Thermal Test Engineer

Lincoln Motor Company; Long Beach (CA); Hybrid; USD 139,000 - 233,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Parental leave

Adoption assistance

Vehicle discount

Tuition assistance

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a Thermal Test Engineer to lead vehicle-level thermal testing, ensuring sizing and tuning targets are met. You will plan, instrument, and execute tests, coordinating with controls engineers and technicians to deliver high-quality data for program decisions.

The role emphasizes planning, readiness, and cross-functional collaboration, with a hybrid onsite work arrangement and a salary grade 8 compensation package.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related thermal/fluid sciences.
• 3+ years of experience in vehicle- or system-level thermal testing or a related test engineering role.
• Strong understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics as applied to vehicle thermal systems.
• Experience planning and executing instrumented vehicle tests, including data acquisition setup and thermal instrumentation.

Responsibilities

• Own the planning, readiness, and execution of vehicle-level thermal testing, delivering data that validates system sizing and tuning.
• Plan and execute vehicle-level tests that validate thermal system sizing and tuning against targets.
• Develop comprehensive thermal test plans, including objectives, conditions, instrumentation, and success criteria, and drive test readiness.
• Manage allocation and scheduling of thermal test vehicles across program needs.
• Plan and coordinate test trips and proving-ground events to capture environmental extremes the thermal system must meet.
• Coordinate environmental/climatic chamber and wind-tunnel time and test matrices.
• Define and oversee thermal instrumentation of test vehicles (thermocouples, sensors, DAQ).
• Process, analyze, and report test results to stakeholders, flagging risks and supporting decisions.

Skills

Thermal testing experience

Data analysis

Instrumented vehicle testing

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related thermal/fluid sciences

Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Job description

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

Product Creation and Industrialization (PC&I) brings together Ford’s vehicle, electric, digital and design teams with our global manufacturing system. Working as one end-to-end organization, we turn ideas into high-quality vehicles, software and experiences across gas, hybrid and electric, designed around what customers need.

In this position...

Join our dynamic and agile team pioneering Ford's EV future. As a Thermal Test Engineer, you will be the person who proves our thermal management system works in the real world.

Be the one who proves it works. Your test plans, instrumentation, and data will be the final word on whether our thermal system meets its targets — validating the sizing and tuning our engineers designed and signing off the attributes that let our vehicles perform in the harshest real-world conditions.

What you'll do...

• You will own the planning, readiness, and execution of vehicle-level thermal testing, and deliver the data that validates system sizing/tuning and closes attribute signoff.
• Thermal Sizing/Tuning Validation: Plan and execute vehicle-level tests that validate thermal system sizing and tuning against targets, correlating results back to system models.
• Test Planning & Readiness: Develop comprehensive thermal test plans, including objectives, conditions, instrumentation, and success criteria, and drive test readiness so vehicles, facilities, and data systems are prepared ahead of each event.
• Vehicle Scheduling: Manage the allocation and scheduling of thermal test vehicles across competing program needs, ensuring the right vehicle configurations are available when required.
• Test Trip Planning: Plan and coordinate test trips and proving-ground events (logistics, timing, routes/conditions, and on-site execution) to capture the environmental extremes the thermal system must meet.
• Vehicle Chamber Scheduling: Book and coordinate environmental/climatic chamber and wind-tunnel time, sequencing test matrices to make efficient use of constrained facility capacity.
• Vehicle Instrumentation & Planning: Define and oversee thermal instrumentation of test vehicles (thermocouples, pressure/flow sensors, data acquisition), ensuring sensor placement, channel counts, and DAQ setup deliver the data quality the test objectives require.
• Data & Reporting: Process, analyze, and clearly report test results to program stakeholders, flagging risks to targets and supporting the decisions that follow.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with the subsystem owners, Controls Engineers, and test technicians to align test content, and partner with the Thermal Technical Program Manager on test timing and critical-path milestones.

You’ll have...

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or related thermal/fluid sciences discipline.
• 3+ years of experience in vehicle- or system-level thermal testing, validation, or a related test engineering role.
• Solid understanding of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics as applied to vehicle thermal systems.
• Experience planning and executing instrumented vehicle tests, including data acquisition setup and thermal instrumentation.
• Proficiency with data analysis tools (e.g., MATLAB, Python, or equivalent) for processing and interpreting test data.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple test events, schedules, and facility constraints in parallel.

Even better, you may have...

• Master's degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Experience with EV thermal management systems (battery, drive unit, power electronics, and cabin HVAC).
• Experience coordinating climatic chamber, wind-tunnel, and/or hot- and cold-weather proving-ground testing.
• Familiarity with vehicle communication protocols (CAN, LIN, Automotive Ethernet) and data logging from vehicle networks.
• Experience with attribute signoff or requirements-verification processes (e.g., DVP&R).

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 salary grade 8 and ranges from $138,800-$232,700.

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.

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.