Senior Thermal Controls Engineer - Zoox

Job Title: Senior Thermal Controls Engineer
Job Location: Foster City, CA
Job Listing URL: https://jobs.lever.co/zoox/920ced29-ff44-47cf-8913-0780dfef46f1
Job Description: As a Senior Thermal Controls Engineer, you will spearhead the development and refinement of sophisticated control strategies to optimize the thermal system's performance and ensure a customer-ready product. Collaborating with the Thermal Systems Integration team, you will be instrumental in maintaining ideal operating temperatures for both occupants and critical components. Your expertise in developing advanced models, estimators, and algorithms will directly contribute to the daily functionality and longevity of Zoox robots, enhancing customer comfort and cabin experience. You will drive controls from conceptualization through Simulink code generation, oversee firmware implementation, and rigorously validate and refine algorithms through extensive physical testing.
In this role, you will:
Develop thermal system design, SFMEA, integration and verification plans to deliver system capability according to the product requirements and vehicle attributes and imperatives such as performance, time latency, functional safety, and cybersecurity among others
Lead strategic development of thermal control algorithms, models and estimators for cabin HVAC, high voltage battery, powertrain and specialized autonomous vehicle components.
Use thermal systems model and simulation capability and other test tools to assess controls performance and impacts to systems and attributes.
Drive thermal system integration and verification strategy and execution to cover nominal and off-nominal system configuration and test conditions.
Collaborate across vehicle thermal attributes, vehicle subsystem development, firmware development, and validation teams to determine the system requirements, function allocation, test, debug and release controls algorithms into Zoox firmware.
Engage the subsystem design and development teams to ensure the relevant subsystems, sensor and actuators are designed to fulfill system requirements, interfaces, and interactions to achieve specific vehicle functions.
Support thermal attribute team in defining calibration concept and methodology.
Qualifications
BS or higher in Mechanical, Electrical, or Controls Engineering or equivalent.
At least 8 years experience with thermal controls system development, modeling, and implementation.
Experience in linear systems analysis, state estimation, controller design and data analysis in Matlab/Simulink.
Fundamental understanding of thermal system components like chillers, evaporators, coolant and refrigerant pumps, radiators, fans, actuators, etc.
Experience in developing fail operational / fail safe concepts, and related system diagnostics based on functional safety standard (ISO26262 or equivalent).
Experience in developing electrical systems and subsystems requirements and proficiency of requirements management tools (IBM DOOrs, Siemens Polarion, or similar).
Working knowledge of automotive serial communication protocols (CAN/LIN/Ethernet) application and Physical & Functional interfaces definition.
Able to work with physical test assets, like bucks or actual robots, to evaluate and refine controller designs.