Staff Embedded Controls Engineer, Thermal

Lincoln Motor Company; Long Beach (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 284,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision benefits

Paid parental leave

Vehicle discount

Job summary

Ford Motor Company seeks a senior lead engineer to bridge modeling and real-world control of thermal systems in a hybrid environment. You will develop and validate control algorithms for climate, battery, and powertrain applications, writing efficient C code for real-time embedded platforms and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in control design, strong Python, MATLAB/Simulink experience, and a collaborative mindset.

Qualifications

• Master's or higher in Electrical/Mechanical/CS with exceptional ability.
• 8+ years developing control algorithms for physical systems.

Responsibilities

• Create control/estimation algorithms for thermal management (climate control, battery, powertrain, HVAC).
• Deliver high-quality C code in real-time embedded environments.
• Write unit, SIL, and HIL test cases and work with test teams.
• Develop and refine models to compare control algorithms across metrics.

Skills

Python programming

C/C++

Control theory

Model-based design

Embedded systems

Education

Master's degree in Electrical/Mechanical/CS

Tools

MATLAB/Simulink

JIRA/Confluence

Job description

Overview

At Ford, you’ll work on ideas that matter, alongside passionate people who want to make a global impact. Together, we’re shaping the next era of transportation—grounded in purpose, driven by progress. Make your move.

• Job Type: Full time
• Work Type: Hybrid

Thermal systems span a diverse range of critical customer-facing attributes, hardware, and software domains. For example, our work keeps occupants comfortable, enables full vehicle powertrain capability, and empowers battery fast charging — in all weather conditions. We strive to balance heating/cooling performance, energy consumption, cost, reliability, NVH, and packaging trade-offs through physics-driven, cross-functional engineering collaboration. We work closely with mechanical engineers, aerodynamicists, battery and powertrain experts, electrical engineers, embedded/controls engineers, and more through all phases of vehicle development. Your role: bridge the gap between what’s possible (models/simulation) and reality by building a world-class controls framework to deliver an exceptional customer experience in all situations that may arise.
What you’ll do…

• Create control/estimation algorithms to support a broad thermal management scope: climate control, battery, powertrain, heat pump/refrigeration system, car computers, and more.
• Deliver high-quality C code in a real-time embedded environment.
• Write unit, SIL, and HIL test cases to ensure proper functionality.
• Work closely with test and integration engineers to debug your control algorithms at the bench and vehicle level.
• Adapt or create reduced-order thermal systems models to suit control-focused development/refinement workflows.
• Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and firmware engineers to execute control strategies.
• Develop fault detections and reaction strategies for seamless customer experience.
• Develop and continuously improve models to compare alternative control algorithms quantitatively across many key metrics (cost, efficiency, performance, complexity, etc.)
• Monitor fleet telemetry and use data analysis to close the loop on software quality and help ideate new software features.
• You’ll have…
• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Computer Science, with evidence of exceptional ability, or equivalent.
• 8+ years of experience in developing control algorithms and applying them to physical systems.
• High proficiency in programming experience using Python.
• Strong foundational background in control theory, system dynamics, and model-based design.
• Highly collaborative mindset and strong communication skills.
• Experience with JIRA/Confluence or a similar system for tracking inputs/results.
• Hands‑on experience in hardware bring‑up, system debugging, and code optimization.
• Knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals including circuit analysis and design
  Even better, you may have…
• A strong understanding of linear systems, state‑estimation/observers is a plus.
• Familiarity with thermal control algorithms, and experience implementing it on an embedded system.
• Familiarity with refrigeration systems (compressors, heat exchangers, valves, sensors, charge and oil management) and HVAC systems.
• Experience with automotive communication protocols and stacks (CAN, LIN, ethernet, UDS, etc.)
• Knowledge of microcontroller peripherals such as ADC, GPIO, PWM, and SPI, and experience in sensors and digital signal processing.
• Experience with data management tools / using fleet data to guide design.
• Proficiency in C and C++ and scripting skills in at least one common language (Python, Perl, Shell).
• Experience developing control algorithms for thermal systems using modeling tools of various scales (Python, MATLAB/Simulink, or similar).

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we’ve outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company,
As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp‑up programs, subsidized back‑up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a leadership level 6 and ranges from $150,200-$283,500.

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate’s skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

For more information on salary and benefits, https://fordcareers.co/LL6

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week.