The Thermal Systems Calibration Engineer is responsible for developing, calibrating, validating, and optimizing vehicle thermal management and cabin HVAC control systems. This role requires 3+ years of hands-on vehicle calibration and testing experience to ensure thermal performance, component protection, energy efficiency, and occupant comfort across a wide range of operating and environmental conditions. The engineer will work closely with cross-functional teams to develop robust thermal control strategies and validate system performance through vehicle, dynamometer, and climatic chamber testing.
Responsibilities: - Calibrate and validate powertrain thermal management and cabin HVAC control systems to optimize thermal performance, energy efficiency, component protection, and occupant comfort.
- Develop and tune thermal control strategies for pumps, fans, valves, compressors, coolant and refrigerant circuits, and heating/cooling devices.
- Execute powertrain thermal and HVAC calibration activities, including hot/cold soak, thermal protection, derate, warm-up, cool-down, defrost, demist, and cabin comfort testing.
- Perform hands-on vehicle testing, climatic chamber testing, and dynamometer evaluations to assess and improve thermal system performance under varying operating conditions.
- Analyze vehicle data and instrumentation results to optimize coolant, refrigerant, airflow, temperature control, and overall thermal system effectiveness.
- Calibrate thermal management functions across a wide range of ambient temperatures, vehicle speeds, drive cycles, propulsion modes, charging conditions, and powertrain loads.
- Validate thermal system performance and control robustness through vehicle-level testing and real-world environmental assessments.
- Utilize calibration and data acquisition tools to troubleshoot system interactions and optimize integrated thermal and HVAC performance.
- Support vehicle-level thermal system integration, balancing propulsion cooling/heating requirements, cabin comfort demands, energy consumption, and system constraints.
- Collaborate with systems, controls, software, and validation teams to achieve thermal performance, efficiency, durability, and customer comfort targets.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Electrical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related field.
- 3+ years of hands-on experience in vehicle thermal management and HVAC calibration.
- Proven experience conducting vehicle-level testing, climatic chamber testing, and dynamometer testing.
- Strong understanding of coolant systems, refrigerant systems, HVAC controls, thermal protection strategies, and vehicle energy management.
- Experience with calibration and data acquisition tools such as CANape, INCA, ETAS, Vector, or equivalent.
- Proficiency in data analysis and calibration development using vehicle test data.
- Experience supporting thermal management systems for conventional, hybrid, or electric vehicles.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with MATLAB/Simulink and controls development.
- Experience supporting EV, hybrid, or advanced propulsion thermal systems.
- Knowledge of thermal modeling, vehicle controls, and system integration.
- Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
- Experience collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams in a fast-paced vehicle development environment.
