Lead Carbody Structure Engineer

Position Overview

Lead the carbody structure engineering for a major rolling stock project, serving as the technical reference for the carbody shell. You will own design choices, ensure consistency with platform standards and architectural guidelines, and coordinate the carbody design team, multidisciplinary interfaces, suppliers, industrialization, and project management to deliver a compliant carbody on time, within budget, and at the required quality level.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Act as the technical authority for the carbody shell structure (underframe, side walls, roof, end walls, cab structure) throughout the complete project lifecycle.

• Define the carbody structural architecture and general concepts from tender/early design phases through to series production.

• Make and justify technical trade-offs (weight, cost, manufacturability, performance) and escalate critical decisions to the Domain Leader.

• Lead formal design reviews (PDR, CDR, FDR) and approve carbody design deliverables prior to release.

Team Leadership & Planning

• Lead and coordinate a team of carbody design engineers and designers (internal and external subcontractors).

• Build and manage the carbody design schedule, workload planning, and labor budget (hours), tracking the progress of deliverables (3D models, 2D drawings, BOMs, technical notes).

• Report progress, risks, and mitigation actions to the Domain Leader, Engineering Manager, and project management team.

• Coach and mentor junior engineers while driving the adoption of best practices within the team.

Requirements, Interfaces & Compliance

• Analyze customer, project, and platform requirements, ensuring total flow-down and traceability into the carbody design.

• Manage space allocations and technical interfaces with interfacing subsystems (bogies, HVAC, doors, couplers, electrical equipment, interiors, cab).

• Ensure strict compliance with applicable rail standards and regulations (e.g., EN 12663, EN 15227, EN 15085, ISO 3834, AAR/APTA/FRA).

• Coordinate with the structural analysis team on FEA, crashworthiness, and fatigue results to drive necessary design iterations.

• Support validation and homologation activities, including static/fatigue testing, crash tests, test reports, and certification files.

Quality, Cost & Delivery (QCD)

• Commit to and secure QCD targets for the carbody domain: weight budget, cost targets, and delivery milestones.

• Guarantee product performance, manufacturability, maintainability, and testability using Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFM/DFA) principles.

• Lead risk analyses (DFMEA) and drive the resolution of technical non-conformances.

• Manage design changes and system configurations using standard engineering change processes.

Industrialization, Suppliers & Production

• Collaborate with Industrialization teams on welding processes, tooling jigs, assembly sequences, and quality inspection plans.

• Provide technical support to Purchasing for supplier evaluation, technical specification drafting, and ongoing supplier monitoring.

• Support Production during prototype build, First Article Inspection (FAI), and manufacturing ramp-up (resolving deviations, concessions, and root cause analysis).

Continuous Improvement

• Capture lessons learned to contribute to platform standardization and design rules.

• Propose improvements to design methods, software tools, and engineering workflows.