Seating and Passive Safety HW Validation Engineer
Foster City · USD 190,000-228,000 / year · 8+ years experience · Full-time · Onsite · Posted Oct 9, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 8+ years experience
- Employment
- Full-time
- Workplace
- Onsite
- Location
- Foster City
- Salary
- USD 190,000-228,000 / year
About the role
- Zoox is seeking a Seating and Passive Safety HW Validation Engineer to develop and manage test plans validating mechanical, electrical, and environmental failure modes for interior trim, seating, and restraints systems.
- The role involves collaborating with design engineers, analyzing test data, supporting DFMEA activities, and managing validation schedules.
Responsibilities
- Develop and manage test plans to validate mechanical, electrical, and environmental failure modes around our interior trim, seating and restraints systems (Occupant Classification, airbags, seatbelts, ACU).
- Collaborate with design engineers to ensure that requirements are clearly defined and captured within the validation plan.
- Identify appropriate test assets, data acquisition systems, and sensors to ensure high-quality test data.
- Analyze test data to provide clear and concise reporting of test results.
- Support DFMEA activities to ensure that all potential failure modes are adequate covered within the validation plan.
- Support root cause failure analysis activities during development, validation, and deployment.
- Design test fixtures necessary to complete testing.
- Manage validation schedule to ensure appropriate test assets are available and critical path items are identified.
Requirements
- BS or MS in mechanical engineering, or related relevant field.
- 8+ years of test or validation experience related to interior automotive trims, seats and restraints systems.
- Experience with failure and root cause analysis.
- Experience generating and managing DFMEAs.
- Experience with requirements management tools (Polarion or equiv.).
- Experience with test standards including FMVSS 207, 208, 202a, 209/210, 302, UN ECE R17, R14, R16, R80, Euro NCAP, IIHS head restraint ratings, ISO 6487, ISO 3795, ISO 12219, ISO 105, ISO 13934/5470, ISO 3385/3386, ISO 16840, ASTM D3574, ASTM D4329, ASTM B117 / ISO 9227, SAE J211, ISO 13232 / ISO 6813, ISO 12097, ISO 14040, SAE J2092.
- Experience with UN 3268, UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, DOT/ADR hazmat rules, and local explosives handling regulations.
- Experience with passive safety systems.
- Seat structure, anchorage, and recliner/track/latch strength testing (static, dynamic, fatigue).
- Crash/sled test setup, instrumentation, and data interpretation (head restraints, whiplash, belt anchorages).
Preferred qualifications
- CATIA 3DX or CATIA V5 or SolidWorks preferred
Skills
- Polarion
- CATIA 3DX
- CATIA V5
- SolidWorks
