Seating and Passive Safety HW Validation Engineer

The Component and System Hardware Validation team at Zoox is responsible for ensuring our components and sub-systems on the Zoox robotaxi meet all functional and reliability targets needed to facilitate our autonomous mobility service. Our team has an action-biased culture marked by integrity, humility, competence, and passion for the Zoox mission and the systems we design. We are building real products here and are looking for doers to join us.

As a validation engineer supporting seating, restraints and airbags, you will be responsible for establishing and executing a robust and rigorous validation process from requirements development through report approval. This will include managing internal and external testing resources as well as supplier-led validation activities which ensure durability, reliability, and safety targets are satisfied. You will work closely with cross-functional teams to understand root causes of failures, identify mitigation strategies, and incorporate learnings into new designs. 

In this role, you will:

Develop and manage test plans to validate mechanical, electrical, and environmental failure modes around our interior trim, seating and restraints systems (Occupant Classification, airbags, seatbelts, ACU).

Collaborate with design engineers to ensure that requirements are clearly defined and captured within the validation plan

Identify appropriate test assets, data acquisition systems, and sensors to ensure high-quality test data

Analyze test data to provide clear and concise reporting of test results

Support DFMEA activities to ensure that all potential failure modes are adequate covered within the validation plan

Support root cause failure analysis activities during development, validation, and deployment

Design test fixtures necessary to complete testing

Manage validation schedule to ensure appropriate test assets are available and critical path items are identified

Qualifications

BS or MS in mechanical engineering, or related relevant field

8+ years of test or validation experience related to interior automotive trims, seats and restraints systems. 

Experience with failure and root cause analysis

Experience generating and managing DFMEAs

Experience with requirements management tools (Polarion or equiv.)

Experience with test standards: FMVSS 207 (seating systems), 208 (occupant protection), 202a (head restraints), 209/210 (belts/anchorages), 302 (flammability), UN ECE R17 (seats, anchorages, head restraints), R14 (belt anchorages), R16 (belts), R80 (bus seats), Euro NCAP (whiplash protocols), IIHS head restraint ratings, ISO 6487 (crash measurement instrumentation), ISO 3795 (flammability), ISO 12219 (VOC), ISO 105 (textile colorfastness), ISO 13934/5470 (textile strength), ISO 3385/3386 (foam fatigue/hardness), ISO 16840 (seating and wheelchair—pressure/comfort reference), ASTM D3574 (foam), ASTM D4329 (UV), ASTM B117 / ISO 9227 (salt spray), SAE J211 (instrumentation), ISO 6487, ISO 13232 / ISO 6813, ISO 12097, ISO 14040, SAE J2092

UN 3268 (safety devices, transport), UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, DOT/ADR hazmat rules, and local explosives handling regulations (e.g., ATF in the US) 

Bonus Qualifications

Familiarity with 3D design tools. CATIA 3DX or CATIA V5 or SolidWorks preferred

Experience with passive safety systems

Seat structure, anchorage, and recliner/track/latch strength testing (static, dynamic, fatigue)

Crash/sled test setup, instrumentation, and data interpretation (head restraints, whiplash, belt anchorages)

Airbag module, inflator (pyrotechnic, hybrid, cold gas), cushion/fabric, tether, and vent design principle

Seatbelt systems: retractors, pretensioners, load limiters, buckles, webbing, anchorages

Steering wheel, knee, curtain, side, and pedestrian airbag architecture; active hood/pop-up systems