What are the responsibilities and job description for the Off road vehicle engineer position at Vorrek Powersports?
The Senior Off-Road Vehicle Engineer will lead the engineering and integration of major mechanical vehicle systems, with particular emphasis on suspension, steering, directional stability and prototype development.
This is a hands-on vehicle-development role. The selected engineer must be comfortable working in CAD, reviewing calculations, inspecting fabricated hardware, supporting prototype assembly and participating in physical vehicle testing.
Primary Responsibilities
- Review the existing Russian vehicle design and current VORREK SolidWorks files.
- Identify incomplete, unsafe, conflicting or unvalidated design assumptions.
- Support the development of independent front and rear suspension systems.
- Define suspension hard points, wheel travel, motion ratios and component clearances.
- Analyze caster, camber, toe, scrub radius, mechanical trail and Ackermann geometry.
- Minimize bump steer, compliance steer and undesirable steering sensitivity.
- Integrate speed-sensitive electric power steering.
- Evaluate steering stability with oversized low-pressure tires at progressively increasing speeds.
- Support chassis, knuckle, control-arm, hub and steering-component design.
- Coordinate with powertrain, driveline, brake, electrical and manufacturing engineers.
- Develop engineering calculations, specifications, interface drawings and technical reports.
- Participate in design reviews and prototype-release decisions.
- Support the prototype shop during fabrication and assembly.
- Develop test procedures and measurable acceptance criteria.
- Review instrumented test data, including steering angle, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, wheel speed, tire pressure and suspension travel.
- Investigate failures and implement corrective design changes.
- Update the production-intent design after Alpha testing and teardown.
- Maintain accurate engineering records, revisions and released documentation.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, automotive or vehicle engineering.
- At least seven years of relevant vehicle-development experience.
- Direct experience with off-road vehicles, ATVs, UTVs, powersports products, military vehicles, agricultural vehicles, construction equipment, motorsports or specialty vehicles.
- Demonstrated experience designing suspension, steering, chassis or related vehicle systems.
- Strong understanding of vehicle dynamics and tire behavior.
- Experience taking physical hardware through design, prototype build, testing and corrective action.
- Strong SolidWorks or comparable 3D CAD experience.
- Ability to produce clear calculations, specifications, drawings and technical reports.
- Willingness to work onsite with fabricators, technicians and test personnel.
- Ability to work within a controlled engineering-release and revision-management process.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with unusually large tires or low-pressure flotation tires.
- Electric power-steering integration or calibration experience.
- Experience with multibody vehicle simulation.
- Familiarity with Adams, CarSim, MATLAB, Simulink or similar tools.
- Brake-system or driveline-integration experience.
- Amphibious, marine or water-ingress engineering experience.
- Familiarity with CPSC, ANSI/SVIA, ANSI/ROHVA or EPA nonroad vehicle requirements.
- Experience working in a startup, prototype or low-volume manufacturing environment.
What Success Looks Like
During the initial development program, this engineer will help deliver:
- A documented review of the inherited vehicle design.
- Released suspension and steering geometry.
- Verified component loads and operating clearances.
- A controlled Alpha prototype design package.
- A completed and functioning prototype.
- A progressive steering, braking and stability test program.
- Documented corrective actions based on physical test results.
- A production-intent Beta design ready for further compliance testing.
Application Requirements
Please submit:
1. Your résumé.
2. A description of two relevant vehicle-development projects.
3. Your exact responsibility and decision authority on each project.
4. One example of a steering, suspension or handling problem you diagnosed and corrected.
5. Photographs or examples of hardware that was physically built from your engineering work.
6. Your earliest available start date.
7. Your compensation expectations.
Selected finalists will complete a short paid technical evaluation using sanitized project information.
VORREK Powersports requires a confidentiality agreement and intellectual-property assignment before access to proprietary engineering files.
Pay: $20.00 - $83,682.64 per hour
Benefits:
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Stillwater, MN 55082
Salary : $20,000 - $83,683