Lead Engineer, Zonal ECU Design Responsible Engineer (Automotive)

Location: Novi, Michigan, United States; 4–5 days per week in the office with regular in-person meetings, events, and occasional travel required

Base salary: $160,000–$192,500 annually, plus eligibility for an annual performance bonus

Company

hirify.global is developing electrified, digitally enabled pickup trucks and rugged SUVs, including all-electric and range-extender powertrains.

What you will do

• Own the end-to-end design and release strategy for zonal ECUs from concept through production launch.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for zonal ECU hardware and coordinate with electrical architecture, software, validation, manufacturing, purchasing, quality, and suppliers.
• Define, govern, and approve hardware requirements and tradeoffs across power distribution, thermal management, signal integrity, diagnostics, cybersecurity interfaces, packaging, cost, quality, and timing.
• Lead architecture and design reviews, DFMEAs, validation strategies, technical decisions, root-cause analysis, risk assessment, and recovery planning.
• Direct supplier technical activities and resolve cross-functional issues during builds, validation, launch, and lifecycle changes.
• Establish scalable ECU engineering practices, design standards, lessons learned, and technical direction for engineers and extended team members.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering, combined electrical/mechanical engineering, or a related field.
• At least 12 years of progressive experience in ECU hardware development and release, including critical programs from concept through production launch.
• Expertise in ECU hardware architecture, PCB design, component selection, thermal and power analysis, signal integrity, manufacturing, and validation.
• Experience across automotive product development, including requirements, design, sourcing, testing, validation, launch, and lifecycle support.
• Strong knowledge of CAN, LIN, Ethernet, and FlexRay communication protocols and their hardware implications.
• Experience with structured engineering methods including Six Sigma, DFMEA, and root-cause analysis, plus the ability to work independently and influence cross-functional stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Experience with zonal architecture or centralized vehicle compute systems.
• Deep knowledge of cybersecurity and functional safety requirements.
• Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
• Experience establishing ECU engineering standards, reusable methods, or cross-program lessons learned.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to build new electric trucks, rugged SUVs, and an automotive company from the ground up.
• Medical, dental, vision, and income protection plans.
• 401(k) with employer match and immediate vesting.
• 20 days of planned PTO, 40 hours of unplanned PTO, and 14 company or floating holidays annually.
• Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave, plus paid leave for bereavement, jury duty, voting time, and military leave.