Senior Lead Engineer
About The Position
Freedom Motors USA is a leading manufacturer and retailer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, dedicated to redefining mobility and helping individuals maintain independence through innovative vehicle solutions. As we continue to grow and develop new products, we are looking for an experienced Lead/Senior Mechanical Engineer to join our engineering team and help drive product development, vehicle integration, design improvements, and cost-reduction initiatives. The Lead/Senior Mechanical Engineer will play a key role in the design, development, and continuous improvement of Freedom Motors' wheelchair-accessible vehicle conversions. This position will lead engineering projects from concept through design, prototyping, testing, validation, and production implementation. The ideal candidate will have strong automotive design experience and the ability to work closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Production, Quality, Purchasing, and other cross-functional teams. A major focus of the role will be identifying opportunities to improve product performance, quality, manufacturability, customer experience, and cost while maintaining the highest standards of safety and reliability.
Requirements
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- 7+ years of professional experience in automotive design and engineering.
- Strong experience with mechanical design, vehicle engineering, and product development.
- Strong understanding of GD&T and dimensional management.
- Experience working with manufacturing and production environments.
- Strong understanding of design for manufacturability and assembly (DFMA).
- Ability to analyze designs and identify opportunities for cost reduction and product improvement.
- Excellent written, verbal, and cross-functional communication skills.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with vehicle modification, integration, conversion, or specialty vehicle applications is highly preferred.
- Previous assembly plant launch or production launch experience preferred.
- Experience with Mechanism Design
- Experience with Vehicle Engineering & Integration
- Experience with Structural Design
- Experience with Suspension and chassis systems
- Experience with Door and liftgate systems
- Experience with Fuel, exhaust, cooling, and braking systems
- Experience with GD&T and Dimensional Management
- Experience with Design for Manufacturing & Assembly
- Experience with Root Cause Analysis and Problem Solving
- Experience with Quality and engineering design tools
- Experience with Autodesk Inventor
- Experience with SolidWorks
- Experience with AutoCAD
- Experience with Microsoft Office
- Experience with additional CAD, PLM, or engineering software is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Lead mechanical engineering and vehicle conversion projects from concept through production.
- Drive Value Analysis / Value Engineering (VA/VE) initiatives to improve product performance, quality, manufacturability, and cost.
- Identify opportunities to simplify designs, reduce manufacturing costs, improve assembly processes, and enhance the customer experience.
- Design and develop mechanical systems, structures, mechanisms, and vehicle components.
- Apply engineering principles to vehicle integration and modification of production vehicles.
- Develop and modify 3D CAD models, assemblies, and engineering drawings.
- Work closely with Production and Manufacturing to identify and resolve design and assembly challenges.
- Collaborate with Purchasing and suppliers on component design, sourcing, cost reduction, and implementation.
- Support prototyping, testing, validation, and production launches.
- Evaluate existing designs and develop innovative engineering solutions to improve functionality and reliability.
- Ensure designs meet applicable engineering, quality, dimensional, and manufacturing requirements.
- Participate in design reviews, problem-solving activities, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other engineering team members.
Benefits
- Opportunity to make a direct impact on products that improve people's mobility, independence, and quality of life.
- Work in an environment where engineering ideas can move from concept to reality.
- Collaboration between Engineering, Manufacturing, Production, and other teams is essential to our success.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
