Engineer, Whole Vehicle Test Requirements and Validation – Body Exterior

What you’ll do

Become part of an iconic brand that is set to revolutionize the electric pick-up truck & rugged SUV marketplace by achieving the following:

• Own whole-vehicle validation definition and execution for body exterior systems and attributes—including closure mechanics, sealing performance, water management, wind noise, lighting, and fit-and-finish consistency across real-world customer use cases. 
• Define and develop validation strategies for limit operating conditions, including extreme environmental exposure, severe corrosion facilities, high-mileage structural durability routes, and high-pressure car washes that drive exterior component design requirements (material deformation, finish degradation, mechanism fatigue, and seal stability). 
• Establish key validation routes, environmental chamber profiles, and aerodynamic/vibration scenarios that represent worst-case and boundary conditions, providing critical input to door closures, liftgates, power flush handles, glazing, and wiper/washer systems. 
• Act as the source of truth for real-world environmental impacts, aerodynamic forces, water intrusion vectors, and structural loads acting on the vehicle exterior, ensuring engineering teams have accurate physical inputs for component and system design. 
• Support cross-functional validation alignment across Body Exterior, Closures, Sealing, Lighting, Electrical, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, and overall Vehicle teams to ensure cohesive vehicle-level exterior performance and execution. 
• Develop and manage vehicle-level test cases covering exterior system behavior, automated closure functionality, roof systems, exterior trim durability, and interaction with safety or aerodynamic control systems. 
• Translate body exterior functional and attribute targets into executable test procedures, instrumentation strategies, and validation plans at the whole-vehicle level. 
• Ensure body exterior physical systems perform flawlessly alongside electrical, lighting, and software interfaces to validate overall vehicle behavior in extreme hot/cold soak, high-speed driving, and heavy precipitation scenarios. 
• Travel to and lead vehicle-level validation campaigns and evaluation trips, including proving grounds, public roads, and extreme hot, cold, and corrosive climate regions to test diverse customer usage profiles and durability routes. 
• Translate customer use cases—such as daily closure cycles, highway driving wind noise, heavy downpour operation, payload loading, off-road debris impact, and daily wear-and-tear—into validation scenarios with measurable acceptance criteria. 
• Define and validate key vehicle-level exterior attributes, including closure operational efforts, gap/flush stability, wind noise reduction, water management safety, and overall exterior perceived quality. 
• Drive test execution and data collection, including route design, vehicle prep, and complex instrumentation setup using water leak detection systems, thermal sensors, strain gauges, pressure sensors, accelerometers, microphones, and specialized data loggers. 
• Ensure robust traceability from system requirements to test cases and validation results using lifecycle tools such as Codebeamer, Jama, or Jira. 
• Collaborate across exterior engineering, body structures, electrical, and vehicle teams to analyze test data, identify performance gaps, root-cause deviations, and resolve cross-functional issues. 
•  Document validation results, benchmark competitive vehicle exterior performance, and provide data-driven sign-off recommendations to support vehicle release decisions.

Location & Travel Expectations:

• This role will be based out of the Scout Motors location in Novi, Michigan.
• This role requires 4-5 days per week in the office, with regular in-person meetings and events. 
• Applicants should expect that the role will require the ability to convene with Scout colleagues in person and travel to participate in events on behalf of the company from time to time.

What you’ll bring 

We expect all Scout employees to have integrity, curiosity, resourcefulness, and strive to exhibit a positive attitude, as well as a growth mindset. You’ll be comfortable with change and flexible in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. You’ll take a collaborative approach to achieve ambitious goals. Here's what else you'll bring: 

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Software Engineering, or a related technical field.    
• At least 4+ years of experience in whole vehicle validation, full-performance testing, and vehicle-level verification testing. 
• Hands-on experience using CANoe, INCA, and validation-related instrumentation equipment to capture, log, and parse vehicle network and sensor data. 
• Experience defining whole vehicle test plans (DVP), executing physical or vehicle tests, and tracking build/software changes across vehicle fleets.  
• Working knowledge of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and product tracking tools (such as Jama, Polarion, DOORS, MagicDraw, or Codebeamer). 
• Solid understanding of whole vehicle development phases and products tailored to automotive-specific safety standards, with a focus on enhancing delivery quality, security, and developer experience. 
•  Experience testing complete vehicle systems to meet automotive-grade standards and ensure compliance with industry regulations. 
• Proven ability to work in a truly cross-functional and global environment to align full-vehicle targets. 
• Strong interpersonal skills, including ownership, self-motivation, problem-solving, analytical thinking, teamwork, innovation, creativity, and effective communication abilities. You should be able to develop and thrive in working relationships. 

What you'll gain

The benefits of joining Scout include the chance to build products and a company from the ground up.  This is a chance to create something new and lasting – with an iconic brand at its foundation.  In addition, Scout provides competitive compensation and benefits to support your physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. Program specifics are detailed in company policies and employee benefit guides, select highlights:

• Competitive insurance including:
  • Medical, dental, vision and income protection plans
• 401(k) program with:
  • An employer match and immediate vesting
• Generous Paid Time Off including:
  • 20 days planned PTO, as accrued
  • 40 hours of unplanned PTO and 14 company or floating holidays, annually
  • Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave for biological and adoptive parents of all genders
  • Paid leave for circumstances related to bereavement, jury duty, voting time, or military leave

Pay Transparency

This is a full-time, exempt position eligible to receive a base salary and to participate in an annual performance bonus program. Final salary offered will be determined based on factors including but not limited to the candidate's skills and experience. The annual performance bonus program is preset and not candidate dependent.

Initial base salary range = $110,000.00 - $135,000.00

Internal leveling code: IC9