Senior Occupant Safety Engineer

ALTEN Technology USA•Troy, MI

About The Position

We’re ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life-saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more. As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing. When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you’ll collaborate on some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow. This position is focused on the development, validation, and optimization of virtual occupant protection systems for frontal and side impact crash performance. The role involves developing and maintaining high-fidelity LS-Dyna occupant safety models, evaluating occupant injury performance, and optimizing restraint systems and interior components to achieve regulatory, consumer information, and internal safety targets. The engineer will collaborate closely with Safety Structures, Interior Systems, Chassis, Testing, Design Release Engineers (DREs), and suppliers to ensure occupant protection performance is achieved throughout vehicle development. This position requires deep expertise in automotive occupant safety, restraint systems tuning, crash simulation methodologies, and North American safety regulations, along with the ability to drive cross-functional technical decisions throughout the product development lifecycle.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Biomechanics, or related discipline.
Minimum 8-10 years of experience in Occupant Safety Engineering, Crashworthiness, or Automotive CAE Safety Analysis.
8-10 years of experience in automotive occupant safety engineering
Strong LS-Dyna experience for occupant protection and crash simulation
Experience with occupant safety development for frontal and side impact events
Experience tuning and optimizing: Airbags, Seat Belts, Seats, Steering Columns, Instrument Panels, Interior Trim Components
Strong knowledge of: FMVSS 208, FMVSS 214, US-NCAP, IIHS
Experience developing and maintaining occupant safety CAE models
Experience correlating CAE and physical crash test results
Experience working with cross-functional engineering teams and suppliers
Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities

Nice To Haves

Humanetics CAE dummy model experience
Experience with Primer
Experience with ANSA / META
Experience with HyperWorks
Experience with LS-PrePost
Experience supporting vehicle launches from development through SOP
OEM or Tier 1 automotive experience
Experience working in startup or fast-paced vehicle development environments
Knowledge of global safety regulations beyond North America

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain occupant protection CAE models using LS-Dyna
Support frontal and side impact simulation activities throughout vehicle development
Ensure CAE models accurately reflect the latest vehicle design and CAD releases
Maintain correlation between component-level and system-level CAE models
Assess occupant injury performance across all required crash configurations
Evaluate vehicle performance against internal safety targets, FMVSS requirements, US-NCAP, and IIHS protocols
Analyze simulation results and identify opportunities for performance improvements
Develop recommendations to improve occupant protection outcomes
Optimize airbags, seatbelts, steering columns, seats, instrument panels, and interior trim systems
Tune restraint systems to achieve regulatory compliance and top consumer ratings
Develop occupant protection strategies across multiple crash scenarios
Support development of occupant safety scorecards and performance targets
Work closely with DREs and suppliers to ensure component models are properly correlated
Support integration of restraint and interior component models into complete vehicle simulations
Collaborate with Safety Structures teams when vehicle structural performance impacts occupant safety targets
Partner with Interior, Chassis, and other engineering organizations to resolve performance gaps
Support crash test planning and execution activities
Collaborate with testing teams to ensure simulation assumptions align with physical testing results
Participate in test reviews and correlation activities
Refine simulation models based on physical test data
Support occupant safety development throughout all program phases through SOP
Maintain quality and accuracy of occupant protection models
Provide technical guidance regarding occupant safety performance and simulation methodology
Support resolution of complex safety and crashworthiness challenges