Vehicle Dynamics Performance Engineer

Stellantis•Chelsea, MI

56d•Onsite

About The Position

The Project Performance Engineer (PPE) for Vehicle Dynamics is responsible for achieving vehicle level ride and handling targets for Stellantis Vehicles. The candidate will coordinate with a team of core dynamics engineers to establish development timelines to meet all functional objectives, component tuning freeze dates, and electronic control hardware/software release dates. Further responsibilities include analyzing and mitigating the vehicle dynamics performance impact of engineering, brand, and marketing requests. The PPE also leads coordination of activities with multiple external stakeholders (powertrain, mechatronics, etc.) and must be confident providing updates to senior management regarding state of the program. The PPE will be responsible for in-vehicle development of the critical components to meet the vehicle’s overall ride, steering, handling, and tire performance objectives. This development work takes place predominantly at the Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan, with travel required to other test locations as both weather, and test surface conditions dictate (Significant travel occurs during the winter months, with trips lasting 2-3 weeks at a time. Travel is mostly domestic within North America, but can also be international, and is approximately 20% of the Engineer’s time.).

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or equivalent
5 years of related engineering experience
2.5 years of automotive testing and validation experience
Excellent knowledge of vehicle dynamics
Excellent knowledge and understanding of vehicle systems
Experience with requirements management and software version management tools
Effective project management, organizational, and teamwork skills
Data logging and analysis using tools (Vector CANalyzer, CANape, etc.)
Must be capable of driving vehicles at, or above the limit of handling
Valid US driver's license

Nice To Haves

Master of Science in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering
DFSS Green Belt certification
Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) simulation experience
Mechatronics based skills/experience/education
Self-starter with strong communication skills
CAN networking experience
Microsoft Office tools

Responsibilities

Provide guidance to advanced chassis design teams to develop suspension architectures which support vehicle line targets and FOs
Lead development activities including testing and subjective assessment of vehicle level function to ensure alignment with targets
Responsible for development of suspension mechanical and electromechanical components and systems in order to achieve driving dynamics functional attribute targets
Perform subjective evaluations of ride, steering, and handling and assign ratings according to SAE subjective scales up to and beyond the handling limits of the vehicle
Work closely with suppliers to drive changes required to complete tuning of all systems including air springs, passive dampers, semi-active dampers, and electronic power steering
Support all active chassis teams in development/implementation/testing of electromechanical hardware and supporting software through data acquisition system
Development of state-of-the-art prototype and production controls solutions for electromechanical suspension components
Contribute to development of future semi-active damping strategies and algorithm functional execution
Work closely with chassis controls team members to develop seamless integration with other active chassis controls components and systems
Development and execution of vehicle performance DVP&R
Support core software team with execution of functional and failsafe DVP&R with vehicle level tests