ALTEN Technology

Full-service engineering services for high-tech

Vehicle Dynamics Quality Performance Engineer

Design EngineeringPosted on Nov 10

Full-timeChelsea, MI, USANo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

A Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent from an ABET-accredited university is required.
Experience in chassis design/development and/or vehicle dynamics engineering is required.
Solid understanding of system/component design and development processes is required.
Experience with simulation techniques for suspension, steering, brake-system kinematics/compliance/vibration studies, vehicle ride/handling assessments, component structural analysis, and optimization is required.
Experience with ADAMS/Car, Altair MotionView, OptiStruct, NASTRAN, AMESim, CarSim, iSight, MATLAB, Simulink, and VI-Car RealTime is required; advanced use of ADAMS/Car, CarSim, and VI-Car RealTime is expected.
Experience with driving simulator studies, including preparation, validation, and loading of CAE/virtual models, is required.
Ability to develop custom routines using Visual Basic, ADAMS command files, ADAMS/Car templates, Altair MotionView templates, and MATLAB is required.
Familiarity with Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) and Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) structure is required.
Formal training in Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methods is required.
Ability to extract component detail from NX, Teamcenter, and CoDeP is required.
Understanding of vehicle dynamics theory and application, suspension and steering system kinematics and compliance, full-vehicle ride and handling, and vehicle ride, steering, and handling evaluation is required.
A valid driver's license and clean driving record are required to drive company vehicles.
Ability to travel internationally for meetings and manufacturing plant support is required.
Legal eligibility to work in the United States is required.
High proficiency in spoken, read, and written English is required.
A Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering is preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and validate vehicle-dynamics functionality related to chassis quality and warranty, or develop and validate ride, steering, handling, and tire performance to meet client-vehicle functional objectives.
Minimize vehicle and suspension sensitivity to variation in road-surface forces, assembly build variation, vehicle architecture, and wear.
Conduct quality testing throughout program development, from target setting and design definition through in-vehicle testing on prototype and pre-production pilot vehicles.
Establish appropriate targets and specifications for critical components to reduce sensitivity to brake-rotor wear and judder, tire/wheel imbalance, vehicle lead/drift/pull, steering wander, torque steer, and vehicle shake, using simulation, objective testing, and subjective evaluation.
Develop critical components in vehicles to meet overall ride, steering, handling, and tire-performance objectives.
Perform specialized driving for subjective ride, steering, routine handling, and limit-handling evaluations.
Lead CAE and virtual analysis for steering/suspension hard-point development, steering/suspension component stiffness and damping specifications, ride/handling performance optimization across vehicle-architecture variants, and design recommendations.
Analyze and optimize suspension/steering subsystem kinematics and compliance.
Assess steady-state and transient handling behavior and calculate component loads for emergency handling/fish-hook, trailer tow SAE J2807, slowly increasing steer, step steer, and off-road trail-rating events.
Simulate ride events and characterize primary ride, secondary ride, impact harshness, vehicle pitch under braking, vehicle head-toss, shimmy and wander, and brake judder.
Develop, validate, and own vehicle/subsystem simulation models using multi-body ADAMS, parametric CarSim, VI-Car RealTime, and NASTRAN flex-body methods.
Develop models and provide on-site support for driving-simulator studies.
Plan and execute analytical support for physical mule tuning activities and develop new CAE/simulation processes as needed.
Travel to other test locations as weather and test-surface conditions require, including significant winter travel; travel is approximately 20%, mostly domestic in North America, and may be international.

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.

Job Description:

Deliverables :*Development, and validation, of Vehicle Dynamics functionality as it relates to Chassis quality/warranty of Client vehicles OR development, and validation, of ride, steering, handling, and tire performance to meet functional objectives of Client vehicles..
*The overall objective is to minimize vehicle/suspension sensitivity to variation in forces induced by road surfaces, assembly build variation, vehicular architecture, and/or wear.
*Responsible for quality testing activities throughout all Program development phases; from up-front target setting and design definition, through in-vehicle testing on prototype properties, and then pre-production (pilot) properties.
*Ensure that critical components have appropriate targets/specifications to minimize sensitivity to brake rotor wear (judder), tire/wheel imbalance, vehicle lead/drift/pull, steering wander, torque steer, and vehicle shake (ride). This will be accomplished through a combination of simulation, objective testing, and subjective evaluation methods
*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 time)
*Requires specialized driving skills for subjective ride, steering, routine handling and limit handling evaluations.
*Responsible for the leadership of all CAE/virtual analysis activity associated with steering/suspension hard-point development; steering/suspension component stiffness /damping specification; and ride/handling
performance optimization for all variants of a vehicle architecture, including formulation of design recommendations.
*Analysis/optimization of suspension/steering sub-system kinematics and compliance.
*Analytical assessments of steady state/transient handling behavior; and calculation of associated component loads for various Handling events (Emergency handling/fish-hook, Trailer Tow SAE J2807, Slowly Increasing Steer, Step Steer, Off-Road events for Trail Rating.) Simulation of ride events and associated characterization of performance (Primary Ride (Low frequency events), Secondary Ride (High frequency events), Impact harshness , Vehicle pitch under braking, Vehicle head-toss , Shimmy and Wander and Brake Judder.)
Development/validation/ownership of all associated vehicle/sub-system simulation models (multi-body/ADAMS, parametric/CARSIM, VICarRealtime, NASTRAN/flex-body.)
Develop models and provide on-site support for driving simulator studies.
Formulate/execute plans for analytical support of physical mule tuning activities. Develop new CAE/simulation processes as needed.

Qualification:

Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or Equivalent from an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited university. Driving vehicles on CPG, Dynamics assesment, familairchassia and Dynamics components, Validation vehicles
Experience in chassis design/development and/or vehicle dynamics engineering experience.
Solid understanding of system/component design/development processes.
Experience with processes and simulation techniques associated with suspension/steering/brake system kinematics/compliance/vibration studies, vehicle ride/handling assessments, component structural analysis, and optimization.
Experience with associated simulation tools: ADAMS/Car, Altair Motionview, Opti-struct, NASTRAN,
AMEsim, CARsim, I-Sight, Matlab, Simulink, VI-Car realtime.
Advanced user of ADAMS/Car, Carsim, and VI-Car realtime.
Experience with driving simulator studies and associated preparation, validation, and loading of CAE/virtual models.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to coordinate activities with the extended team.
Ability to develop custom routines (Visual Basic, ADAMS command files, ADAMS/Car templates, Altair Motionview templates,
Matlab, etc.) to support process enhancement.
Familiarity with Design Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (Design Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (DFMEA) and Design Verification Plan & Report (DVP&R) structure.
Formal training in Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methods.
Ability to extract component detail from NX, Teamcenter and CoDeP
Self-starter with demonstrated problem solving ability
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Strong leadership and interpersonal skills.
Demonstrated ability to summarize, present work to management and cross-functional teams.
Demonstrated understanding of vehicle dynamics theory and application
Experience with Suspension and Steering system kinematics and compliance as well as full vehicle ride and handling.
Vehicle ride, steering and handling evaluation experience
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to coordinate activities with other department / functions
Proficient use of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc).
Organized, self-motivated, work as required to support projects.
Excellent problem-solving skills
Valid driver's license is required as well as a clean driving record - will be required to drive company vehicles.
Ability to travel to Internationally for meetings and manufacturing plant support
Must be legally eligible to work in the USA
Master of Science Degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering
Demonstrated understanding of vehicle dynamics theory and application
Experience with Suspension and Steering system kinematics and compliance as well as full vehicle ride and handling.
Vehicle ride, steering and handling evaluation experience
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to coordinate activities with other department / functions
Proficient use of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc).
Organized, self-motivated, work as required to support projects.
Excellent problem-solving skills
Valid driver's license is required as well as a clean driving record - will be required to drive company vehicles.
Ability to travel to Internationally for meetings and manufacturing plant support
Must be legally eligible to work in the USA"
High level of proficiency in English (speaking, reading, writing)

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy.

Please beware of job seeker scams and see this important notice on our careers page for more information about our recruiting process.

Compliance Notice: Alten USA is a federal contractor subject to the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Executive Order 11246. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Drug Screening Requirement: As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug-free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre-employment drug screening as a condition of hire.

About the Company

ALTEN Technology

Full-service engineering services for high-tech

ALTEN Technology provides engineering services to help clients design and develop advanced technology products. It works by offering a range of engineering capabilities, including agile software development, custom software solutions, and integration of commercial and open-source software to cut costs. This collaborative model supports projects across high-impact sectors like aerospace, medical devices, and automotive technology by tailoring solutions to each client’s needs and reducing project risks. The company’s goal is to enable customers to bring innovative products to market more efficiently through flexible, end-to-end engineering services and long-term partnerships.

Company size: 501-1,000
Company stage: M&A
Total funding: Not listed
Headquarters: Greensboro, North Carolina
Founded: 1988

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