cost objectives.
• Work directly with suppliers to evaluate technical proposals, identify cost reduction opportunities, benchmark competitive solutions, and support commercial negotiations through engineering analysis.
• Evaluate engineering changes for piece cost, tooling investment, manufacturing impact, lifecycle cost, warranty exposure, and overall business case.
• Support prototype builds, manufacturing launch, and early production by identifying cost optimization opportunities while maintaining production readiness and launch timing.
• Establish ongoing cost reduction roadmaps throughout product development and production while maintaining product performance, quality, and customer expectations.
• Create structure and drive execution where product definitions, supplier strategies, manufacturing processes, and cost targets continue to evolve.
• Manage calibration revisions, software releases, configuration control, and production-ready datasets supporting prototype, validation, manufacturing, and production programs.
• Ensure vehicle control strategies meet emissions, safety, diagnostics, cybersecurity, and applicable commercial vehicle regulatory requirements.
• Support prototype builds, validation testing, manufacturing launch, and early production by rapidly resolving controls-related issues and optimizing vehicle performance.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in product cost engineering, manufacturing engineering, product development, value engineering, or commercial vehicle engineering.
• All candidates must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Skills

• Strong understanding of automotive or commercial vehicle product cost development and cost engineering methodologies.
• Experience leading Design-to-Cost, VA/VE, DFM, and DFA initiatives.
• Ability to evaluate engineering trade-offs involving cost, performance, quality, manufacturability, serviceability, and durability.
• Experience developing component, subsystem, and vehicle-level cost models.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes including fabrication, machining, casting, molding, welding, stamping, assembly, and automation.
• Experience supporting supplier sourcing, quoting, should-cost analysis, and cost negotiations.
• Strong analytical, financial, and engineering problem-solving capability.
• Ability to influence technical decisions across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and supplier organizations without direct authority.
• Strong communication, presentation, and decision-making skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience developing product cost strategies from concept through production launch.
• Experience leading VA/VE, Design-to-Cost, DFM, and DFA activities on production vehicle programs.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, Finance, and suppliers.
• Experience supporting supplier technical reviews, should-cost analysis, or cost optimization initiatives.
• Experience with commercial vehicles, body-on-chassis platforms, vocational vehicles, or heavy-duty vehicle programs.
• Experience supporting clean-sheet vehicle development or major platform redesign programs.
• Experience with supplier cost modeling, manufacturing cost analysis, and competitive benchmarking.
• Experience supporting sourcing strategy, supplier negotiations, and industrialization activities.
• Experience applying Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, or Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) methodologies.
• Master's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or Business Administration.
• Experience supporting accelerated product launches in low-process or rapidly evolving engineering organizations.

Attributes

• Takes ownership of complex engineering cost challenges and drives them to resolution.
• Thrives in fast-paced environments where product definition and priorities evolve rapidly.
• Thinks at the complete vehicle level and understands how engineering decisions influence total product cost.
• Challenges conventional approaches and identifies innovative opportunities to improve cost without sacrificing quality, reliability, or customer value.
• Balances engineering excellence with manufacturing realities, supplier capabilities, launch timing, and business objectives.
• Communicates effectively across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, suppliers, and executive leadership.
• Wants meaningful ownership over the engineering decisions that define the commercial success of a new vehicle platform.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance.
• 14 paid holidays.
• Vacation time.
• 401k matching.
• Continued professional development.

Work Conditions

• Office environment and production environment.
• Must work in a manufacturing environment with exposure to heat, cold and noise.
• Fast-paced production area with moving objects and sheet metal.
• Occasional periods of standing or sitting for extended periods of time.
• Must wear appropriate PPE when and where required.
• Frequent weeks working 40+ hours.
• Frequent communication with people throughout the day.