Application Engineer Manager

Job Opening: Manager Customer Application Engineering

Location: Daikoji Office Tochigi City Tochigi Japan
Company: GKN Driveline Japan Ltd
Employment Type: Full-time Permanent
Start Date: October 1 2025

About the Role

We are seeking a highly skilled Manager of Customer Application Engineering to join our ePowertrain Customer Engineering team. This role provides a hands-on engineering interface to our automotive OEM customers and ensures successful project execution throughout the product lifecycle under the guidance of Lead or Chief Engineers.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Coordination with Customers

• Lead all technical activities with customers.
  Communicate account and company-wide product strategies within the team.
  Support marketing activities from a technical perspective.
  Estimate development workload and assist in budget planning and execution.
  Coordinate internal specialist support across development stages (Stage AD).
  Build strong relationships with customers advanced development teams.

2. Application Engineering

• Manage application engineering from quotation (pre-C0) to mass production (Stage D) across vehicle brands and models.
  Clarify and define customer requirements and specifications.

3. Technical Documentation

• Accumulate and manage confidential technical information.
  Propose product specifications and conduct real-vehicle evaluations.
  Plan development schedules and approve transitions to mass production.

4. Technical Liaison for Overseas Projects

• Act as the technical front-end between customers and global development teams.
  Early identification of customer needs and expectations and prompt internal communication.
  Support documentation and communication (including interpretation).
  Coordinate responses to critical issues and align technical discussions.
  

Qualifications

. Degree: Masters in Engineering (Mechanical / Electrical / Electronics Mechatronics) / Masters in Physics or similar
. Over 5 years of experience in mechatronics development within the automotive industrys R&D department.
3. Advanced knowledge of powertrain products such as gearboxes and limited slip differentials
4. 1 year of experience in problem resolution and project management
5. Advance understanding of systems engineering Especially in regards to requirements engineering system architecture and testing.
6. Advanced knowledge of feature planning and project management
7. Advanced knowledge of technical leadership within Systems Engineering domain
8. Basic knowledge of electrical hardware preferably in ECUs
9. Basic knowledge of Software development
10. Experience with handling Japanese / Korean automotive OEMs
11 Drivers License in Japan

• Language Skills

  Japanese: Fluent (JLPT N1N2)
  English: Fluent
  Korean: Fluent
  (Frequent collaboration with Japanese/Korean OEMs and GKN global teams)

• Tool Skills

  Microsoft Office (Word Excel PowerPoint Project)
  Windchill RV&S (Integrity Lifecycle Manager Source)
  PTC Windchill
  Activity Management Tools

• Soft Skills

  Leadership Business Acumen Conflict Management
  Decision Making Communication Negotiation
  Customer Focus Time Management Teamwork

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• 1150
  1
  
  

• ePowertrainOEM
  
  

• 1.

• Stage AD

• 2.

• 3.

• 4.

• 
  
  
  

  
  5
  .LSD
  
  1
  6
  7
  8ECU
  9
  10/
  11

• JLPT N1N2
  
  
  

• Microsoft OfficeWord Excel PowerPoint Project
  Windchill RV&SIntegrity Lifecycle Manager Source
  PTC Windchill
  

•