Encapsulated Glass Molding Tooling Lead

Step into the role shaping how automotive glass meets polymer.

Picture your day: you kick off with a mold design review—checking parting lines, hot and cold runner strategy, steel choices, cooling circuits, shrink targets, and surface texturing. After syncing with Product Engineering and Program Management, you evaluate a new quote for feasibility—glass edge tolerances, flatness, cross-section geometry for seals and beads, and gate locations that won’t induce stress in the glass or polymer. By afternoon, you’re directing Mold Flow/CAE to understand how the flow front wraps the glass substrate, where knit lines could jeopardize adhesion, how non-uniform walls cool, and how stress might transfer to glass edges. You close the day with a supplier tryout plan for glass loading validation, overmold sealing performance, adhesion/peel testing, and a debug checklist for shorts, flash, sinks, voids, and stress marks.

This is the impact you’ll have at Magna Engineered Glass—owning tooling development for encapsulated glass windows and delivering robust manufacturability and flawless launches.

What you’ll own

• Tooling development and standards
  • Apply and evolve corporate standards for injection-molded encapsulation tools.
  • Qualify and maintain a supplier base with proven capability in encapsulated glass molding, including vertical presses, robot-assisted glass loading, and automated demold.
  • Develop and validate processes for: encapsulation overmold of automotive glass; dynamic pressure pad systems; magnetized bezel or stiffener insert molding; soft-seal tooling with integrated glass fixturing.
  • Lead mold design reviews covering parting, gating, runners (hot and cold), steel selection, shrink, cooling strategy, and texture requirements.
  • Ensure designs protect glass edges, deliver dimensional stability, meet adhesion targets, and produce sealed surfaces.
  • Maintain complete data retention: 2D/3D designs, CMM reports, process sheets, hot runner data, and material/manifold documentation.
• Manufacturability and product integration
  • Evaluate quotes for encapsulation feasibility, including glass edge tolerances/flatness, cross-sections for seals, beads, and retention, adhesion/overmold bonding needs, and gate impacts on stress.
  • Partner with Designers, Program Managers, Tooling Suppliers, and Project Engineers to build in manufacturability.
  • Participate in product design reviews for draft, shut-offs, retention features, gaging datums, and warp/shrink predictions to ensure customer specs are met.
• Tool build management and launch
  • Prepare, manage, and approve tooling quotes within corporate systems.
  • Track builds via timing plans, supplier visits, milestone reviews, and PPAP readiness.
  • Lead sampling and launch: glass loading validation; overmold sealing performance; adhesion/peel tests; tool debug for short shots, flash, sinks, voids, stress marks.
  • Validate with CMM layout, glass fixture verification, and encapsulation profile conformance.
  • Oversee texture (grain) approvals and surface quality reviews.
  • Release spare parts, PM plans, and critical spare steel; support packaging, racking, and gage design reviews.
• Analysis, testing, and supplier interaction
  • Direct Mold Flow/CAE focusing on flow around the glass, knit/adhesion risk zones, cooling of non-uniform sections, and stress transfer into glass edges.
  • Maintain material line cards: TPE, PVC, PC/ABS, TPU, and specialty encapsulation compounds.
  • Support supplier tool builds with on-site assessments of design, machining quality, tryout equipment, and capability.
  • Support testing: glass adhesion pull tests; weathering and UV durability; thermal cycling and expansion mismatch evaluation.
  • Troubleshoot issues on existing programs (delamination, glass cracking, warp, dimensional failures).
  • Participate in formal supplier evaluations at project close.
• Documentation and reporting
  • Capture technical decisions, tool changes, sampling results, and validation activities.
  • Maintain accurate timing charts and project status across assigned tools.
  • Prepare cost reports and variance analyses; support budgeting and forecasting.
• Process and continuous improvement
  • Stay current on encapsulation tool technologies: advanced hot runners for hybrid materials; tool steel performance at glass contact; adhesion-promoting surface treatments.
  • Support introduction of new materials including TPE, low-gloss PVC, PC/ABS, and future encapsulation compounds.
  • Develop/update work instructions, quality procedures, and tooling standards for encapsulated glass molding.
  • Train Tool Room personnel on maintenance, repair, PM frequency, and safe handling of glass molds.
• Compliance and safety
  • Adhere to all Magna Engineered Glass safety policies and environmental regulations.
  • Follow ISO/IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 requirements.
  • Participate in required safety and environmental training.
• Perform additional duties as assigned and contribute positively to a collaborative environment.

What you’ll bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field highly preferred; equivalent experience considered.
• 8+ years in tooling, plastics, or program engineering within manufacturing, with deep expertise in injection molding of encapsulated automotive glass.
• Advanced understanding of injection mold design, polymer behavior, and manufacturing processes, including Mold Flow/CAE interpretation.
• Expertise in glass handling and fixturing, polymer-to-glass adhesion mechanisms, overmold material selection, and mold strategies for encapsulated windows.
• Proven success leading complex multi-tool programs with supplier management and budget ownership.
• Ability to manage multiple tooling programs while meeting quality, timing, and cost targets.
• Fluency interpreting engineering drawings, CAD models, and tooling layouts.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, present, and support advanced tooling concepts, continuous improvement, and long-term manufacturing strategies.
• Strong communication, documentation, and organizational skills; effective independently and cross-functionally.
• Knowledge of safety standards and protocols in manufacturing.
• English proficiency required; Spanish bilingual skills preferred.

Work environment and travel

• Office: ~60%; Plant: ~40%.
• Computer-intensive work requiring near/far/depth/color vision and keyboard/mouse use ~6 hours/day.
• Plant exposure to machinery, moving equipment/material, moderate noise, airborne particles, fumes, and variable temperatures.
• Primary location is a manufacturing facility; occasional travel to suppliers or other sites (5–10%, domestic and/or international).

Physical demands

• Sustained periods of sitting, standing, walking, and bending as needed to perform essential functions.
• Prolonged standing at least 8 hours, up to 12 hours/day.
• Lift up to 40 pounds multiple times per day.
• Repetitive bending, twisting, turning, and lifting.
• Frequent hand use: gripping, grasping, pinching, squeezing.

Key competencies

• Technical leadership in injection-molded encapsulation tooling.
• Ability to review mold designs, drive manufacturability, and solve tooling issues.
• Cross-functional communication and supplier management strength.
• Systems thinking across glass, polymer, and tooling requirements for robust production.

Tools and technologies

• CAD software
• Project Management
• Design for Manufacturability (DFM)
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Injection molding processes
• ISO 14001 experience