Mechanical Engineer - Structural Simulation

DoorDash•Oakland, CA

About The Position

DoorDash Labs is DoorDash’s hardware and autonomy innovation engine, designing, building, and deploying custom robotics and autonomous delivery systems for urban environments. The team is beginning development of a clean-sheet, next-generation robot platform focused on improving efficiency, payload dynamics, and service lifetime. The Senior Structural Simulation Engineer (Level IC5) will serve as DoorDash Labs’ foundational structural analysis authority, owning structural finite element analysis (FEA) across the platform. The role covers core vehicle architecture, including chassis systems, suspension, closures, and sensor enclosures, with an emphasis on forward-looking designs from the early concept phase through production-intent refinement and physical test-to-simulation correlation. During the first 90 days, the engineer will lead architectural exploration, establish early vehicle load cases, and make strategic decisions about the simulation software ecosystem, including commercial commitments for simulation tools. The role partners closely with design and physical test teams to guide mechanical architecture and improve the predictive accuracy of simulation models.

Requirements

At least 7 years of hands-on structural FEA and mechanical simulation experience, or an MS/PhD with at least 4 years of experience, focused on structural integrity, stiffness, fatigue life, and dynamic loading.
Demonstrated experience analyzing moving vehicle architectures, such as automotive body-in-white, chassis frames, suspensions, structural battery enclosures, robotics, drones, or high-performance mobility platforms.
Advanced proficiency with industry-standard finite element solvers; ANSYS Mechanical/Workbench is strongly preferred, while Abaqus, OptiStruct/HyperMesh, or LS-DYNA are also considered.
Understanding of solver theory, element formulations, and convergence troubleshooting.
Strong mathematical and classical mechanics fundamentals, including the ability to validate simulation results with hand calculations.
Ability to work in early-stage product development with fluid requirements, sparse documentation, and fast technical decision-making.
Ability to translate FEA stress tensors, fatigue curves, and deflection limits into actionable design guidance for mechanical design engineers and leadership.

Nice To Haves

Experience establishing or transitioning a company’s CAE software stack from scratch.
Background in topology optimization, lightweighting cast or extruded aluminum structures, or composite material modeling.
Experience running durability and fatigue analysis on systems exposed to rough roads, curb strikes, or cyclic vibration.
Working familiarity with CAD tools such as NX, SolidWorks, or Creo for rapid geometry defeaturing and design iteration.

Responsibilities

Lead structural concept validation for a ground-up robotic platform and run trade studies with chassis, suspension, and closures engineers.
Evaluate, select, and operationalize the primary CAE/FEA software stack, with an emphasis on ANSYS-based suites, including assessing technical fit and capabilities with vendors.
Formulate structural load cases, fatigue histories, stiffness benchmarks, and failure criteria for dynamic ground-vehicle environments.
Perform static, dynamic, modal, durability, and fatigue analyses on structural enclosures, cast and sheet-metal subframes, linkages, and moving mechanisms.
Partner with physical test teams to correlate strain-gauge, modal-shaker, and dynamic field-testing data with simulation models.
Guide mechanical design decisions and CAD geometry toward optimized strength-to-weight ratios before prototype tooling.