Vehicle Feature Owner (VFO) - Systems Engineering & Requirements

Job Description

Job Description

We're ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life-saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more.

As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing.

When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you'll collaborate on some of the world's toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow.

Position Summary

• The Vehicle Feature Owner (VFO) is responsible for defining, maintaining, and governing the functional intent of assigned vehicle features throughout the product development lifecycle.
• The VFO serves as the primary owner of feature functionality and customer expectations, ensuring that all feature requirements accurately reflect intended vehicle behavior, regulatory needs, and program objectives.
• Working closely with Systems Engineering, Requirements Management, Architecture, Design Engineering, and Validation organizations, the VFO assesses feature changes, identifies technical impacts, and drives the evolution of system requirements needed to support the feature.
• This role operates primarily in defining requirements, analyzing issues (from SW validation and overall system).

System Domains (Priority Order)

• Candidates should possess experience in one or more of the following vehicle system domains, with priority given to:
• Energy & Propulsion
• Thermal Systems
• Cabin & Visibility
• Chassis
• Access / Access Operations
• Cabin Climate & Comfort
• Vehicle Rights Management / Connectivity

Key Responsibilities

Feature Requirements Ownership

• Own the functional definition of assigned vehicle features.
• Define feature behavior, performance expectations, operating conditions.
• Ensure feature requirements are complete, consistent, and aligned with business and vehicle program objectives.
• Act as the authoritative source for feature intent and expected system behavior.
• Provide clarification and interpretation of feature requirements throughout the development lifecycle.

Requirements Impact Assessment

• Evaluate impacts of:
• New vehicle features
• Feature enhancements
• Feature modifications
• Carry-over content
• Regulatory changes
• Identify when feature changes require updates to existing system requirements.
• Assess downstream impacts across affected vehicle systems and interfaces.
• Initiate requirements updates when changes affect functional behavior or vehicle performance.
• Support technical impact analysis and change justification.

Requirements Development Support

• Collaborate with Requirements Management SMEs and Systems Engineers to translate feature intent into system requirements.
• Participate in requirements reviews and approval activities.
• Ensure system requirements accurately capture intended feature functionality.
• Resolve ambiguity, conflicts, and gaps within feature requirements.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Communicate feature changes and requirement impacts to stakeholders.
• Drive alignment on feature functionality and requirement content.
• Support resolution of technical disagreements related to feature definition.

Risk & Change Management

• Identify risks associated with feature changes and requirement modifications.
• Assess potential impacts to timing, complexity, and vehicle functionality.
• Support decision-making regarding requirement releases and feature evolution.
• Escalate risks and unresolved issues as appropriate.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
• Experience in systems development, systems engineering, or product engineering.
• Strong understanding of:
• System requirements
• Feature requirements
• Requirements decomposition
• Requirements traceability
• Vehicle system interactions
• Engineering change management
• Systems engineering principles
• Experience working with requirements management tools such as:
• DOORS
• DOORS Next
• Codebeamer

Preferred Experience

Experience within one or more of the following domains:

1. Energy & Propulsion
2. Thermal Systems
3. Cabin & Visibility
4. Chassis
5. Access / Access Operations
6. Cabin Climate & Comfort
7. Vehicle Rights Management / Connectivity

Knowledge of:

• INCOSE Systems Engineering principles
• Automotive development processes

Critical Competencies

Requirements-Oriented Thinking

• Strong understanding of how features are translated into system requirements.
• Ability to identify requirement gaps, conflicts, and ambiguities.
• Focus on requirement quality and completeness.

Systems Thinking

• Understands feature interactions across multiple vehicle systems.
• Evaluates impacts beyond a single subsystem.
• Recognizes integration and architectural implications.

Assertiveness

• Capable of defending feature intent and requirement changes.
• Able to challenge unsupported assumptions or pushback.
• Drives technically sound decisions despite competing priorities.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex technical information.
• Effective communication with technical and non-technical audiences.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• The ideal candidate is a System Engineer, Feature Owner, Design Lead, or Functional Architect with experience defining vehicle functionality and managing requirement impacts.
• The individual understands how customer-facing features are translated into system requirements and can confidently drive requirement decisions and cross-functional alignment during early vehicle development phases.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy.

Please beware of job seeker scams and see this important notice on our careers page for more information about our recruiting process.

Compliance Notice: Alten USA is a federal contractor subject to the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Executive Order 11246. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Drug Screening Requirement: As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug-free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre-employment drug screening as a condition of hire.