Lead Applications Engineer

Eaton Corporation•Lathrup Village, MI

10d•$97,000 - $143,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Applications Engineer serves as the primary technical liaison between OEM customers and internal engineering, product management, manufacturing, and commercial teams. This role is responsible for leading customer-facing engineering activities related to power conversion and advanced mobility solutions across commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle applications. This position will guide technical discussions from concept development through launch, ensuring customer requirements are accurately translated into robust, manufacturable, and cost-effective solutions. This individual will lead application engineering efforts, support business growth through RFQ and program acquisition activities, coordinate cross-functional development teams, and drive successful product integration into OEM vehicle platforms. The ultimate objective is to strengthen customer relationships and enable successful product launches.

Requirements

Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical, Mechatronics and/or Mechanical Engineering from an accredited institution
Minimum five (5) years experience in Automotive/Tier 1’s
Minimum three 3 years of experience in Applications Engineering, Systems Engineering, Resident Engineering, Product Engineering, or customer-facing technical roles.
Ability to travel up to 20%

Nice To Haves

Proven experience working directly with OEM customers throughout product development and launch cycles.
Master's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Systems, or Mechatronics Engineering.
Knowledge of electric vehicle architectures, electrified powertrain systems, and high-voltage/low-voltage vehicle systems.
Experience with power electronics, power conversion systems, inverters, converters, eAxles, battery systems, or vehicle electrification technologies.
Familiarity with Automotive SPICE, ISO 26262 Functional Safety, IATF 16949, Cybersecurity (ISO/SAE 21434), and systems engineering methodologies.
Root cause analysis and problem-solving methodologies.
Vehicle electrical architecture and CAN/LIN communications.
Electrical and mechanical principles related to power conversion systems.
Ability to read electronic diagrams and schematics.
Demonstrated experience on driving communication with customers and leading engineering work with product line teams.
Automotive embedded systems creation, Vehicle electrification and power electronics fundamentals.
Requirements documentation, traceability, and root cause analysis.
Familiarity with CAD tools, system integration, and validation processes.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills for customer interaction and cross-functional collaboration.
Embedded C for microcontrollers.
Power electronics fundamentals including direct-digital power conversion.
Developing firmware using a real-time operating system (RTOS).
Digital control loops and digital filter concepts.
Use of team collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Miro.
Comfortable working in a fast-paced technology development environment.
Ability to travel up to 20% and work flexible hours for global communication.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary technical interface between OEM customers and Eaton’s internal engineering teams.
Represent company technologies, products, and engineering capabilities during customer reviews, workshops, design discussions, and executive presentations.
Build and maintain strong technical relationships with commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle OEM customers.
Drive and work directly with customers, both at engineering and manufacturing sites to assist with product integration, installation, diagnostics, and root cause analysis.
Analyze customer specifications, requirements, standards, and vehicle architectures to develop optimized technical solutions.
Support customer issue resolution through technical investigations, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and validation activities.
Lead pre-award and post-award technical activities, including requirement analysis and concept development along with customer.
Drive technical phases of projects to meet deadlines and negotiate critical milestones with customers.
Lead customer meetings, prepare documentation, define internal work packages, and track status.
Monitor emerging OEM trends, vehicle technologies, regulatory requirements, and competitive developments.
Support product roadmaps by identifying opportunities for new features, technologies, and applications.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives related to engineering processes, customer engagement, and product development methodologies.
Prepare presentations to communicate project status, risks, and mitigation plans.
Build strategies with global development teams including hardware, electronics, software, and validation.