Senior/Staff Closures Engineer

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About the Role Tell potential applicants about the team’s core values. This will help ensure candidates who share Zoox’s values apply. Highlight the broader impact of the team and Zoox. Quality applicants are drawn to work that is meaningful. How will a candidate be contributing and making a difference? Communicate that there are opportunities for learning and growth. Great candidates seek out companies that support growth and learning.

Remember: Candidates are looking for cues about whether or not they will fit in at Zoox, so make sure your language is balanced and inclusive.

Example: The Autonomous Driving Software Integration team at Zoox is responsible for bringing together the computer science world with the automotive world in order to create an amazing product for everyone. Our team has a collaborative culture marked by openness and supportive risk-taking. You’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to making cities safer, smarter and more sustainable.

Together with the team, you will define the driving experience of the robot by engineering application software responsible for decision making, trajectory planning, and controls. We are looking for an engineer who is excited to traverse the autonomous driving compute stack, loves to learn new things, and likes to take ownership of major software components. If you like to work close to the robot platform and enjoy experiencing your developed software in the robot, we would like to hear from you.

TAGS

• Data Science
• Communications
• Design and Product
• Operations
• Finance
• Procurement
• Hardware Engineering
• Product Security
• Human Resources
• Program Management
• Information Technology
• Quality
• Legal and Policy
• Software Engineering
• Manufacturing Operations
• Supply Chain
• Systems and Safety

Serve as the technical owner and subject matter expert for the complete closures system. Understand how every component interfaces within the system and with the rest of the vehicle, and anticipate interdependencies between closures and adjacent complex systems before they become integration failures. Set and defend the closures architecture across current and future vehicle programs - mechanism topology, load paths, sealing and water-management strategy, actuation and state-detection strategy, tolerance and dimensional strategy, and the hardware/firmware boundary - making the trade-offs explicit in cost, mass, timing, reliability, serviceability, and manufacturability. Own the closures requirements set and its rationale, and improve the flow of testing from component through subsystem to full-vehicle level so the DV plan retires the risks the architecture creates. Create the design processes and standards that outlive any single program - kinematic synthesis, system dynamic modeling, DFM, and mechanism design. Personally own the design of critical closures components and mechanisms - latches, hinges, actuators, seals, glazing interfaces, or equivalent - through concept, DFMEA, sourcing, tooling, PPAP, validation, and launch, including releasing and maintaining your own production-quality CAD and drawings with GD&T. Size and check your own designs using section-capacity and inertia calculations, SimSolid (or equivalent) FEA pre-processing, and Python/MATLAB mechanism and mechatronic modeling. Independently lead root cause analysis on substantial, ambiguous hardware problems and drive the fix to closure through design, process, or firmware. Influence decisions at executive leadership levels, mentor engineers new to closures and to Zoox, initiate and lead projects across functions, and act as the technical point of contact for current and prospective closures suppliers across multiple commodity domains.

BS in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or a related field. 10+ years of professional experience in mechanical engineering (or 8+ years with an advanced degree), with a focus on automotive closures, complex mechanisms, or robotics. Demonstrated ownership of a closures system — or an equivalently complex, integrated vehicle system — at the architecture level, including the requirements set, the integration strategy, and the trade-off decisions. Proven record of taking closure systems or complex mechanisms through the full vehicle development cycle (design → sourcing → validation → launch), with mass-production experience. Expert-level fluency in 3D CAD, preferably CATIA 3D experience, with the ability to personally release production-quality parts. Deep experience designing automated sliding or hinged doors, liftgates, trunks, decklids, or charge-port mechanisms. Demonstrated expertise in kinematic synthesis and mechanism load-path design. Strong knowledge of Design for Manufacturability, GD&T, dimensional engineering, and manufacturing processes (casting, stamping, injection molding, extrusion). Able to hold a credible technical conversation with EE, firmware, CAE, manufacturing, quality, and service, and to arbitrate between them.

Experience with simulation tools, like MATLAB/Simulink for mechanical system modeling and closed-loop control. Solid electronics fundamentals; comfortable with ECUs, sensor selection (e.g., Hall-effect vs. microswitch state detection), CAN bus, and basic electrical debug. Experience with FEA and feasibility tools, like InspireForm, InspireCast, or similar Experience with transit, commercial, or fleet applications where closures see far more cycles and less forgiving service conditions than passenger cars. Experience with seal design, water management, wind noise, and/or door-closing effort.

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