Product Design Engineer, Automotive Door Latches and Actuators

The Product Design Engineer will lead concept development, detailed design, and validation of automotive door latch and actuator systems for new product development programs. This role requires strong engineering judgment in ambiguous project situations, with the ability to define requirements, evaluate tradeoffs, and generate innovative design solutions that improve safety, robustness, manufacturability, and customer experience. The engineer will work across cross-functional teams to develop safety-critical mechatronic mechanisms that meet vehicle performance, packaging, durability, and regulatory objectives. **Key Responsibilities** * Lead the design and development of automotive door latch and actuator mechanisms, including latch, lock, release, linkage, cable, and actuation architectures. * Translate incomplete or evolving customer and program requirements into clear technical specifications and design targets. * Design for safety-critical high performance operation and world-class sound quality * Develop innovative concepts that improve packaging, part count, reliability, cost, serviceability, and user experience. * Perform kinematic, tolerance, force, and motion calculation / analyses to support robust mechanism design. * Support prototype development, lab testing, vehicle integration, and launch activities. * Plan and execute validation activities such as durability, environmental robustness, water intrusion, friction, and operating-effort testing. * Correlate physical test results with simulation and refine designs based on findings. * Collaborate with systems, manufacturing, quality, safety, and supplier teams to resolve technical issues and mature the product design. * Document design decisions, tradeoffs, risks, and corrective actions for design reviews and program approvals. * Contribute technical ideas that simplify mechanisms, improve robustness, and support scalable product development.