Senior Mechanical Engineer, Vehicle Platform

Motional’s Pittsburgh office is located in the new Hazelwood Green development, a culmination of the city’s goal of restoring an economic driver to the neighborhood in a thoughtful, inclusive, and sustainable way. With views along the Monongahela river, the Pittsburgh office is in the heart of this new state of the art development.

Mission Summary:
Our Vehicle Engineering team, focused on Vehicle and Product Systems in Pittsburgh, is seeking a highly motivated Senior Mechanical Engineer to own and drive complex, cross-functional mechanical design and fabrication initiatives for our next-generation vehicle prototypes and systems. This role will serve as a key technical authority, defining system-level architecture for mechatronic systems for automated driving and leading execution with minimal oversight, ensuring alignment with broad business and product objectives.

What you’ll do:

• Technical Leadership and Design Ownership: Lead the design effort for significant vehicle build projects and technical initiatives, creating project proposals and designs that span multiple sub-systems.
• Advanced Mechanical Design: Design and fabricate mechanical components and complex systems for next-generation benchtop and in-vehicle prototypes, such as mechatronic systems for automated driving.
• Prototyping and Documentation: Create detailed 3D CAD models and sufficient engineering drawings for manufacturing of mechanical components. Create comprehensive bills of materials (BOM) and assembly documentation.
• Process Improvement: Design, build, or improve internal processes, documentation, and structure for the team, focusing on efficiency and quality.
• Testing and Validation: Develop and implement rigorous testing plans for vehicles and subsystems, and perform initial testing and debugging of newly-assembled systems to ensure high quality and reliability.
• System Integration: Work with customers, suppliers, and technology partners to define requirements, explain trade-offs, and integrate complex systems in vehicles.
• Mentorship and Collaboration: Provide technical mentorship and long-term development guidance to cross-functional team members, effectively communicating across teams to achieve project results.
• Supply Chain Management: Source critical suppliers and parts and create documentation for outsourced components, managing the manufacturing BOM and Engineering Change Notice (ECN) process.
• Requirements Management: Develop and document system-level requirements for prototype and production vehicle systems, considering all sub-systems.
• Roadmap Contribution: Help define the technical roadmap and architecture based on technology and business needs.

 

What we’re looking for:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• Experience: 7+ years relevant experience, preferably in the automotive, robotics, or automation fields, demonstrating a track record of driving project-level impact.
• Design Expertise: Extensive experience designing and fabricating prototypes using advanced CAD tools (e.g., Solidworks and Catia V5) and manual methods.
• Fabrication Skills: Ability to operate machine tools (mill, press, CNC, etc.), as well as standard mechanics and power tools; experience with 3D printing tools and rapid prototyping techniques.
• Vehicle Systems: Comfortable debugging, disassembling, modifying, and installing electrical and mechanical systems in vehicles.
• Mechatronics: Advanced experience in specifying, integrating, troubleshooting, and testing electronics, motors, and sensors.
• Manufacturing Process: Expertise with manufacturing BOM and ECN processes.
• Execution: Proven ability to work effectively within rigid design, integration, and time constraints, delivering high-quality and reliable execution.
• Collaboration & Communication: Intermediate proficiency in collaboration, including the ability to get buy-in and create alignment across teams and stakeholders. Ability to interface globally with persons of all levels and abilities, including both internal and external teams, to achieve project success. This may include occasional work outside of standard hours to accommodate international collaboration.
• Attributes: Self-motivated, organized, flexible, and able to balance and prior