The Vehicle Efficiency Engineering (VEE) team is responsible for vehicle-level attributes that directly impact efficiency, performance, and customer experience. Working closely with product development, manufacturing, testing, validation, and attribute teams, Efficiency Engineering plays a critical role in delivering efficient, high-performing vehicles that meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Through a combination of engineering expertise, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration, the team influences key decisions from concept development through production launch and beyond.
About the RoleAs a Technical Specialist, Vehicle Systems Modeling, you will define the modeling methods and cross-functional evidence used to answer vehicle-efficiency, architecture, and performance questions. You will lead CFD and coupled physical-system modeling across thermal, propulsion, charging, chassis, aerodynamic, and controls domains and connect models to instrumented test data. In your first 12 months, success means an adopted modeling strategy, correlated priority models, reproducible analysis workflows, and faster design decisions across vehicle programs. Lucid offers technical ownership of the evidence chain from first-principles models through vehicle-level decisions.
What You Own - Technical Leadership: Align hardware, software, controls, test, and program stakeholders; review critical evidence; mentor engineers; and present decision-ready recommendations.
- Modeling Strategy: Define fit-for-purpose methods, fidelity, assumptions, uncertainty, and sign-off criteria for vehicle-efficiency and physical-system models.
- CFD and Multiphysics: Lead targeted CFD and thermal-fluid simulations for HVAC, cooling, aerodynamic, and other vehicle systems and translate results into design decisions.
- Coupled Vehicle Models: Develop and integrate mechanical, electrical, and thermal models spanning batteries, drive units, inverters, chargers, chassis, HVAC, and controls.
- Engineering Workflows: Build reusable pre-processing, parameter-study, optimization, post-processing, version-control, and regression workflows using Python, MATLAB, or equivalent tools.
- Correlation and Validation: Partner with test teams on instrumentation and experiments, correlate models to physical data, quantify uncertainty, and close gaps to agreed criteria.
Qualifications:- Advanced hands-on capability with commercial CFD plus system-modeling and data-analysis tools.
- Passion for problem-solving, and curiosity to discover and understand.
- Proven technical leadership of model development, instrumented testing, model-to-test correlation, and cross-functional engineering decisions.
- Deep expertise in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, numerical methods, and physics-based modeling.
- Bachelor's or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or in a related technical discipline.
- 8+ years of related experience with a bachelor's degree, 6+ years with a master's degree, or 3+ years with a PhD.
Preferred:- Experience and passion for hands-on work.
- Electric-vehicle modeling experience across batteries, drive units, inverters, charging, chassis, cooling, HVAC, or controls.
- Experience with ANSYS Fluent, Star-CCM+, OpenFOAM, reduced-order models, plant models, or coupled multidomain simulations using tools such as GT-SUITE, Simulink, AMESim, Python, or MATLAB.
- Experience with vehicle instrumentation, data acquisition, CAN data, test automation, and model correlation.
- Experience with Git, automated regression, reusable modeling standards, optimization, or high-performance-computing workflows.
Work Requirement This role is fully onsite at our Newark, CA headquarters. Daily in-person presence is required.
Salary Range: The compensation range for this position is specific to the locations listed below and is the range Lucid reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position taking into account the wide variety of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including job-related knowledge; skillset; experience, education and training; certifications; and other relevant business and organizational factors.
Base Pay Range (Annual)
$166,500-$244,200 USD
Compensation & Benefits: Lucid offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance; life and disability coverage; paid time off; paid holidays, paid sick leave; and a 401(k) retirement plan. Hourly/non-exempt employees accrue up to 120 hours paid time off, and salaried/exempt employee accrue up to 160 hours paid time off. Eligible employees may also participate in Lucid's equity program and/or a discretionary annual cash incentive program. Incentive and equity awards, if applicable, are determined based on individual performance, role scope, market considerations, and overall company results, in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.
