Senior NVH Engineer
$180,000–$210,000 year
On-sitePalo Alto, California, United States
Job Summary
Lead NVH development for drive units, belt systems, and complete vehicles from concept through production. Develop and validate CAE models including modal, forced response, and transfer function analyses, then correlate simulation results with laboratory and vehicle measurements using MAC and Transfer Path Analysis. Moderate experience conducting vehicle-, component-, and dynamometer-level NVH testing to identify source, path, and receiver contributions. Define NVH targets, metrics, and acceptance criteria for road noise, wind noise, and structural vibration. Recommend design improvements for motors, gears, housings, bearings, belts, mounts, and isolation systems. Collaborate with controls engineers to reduce NVH through software optimization, including motor control angle optimization and PWM switching strategies. Present technical findings and design recommendations to cross-functional engineering teams and leadership.
Required Qualifications
- Strong understanding of vibration, structural dynamics, rotational acoustics, and psychoacoustic metrics including loudness, sharpness, articulation index, prominence ratio, tone-to-noise ratio, and spectral weighting
- Moderate experience with NVH testing software such as Siemens Simcenter Testlab, Head Acoustics, Artemis, or equivalent
- Strong experience with NVH simulation tools such as Simcenter 3D, Abaqus, Ansys, Nastran, or equivalent
- Experience correlating CAE models with experimental measurements using MAC, modal testing, and Transfer Path Analysis
- Hands-on experience performing vehicle, component, dynamometer, modal, and source-level NVH testing
- Experience using controls development tools such as CANape, CANalyzer, or similar
- Proficiency in MATLAB and/or Python for data analysis, automation, and simulation support
- Understanding of electric motor NVH, including electromagnetic excitation, stator mounting, rotor skew, pole count, cogging torque, and harmonic excitation
- Familiarity with gear, bearing, and belt system NVH, including common excitation mechanisms and mitigation techniques
- Knowledge of vibration isolation, damping treatments, acoustic materials, and mount design
- Experience performing sensitivity studies, Monte Carlo analyses, and design optimization
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to present complex technical information clearly to engineers and leadership
Desired Qualifications
- Moderate experience conducting vehicle-, component-, and dynamometer-level NVH testing to identify source, path, and receiver contributions
- Simulate/measure transfer functions, source characterization, and transfer path analyses to identify dominant noise and vibration mechanisms
- Some experience instrumenting vehicles and laboratory test setups using accelerometers, microphones, laser vibrometers, tachometers, thermocouples, strain gauges, current probes, impact hammers, and shakers
- Experience with NVH materials and supplier technologies, including acoustic barriers, absorbers, damping materials, Quiet Steel, structural foams, vibration isolators, bushings, gaskets, drive unit covers, and acoustic encapsulation
- Develop automated analysis tools using MATLAB and/or Python to improve testing efficiency and data processing
- Lead NVH development of drive units, belt systems, and complete vehicles from concept through production
- Develop and validate CAE models for drive units and vehicle systems, including modal, forced response, transfer function, and sensitivity analyses
- Correlate simulation results with laboratory and vehicle measurements using techniques such as MAC and Transfer Path Analysis (TPA)
- Define NVH targets, metrics, and acceptance criteria for drive units, belt systems, road noise, wind noise, accessories, and structural vibration
- Recommend design improvements for motors, gears, housings, bearings, belts, mounts, and isolation systems
- Collaborate with controls engineers to reduce NVH through software optimization, including motor control angle optimization, harmonic current injection, PWM switching strategies, and related techniques
- Correlate electromagnetic, structural, and acoustic behavior to improve overall system performance
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