Head of Product Engineering - Mercedes-Benz Trucks & BharatBenz (m/f/d) – Leinfelden, GER

About Daimler Truck

At Daimler Truck, we change today's transportation and create real impact together. We take responsibility around the globe and work together as one global team. We drive our progress and success together – everyone at Daimler Truck makes the difference. Together, we want to reduce our carbon footprint, increase safety on and off track, develop smarter technology and attractive financial solutions. All essential, to fulfill our purpose - for all who keep the world moving.

As Head of Product Engineering , you will take strategic responsibility for the global engineering organization across all Mercedes‑Benz Trucks platforms, including Mercedes‑Benz and BharatBenz. Reporting directly to the CEO Mercedes‑Benz Trucks, you will lead all engineering locations worldwide and ensure their unified contribution to the global product strategy.

You will oversee a functionally structured, internationally distributed development organization with five end‑to‑end engineering domains and a global Homologation unit. Your mission is to establish a globally aligned, high‑performing engineering network with consistent processes, advanced technologies, and a strong customer focus across all major markets.

As the leader of a global team of approximately 1,800 engineers and leaders, you will shape the future engineering culture of our organization. In this role, you will drive the implementation of our new Target Operating Model by fostering integration, global accountability, and seamless cross‑functional collaboration. You will champion a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence that supports our ambition to become Simpler. Faster. Stronger.

What You Can Expect / Main Challenges:

• Lead and develop a global, functional engineering organization with a harmonized, end-to-end product development process.

• Define and execute research & development strategy, establishing a globally integrated functional setup that enables seamless collaboration and consistent ways of working across all engineering locations.

• Foster global implementation of standardized methods, processes, and IT landscapes for all platforms and models – with a modern development approach (fast iteration cycles, strong system engineering, Software-first thinking, data-driven validation) accelerate learning and shorten time-to-market while safeguarding quality and compliance.

• Implement the One Modular System as foundation for global product development.

• Oversee the global roll-out of future technologies, including zero-emission drive systems, and ensure consistent architecture and module strategies.

• Drive global capacity management, budget allocation, and cross-site project delivery.

• Steer customer-centric engineering by translating real customer use-cases into product and technology decisions - optimizing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), uptime, safety and sustainability impact, not just technical performance.

• Balance technology and customer value: make explicit trade-offs between innovation, complexity, cost and serviceability - ensuring measurable customer benefit in every major feature and platform decision.

• Collaborate with partners, customers, suppliers, and segment leaders to enable global commonality and best practices.

• Represent Product Engineering externally and internally - building trust and shaping Daimler Truck's future.

Requirements / Personality:

• Strong strategic, analytical, and transformation leadership capabilities

• Ability to inspire, unify, and empower international teams across cultures and disciplines

• Proven track record in global standardization, organizational development, and change leadership

• Ability to convert voice-of-customer and fleet economics into engineering priorities and TCO improvements at scale

• Experience in establishing global competence centers

Why You Are a Match / Qualification:

• University degree of engineering or comparable

• Extensive experience leading large, multicultural engineering organizations

• Deep expertise in commercial vehicle product development, including design, series management, quality, and cost control.

• Proficiency in English, other languages are welcome

Additional information:

If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact HR by e-mail:

At Daimler Truck, we promote diversity and foster an inclusive corporate culture. We value the individual strengths of our employees, as these lead to the best team performance and thus to the success of our company. Inclusion and Equal opportunities are important to us – regardless of where you come from and who you are. We look forward to receiving applications from people of all cultures and genders, parents, people with disabilities and people from the LGBTIQ+ community.