Vehicle Launch Engineer, Body Exteriors

We’re ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life-saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more.

As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing.

When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you’ll collaborate on some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow.

Workplace: On-site, 4 days per week. Fridays, Remote Location: Long Beach, CA

Responsibilities: • Own launch readiness for assigned exterior commodities across all build phases, from early prototype and integration builds through pilot, pre-production, and start of production • Lead build event support at the assembly plant and prototype shop, including part staging, first time build documentation, issue capture, containment, and daily issue review • Serve as the primary interface between exterior DREs, plant vehicle team, manufacturing engineering, STA, and quality on part availability, buildability, and process capability • Drive root cause and corrective action on exterior fit, finish, gap and flush, squeak and rattle, water leak, and craftsmanship findings discovered during build and validation • Manage the exterior launch issue list, prioritize by program risk, and drive closure through design change, tooling change, or process change with clear ownership and timing • Support tolerance and dimensional strategy execution, including fit to nominal execution, locator and datum verification, gap and flush measurement, and correlation of variation studies to build results • Coordinate part readiness with suppliers and purchasing, including tooling maturity, PPAP status, off tool and off process part timing, and escalation of at risk parts • Support DFM and DFA reviews on exterior components and assemblies, providing manufacturing and assembly feedback into the design during the release window • Track and report launch metrics and readiness status to program leadership, including open issue burn down, part readiness, and quality gate performance • Support engineering change execution during launch, verifying change implementation in the plant and confirming effectiveness on subsequent builds • Participate in buck reviews, teardown events, and vehicle audits, documenting findings and driving them into the appropriate engineering or manufacturing lane

Required Skills: • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Automotive Engineering, or equivalent experience • 5+ years of automotive engineering experience with direct involvement in vehicle launch, prototype builds, or plant side product engineering • Hands on experience with exterior body commodities such as fascias, bumpers, claddings, moldings, spoilers, glazing, or ornamentation • Demonstrated ownership of launch issue resolution, including root cause analysis, corrective action, and cross functional escalation • Working knowledge of GD&T, tolerance stack up, datum and locator strategy, and dimensional measurement methods • Familiarity with automotive product development milestones and launch gates, including prototype build phases, PPAP, and production validation • Experience working directly with suppliers on tooling maturity, part quality, and delivery recovery • Strong communication skills and the ability to operate credibly with plant floor personnel, engineers, suppliers, and program leadership • Willingness to work onsite in Long Beach, CA and to travel to supplier and assembly plant locations, including extended stretches during launch

Bonus Skills: • Prior experience launching an electric vehicle program or a new nameplate at a greenfield or low volume plant • Experience with OEM launch processes and terminology • Proficiency with CATIA V5, 3DEXPERIENCE, Siemens NX, or Teamcenter • Experience with dimensional and quality tools such as CMM data interpretation, blue light scanning, or variation simulation analysis • Exposure to exterior sensor apertures, sensor cleaning systems, or ADAS related exterior integration and the launch challenges they introduce • Background in injection molded plastics, Class A surface quality, paint and film processes, or adhesive and fastening systems • Experience managing issue tracking systems such as Jira or equivalent in a launch environment

Salary Range: • $120,000-$135,000 • The actual salary offered is dependent on various factors including, but not limited to, location, the candidate’s combination of job-related knowledge, qualifications, skills, education, training, and experience

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Drug Screening Requirement: As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug-free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre-employment drug screening as a condition of hire.