Chassis Design Engineer
The job description
Tech stack. CATIA, Siemens NX, ANSYS/Abaqus, suspension kinematics tools, GD&T, DFMEA, supplier drawing and tolerance standards
About the role
You will join the chassis engineering team of an automaker designing suspension, steering, braking, and wheel-end systems. The team owns these systems from concept packaging through production release. This role matters because chassis hardware is the physical foundation of vehicle dynamics, safety, and durability, and your designs must survive potholes, curbs, and 150,000 miles while holding precise alignment and delivering refined feel. You will optimize suspension geometry and component packaging for the conflicting demands of ride, handling, durability, and cost, using kinematic simulation to explore the design space rapidly. Your FEA work will validate knuckles, links, and subframes against pothole, curb-strike, and fatigue load cases with margin to spare. You will also drive commonality across platforms, designing modular corner architectures that cut tooling investment while preserving each vehicle distinct tuning.
What you will achieve
- Deliver chassis component designs (control arms, knuckles, subframes, or steering gear) meeting stiffness, strength, and mass targets with FEA correlation within 10 percent of test
- Cut component mass by 8 percent through topology optimization and material selection (high-strength steel, aluminum, composites) without compromising durability
- Own DFMEA and DV testing for your components, closing all high-severity failure modes before design freeze
- Drive supplier technical alignment: releasing 2D drawings with GD&T that suppliers can manufacture to tolerance on first tooling
- Ship components passing full durability schedules: 4-poster rig, proving ground, and corrosion testing with zero structural failures
What you will bring
Must-haves
- 2 to 5 years of experience designing chassis, suspension, or steering components at an OEM or Tier 1
- Strong mechanical design skills in CATIA or NX with complex castings, forgings, and sheet metal parts
- Proficiency with FEA (ANSYS or Abaqus) for strength, stiffness, and fatigue analysis
- Deep understanding of suspension architectures: MacPherson, multi-link, double wishbone, and their packaging tradeoffs
- Working knowledge of GD&T per ASME Y14.5 and tolerance stack-up for precision assemblies
- Familiarity with automotive materials: HSLA steels, aluminum alloys, and elastomer bushing behavior
- Experience with DFMEA, DVP&R, and root-cause analysis on hardware failures
Nice-to-haves
- Experience with brake system design (calipers, rotors, EPB integration)
- Knowledge of steering system design: EPS, rack and pinion, steer-by-wire concepts
- Exposure to additive manufacturing or advanced joining (flow-drill screws, SPR) for chassis
- Background in motorsport chassis or high-performance vehicle programs
Tesla
Rivian
Lucid Motors
Ford
GM
Waymo