Senior Application Engineer

Choosing where to grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and be confident that its leaders will support and guide you. With a diversity of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate and grow with other curious, creative 3Mers.

3M is seeking a Senior Application Engineer to support automotive OEM and Tier customers across Western & Southwest United States. This role will provide technical application expertise, customer-facing engineering support, and solution development for 3M automotive technologies used in vehicle design, manufacturing, assembly, repair, and performance applications.

The Senior Application Engineer will work closely with sales, marketing,

laboratory, product development, and technical service teams to understand customer requirements, recommend appropriate 3M solutions, support product trials, and help drive adoption of 3M technologies within automotive platforms and production environments. Additionally, innovation needs and ideas are to be extracted from customer engagements to direct 3M’s product development innovation roadmap.

This position is ideal for an engineer with strong technical problem-solving skills, customer engagement experience, and a solid understanding of automotive materials, manufacturing processes, and supplier/OEM development cycles.

• Establishing yourself as the 3M technical lead to automotive key account customers in West Coast and Southwest United States.
• Engaging with OEMs & Tier suppliers to understand requirements and recommend suitable solutions.
• Visiting customer production facilities to support in line assessments and identify 3M solution needs as well as advise on best application practices
• Coordinating test validation activities to ensure approvals are achieved, meeting customer timelines.
• Understanding customers’ technology roadmaps, upcoming design needs and challenges, effectively communicating those insights to the Product Development team for new product introduction proposals.
• Providing hands‑on technical guidance, troubleshooting, and performance analysis for customers.
• Actively seeking out new business opportunities while engaging with customers.
• Lead internal cross-functional teams to drive and support actions relating to high-impact customer needs.
• Travel regularly across Western and Southwest United States to support customer engagements.

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M is looking for candidates who meet the following minimum requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in engineering or science (completed and verified prior to start)
• Four (4) years of experience providing technical support for vehicle applications with automotive OEMs, Tier suppliers, or in automotive manufacturing environments.

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

• Experience in an engineering, application engineering, technical service, product development, manufacturing, or customer-facing technical role.
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings and validation requirements.
• Ability to travel within the assigned territory, including customer site visits across Western/Southwest United States.
• Experience with automotive materials, adhesives, tapes, films, abrasives, coatings, sealants, surface protection, bonding, masking, thermal management, acoustic solutions, or related technologies.
• Familiarity with automotive product development cycles, platform launches, validation processes, and supplier qualification requirements.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes such as assembly, paint, body-in-white, trim, battery/electrification systems, repair, or component production.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot technical issues in customer production or application environments.
• Experience supporting both OEM and Tier customer accounts.
• Ability to work independently in a field-based role while collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple customer priorities and technical initiatives.
• Proficiency with CRM systems, technical documentation, and standard business software tools.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and presenting skills.

Central Texas (remote)

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope. 

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