Quick overview
Job description
The following description is not intended as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. Management retains the discretion of adding or changing the duties of the position at any time.
SUMMARY:
RIDE is seeking a Senior Product Engineer to support the definition, development, launch, and continuous improvement of truck products for the North American market.
This role translates customer needs, operating requirements, and competitive insights into clear product specifications and practical engineering solutions. Working closely with North American teams and headquarters R&D, the Senior Product Engineer drives assigned truck products and features from initial requirements through engineering development, validation, production readiness, and launch.
The successful candidate will bring substantial automotive engineering experience, direct involvement in physical product development, and the technical judgment to balance vehicle performance, quality, cost, manufacturability, and customer value.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Product Requirements and Definition
- Gather and evaluate requirements from fleet customers, sales, service teams, and other stakeholders to define truck applications, features, specifications, and configurations.
- Translate operating needs—including payload, range, duty cycle, charging requirements, body compatibility, and serviceability—into measurable product requirements and acceptance criteria.
- Maintain product specifications and track requirement changes, ensuring alignment across engineering and business teams.
Market and Competitive Assessment
- Evaluate competing truck products, customer feedback, and application needs to identify product gaps and improvement opportunities.
- Recommend feature priorities and configuration improvements based on technical feasibility, customer value, cost, and market requirements.
- Provide engineering input to truck product roadmaps and new product proposals.
Product Development and Vehicle Integration
- Lead assigned product development activities from concept and requirements definition through design reviews, prototype builds, validation, engineering release, and production launch.
- Coordinate vehicle layout, packaging, and system interfaces with responsible engineering teams, including chassis, cab, battery, electric powertrain, thermal management, and electrical systems.
- Review design trade-offs affecting payload, weight distribution, performance, reliability, manufacturability, and service access.
- Coordinate with body builders and suppliers to address chassis interfaces, installation requirements, and application-specific integration needs.
Validation and Production Readiness
- Work with engineering, quality, manufacturing, and compliance specialists to establish validation plans, track results, and resolve issues before release.
- Support design risk assessments, engineering change reviews, prototype evaluations, and production readiness activities.
- Coordinate product compliance requirements and supporting documentation with responsible specialists.
- Drive technical issue resolution through root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and verification of effectiveness.
Cross-Functional Execution and Lifecycle Support
- Coordinate product deliverables, technical decisions, and milestones across North American teams, headquarters R&D, suppliers, and manufacturing.
- Assess proposed changes for their impact on product requirements, cost, schedule, quality, and customer commitments.
- Support customer technical reviews, vehicle evaluations, product introductions, and field issue investigations.
- Use production and field feedback to recommend improvements, cost reductions, configuration standardization, and feature upgrades.
- Communicate product readiness, open issues, risks, and recommended actions to management, and provide technical guidance to other engineers.
REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCES
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent technical education and demonstrated engineering experience.
- At least 7 years of relevant engineering experience in the automotive industry, including work for a vehicle manufacturer or an automotive supplier.
- Direct experience in automotive product development, vehicle integration or subsystem engineering. Experience must include hands-on technical ownership, not solely project scheduling or reporting.
- Demonstrated responsibility for a vehicle or automotive subsystem through at least one development cycle spanning design, prototype build, validation and production launch.
- Experience leading cross-functional engineering activities and resolving technical issues with manufacturing, quality, suppliers and customer engineering teams.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with electric buses, trucks, commercial vehicles or other heavy-duty vehicle platforms.
- Experience integrating batteries, high-voltage systems, electric powertrains, thermal systems or charging interfaces.
- Experience with automotive launch and quality processes, including APQP, PPAP, DFMEA or DVP&R.
- PMP certification. Mandarin proficiency is a plus for collaboration with Mandarin-speaking teams and suppliers.
Pay Range: $120,000 - $160,000 annually
RIDE is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition, religious creed, physical disability, mental disability, age, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities, and general treatment during employment.