Senior Suspension Engineer

Description

Summary:

RANDYS Worldwide designs, develops, builds, and tests suspension systems in-house. Fabrication, assembly, prototyping, shock tuning, vehicle installation, and testing all happen at our Riverside development facility, on our own equipment.

That means engineers here can move fast. When a prototype needs to change, you are not sending a drawing out and waiting weeks for it to come back. You work through the change with the team, build the next version, put it on the vehicle, and go test it.

We have more than five years of suspension development planned across our brands. The work is already here, the programs are already moving, and we are looking for another engineer to help us get through them faster.

You will take products from a blank sheet to production: evaluate the vehicle, set the design direction, model and detail the components, work with fabrication and prototyping, install the parts, test on-road and off-road, find what does not work, fix it, validate it, and release it.

This is not a job where you hand drawings off to someone else. You will work on the vehicles you are designing for. You will install your parts, drive them, and test them in the dirt. When something does not behave the way you expected, you will see it firsthand, figure out why, and have the people and equipment around you to fix it.

The problems change constantly. One month you are chasing ride quality on a heavy diesel truck, the next you are solving geometry and strength on a lifted half-ton, the next you are building something that has to survive a race.

You will join an established team — fabricators, prototype technicians, shock tuning specialists, and other engineers. You are not here to carry a program alone. You are here to add capacity to a team that already knows how to build suspension.

You will design it, build it, test it, improve it, and see it on customer vehicles.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

Design and Analysis

• Design suspension and steering components: control arms, coil and leaf springs, coilover and shock mounting systems, sway bars, torsion-bar systems, brackets, crossmembers, fabricated structures, and complete lift and leveling systems.
• Evaluate OE suspension architecture, geometry, component packaging, and operating limits to define what a new system has to do.
• Run geometry studies — camber and caster curves, toe change, bump steer, roll center, motion ratio, wheel travel, CV and driveline angles, ball joint and tie rod angles, and tire and wheel clearance.
• Perform load, stress, spring rate, wheel rate, fastener, joint, bushing, and fatigue calculations, using FEA where it earns its place.
• Model and detail in SOLIDWORKS, producing release-ready drawings with GD&T, tolerances, material callouts, heat treatment, coatings, and welding requirements.
• Participate in design reviews and back up your design decisions with data.

Prototype and Test

• Build or source prototype parts and coordinate prototype manufacturing.
• Install prototype suspension systems and components on development vehicles.
• Help develop validation and durability test plans for the parts you design.
• Run the testing on-road and off-road, evaluating ride quality, handling, steering feel, suspension travel, articulation, NVH, and component durability.
• Record test conditions, mileage, and results, and keep clear test documentation.
• Inspect worn and failed parts, diagnose component and vehicle-level issues, and work through root cause.
• Recommend design changes based on test data and vehicle evaluation, and re-test to confirm the fix.

Production and Support

• Work with manufacturing, quality, purchasing, product management, technicians, and suppliers to move your designs from prototype into production, including DFM/DFA.
• Review supplier designs, samples, inspection reports, and manufacturing processes.
• Create and maintain BOMs, drawings, and specifications in the PDM/PLM system, and keep revisions current.
• Write and process ECOs/ECNs for your parts.
• Provide the technical content for installation instructions and answer technical questions from marketing, sales, customer service, and technical support.
• Investigate warranty, field, installation, and manufacturing concerns on existing products.
• Keep your assigned projects moving to the schedule and milestones set with your manager.

Why RANDYS Worldwide:

RANDYS Worldwide is one of the most respected names in the automotive aftermarket and a powerhouse in off-road suspension, drivetrain, and remanufacturing — a family of enthusiast-driven brands built by people who love vehicles as much as our customers do. In this role you will take suspension products from target to part number across brands that people genuinely care about, with experienced engineers alongside you and the shop, the equipment, and the trucks a few steps from your desk. We are growing fast and we are not slowing down.

RANDYS Worldwide is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to status as a protected veteran, a qualified individual with a disability, or other protected status, such as race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or age.

Requirements

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience. Strong suspension, chassis, or fabrication experience will be considered in place of a degree.
• Required: 3–7 years of experience in automotive, suspension, chassis, or mechanical design and vehicle development.
• Required: Fluency in SOLIDWORKS — modeling, detailing, and production-level engineering drawings using GD&T. Our SOLIDWORKS PDM is live and this role works in it daily.
• Required: Solid grasp of mechanical design fundamentals and of how suspension systems actually behave on a vehicle.
• Required: Working knowledge of automotive manufacturing processes — CNC machining, welding and fabrication, forging, casting, laser cutting, tube bending, heat treatment, and coatings — and of fasteners, bushings, bearings, ball joints, and rod ends.
• Required: Ability to run the numbers and make sound technical calls on your own work.
• Required: Strong mechanical aptitude. You can diagnose a problem on the vehicle, not just on the screen.
• Required: Clear written and verbal communication, and the discipline to document decisions, requirements, and test results.
• Required: Valid driver’s license and the ability to operate development vehicles.
• Preferred: Aftermarket suspension or chassis design for trucks, SUVs, off-road, or performance vehicles, including lifted-vehicle suspension geometry and modified vehicle dynamics.
• Preferred: FEA and fatigue analysis.
• Preferred: DFMEA, DVP&R, structured validation, and New Product Introduction or production launch experience.
• Preferred: Hands-on fabrication, vehicle modification, motorsports, or off-road experience.

Knowledge and Personal Attributes:

• Equally comfortable behind a computer, in the shop, and underneath a vehicle.
• Able to drive a vehicle, describe what it is doing wrong, and know what to change.
• Works through assignments without being walked through them.
• Knows when a technical, safety, cost, or program decision needs to go to the Director of Engineering.
• Moves quickly through iterative development without giving up engineering discipline.
• Enjoys developing products across multiple vehicle types and brands, and works well inside a team rather than alone.
• Comfortable in a fast-moving aftermarket product-development environment.

Working Conditions:

• Regular time in the shop and around development vehicles, shop equipment, and manufacturing environments.
• Ability to install and remove suspension components, assist with vehicle builds, and safely lift and handle typical suspension and chassis parts.
• Occasional travel for vehicle testing, supplier visits, trade shows, and other engineering activities, including three or four trips a year to our other brand facilities.