Engineer, Whole Vehicle Test Requirements and Validation – Propulsion

Job description

Here at Scout Motors, we're carrying forward the heritage of one of the most iconic American vehicles in history. A vehicle dating back to 1960. One that forged the path for future generations of rugged SUVs and trucks and will do so once again. But Scout is more than just a brand, it’s a legacy steeped in a culture of exploration, caretaking, and hard work. The Scout brand is all about respect. Respect for the past and the future by taking an iconic American brand that hasn’t been around for a while, electrifying it, digitizing it, and loading it with American innovation. Respect for communities by creating a company that stands for its people and its customers. Respect for both work and play, with vehicles that are equally at home at a camp site, a job site, or on a Tuesday commute. And respect for our customers by developing two powertrains that meet their requirements — an all-electric powertrain as well as the Harvester™ range extender powertrain which includes a built-in gas-powered generator with an estimated 500 miles of combined range. At Scout Motors, we empower our talented, inclusive, and entrepreneurial teams to innovate. What makes a Scout employee? Someone who is a visionary and a leader, who seeks new paths and shares lessons learned. A knowledgeable doer who collaborates across the company to build better. A go-getter with unrivaled passion. Join us at Scout Motors and be part of shaping the future of transportation. If you're ready to drive change and make history, apply now! What you’ll do Become part of an iconic brand that is set to revolutionize the electric pick-up truck & rugged SUV marketplace by achieving the following: • Own whole-vehicle validation definition and execution for propulsion-driven vehicle attributes, including drivability, performance, efficiency, charging, thermal performance, and vehicle capability across real-world customer use cases. • Define and develop validation strategies for limit operating conditions, including edge and corner cases that drive propulsion system design requirements, such as power delivery, thermal management, durability, energy consumption, and operating strategies. • Establish key validation routes, duty cycles, and environmental conditions that represent worst-case and boundary operating scenarios, providing critical input to propulsion system sizing, battery performance, thermal systems, and vehicle operating strategies. • Act as the source of truth for real-world vehicle loads, environmental conditions, and customer usage profiles, ensuring engineering teams have accurate physical inputs for propulsion system and vehicle-level design. • Support cross-functional validation alignment across Propulsion, Chassis, Thermal, Controls, Software, Electrical, Vehicle Integration, and Manufacturing teams to ensure cohesive whole-vehicle performance. • Develop and manage vehicle-level test cases covering propulsion behavior, drive modes, acceleration, regenerative braking, charging, towing, payload, gradability, off-road capability, and interactions with braking, traction, stability, and ride & handling systems. • Translate propulsion functional requirements and vehicle capability targets into executable test procedures, instrumentation strategies, and validation plans at the whole-vehicle level. • Ensure propulsion systems perform seamlessly alongside chassis, thermal, electrical, and software interfaces to validate overall vehicle behavior across on-road, towing, off-road, charging, and extreme environmental conditions. • Lead and coordinate vehicle-level validation campaigns at proving grounds, public roads, and hot/cold climate locations, evaluating propulsion performance across diverse customer usage profiles and durability routes. • Translate customer use cases—including daily commuting, towing, payload hauling, off-road recreation, mountain driving, fast charging, and long-distance travel—into validation scenarios with measurable acceptance criteria. • Define and validate key vehicle-level attributes including drivability, torque delivery, energy efficiency, thermal robustness, charging performance, towing capability, off-road performance, and overall propulsion system integration. • Drive test execution and data collection, including route development, vehicle preparation, instrumentation planning, data acquisition, and environmental conditioning using vehicle CAN, GPS, thermal instrumentation, pressure, force, and specialized data logging systems. • Ensure robust traceability from system requirements through validation plans, test cases, execution, and results using lifecycle management tools such as Codebeamer, Jama, or Jira. • Collaborate across Propulsion, Chassis, Controls, Thermal, Electrical, Software, and Vehicle Integration teams to analyze test data, identify performance gaps, perform root-cause investigations, and resolve cross-functional issues. • Document validation results, benchmark competitive vehicle performance, and provide data-driven recommendations to support vehicle readiness, program milestones, and release decisions. Location & Travel Expectations: • This role will be based out of the Scout Motors location in Novi, Michigan. • This role requires 4-5 days per week in the office, with regular in-person meetings and events. • Applicants should expect that the role will require the ability to convene with Scout colleagues in person and travel to participate in events on behalf of the company from time to time. What you’ll bring We expect all Scout employees to have integrity, curiosity, resourcefulness, and strive to exhibit a positive attitude, as well as a growth mindset. You’ll be comfortable with change and flexible in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. You’ll take a collaborative approach to achieve ambitious goals. Here's what else you'll bring: • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Software Engineering, or a relate