Principal Vehicle Dynamics Engineer

The McLaren name is synonymous with motorsport.  The story across five decades of racing at the pinnacle of global motorsport is of restless technical development with characters of passion and true grit, all with a single-minded determination to succeed.  The trophy cabinet at McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) tells a thousand stories of world champions, great drivers, constructor titles and of all those individuals who have stood on the sport’s global stage to make their invaluable contribution in making that difference: that extra thousandth of second off a lap time.

With a backdrop of continued growth and success, McLaren Automotive is now consolidating its motorsport strategy with specific aims; enriching the customer’s experience on and off track, broadening the McLaren brand appeal to a wider global audience and delivering motorsport experiences that are best in class.  

As we begin this exciting journey we are looking for a Principal Vehicle Dynamics Engineer to join our Motorsport function and help deliver our future championship winning GT cars.  

Purpose of the role:

The Principal Vehicle Dynamics Engineer will be responsible for managing people & resources for the definition, development and validation of all Vehicle Dynamics aspects of McLaren Motorsport vehicles against programme targets.

In this role you will also be responsible for the application of continuous improvement methods, to support the development of our calculation & testing methodologies and design tool correlation, to aid concurrent engineering of our highly-integrated road cars. 

Principal accountabilities:

  • Programme lead for Vehicle-Dynamics from to programme sign-off, meeting programme attributes, timing and targets
  • Utilisation of proper combination of sims-tools and testing facilities, to meet programme targets for vehicle dynamics requirements
  • Maintenance, analysis and reporting on vehicle and sub-system models by overseeing all internal and external Vehicle Dynamics simulation & testing activities
  • Define attribute DVP and work in continual collaboration with Vehicle Development and the Vehicle Validation Coordinator to plan and ensure delivery of DVP activities
  • Support with the continual development of the Chassis Vehicle Technologies car-models and testing methodologies to reduce development times, improve realism and test data accuracy and correlation of our tools and increase the level of cross-function/attribute integration

Knowledge, skills & experience:

  • Extensive OEM experience in automotive industry, together with proven experience in GT and/or formula racing-cars vehicle dynamics
  • First-rate Mechanical / Automotive Engineering degree, with excellent knowledge and understanding in vehicle-dynamics
  • More specifically, the required skills and level knowledge for this role are:
    • Tasks & people planning
    • Developing, correlation and analysing of full vehicle and system level models for use in studying vehicle dynamics attributes
    • Delivery of whole CAE vehicle dynamics attributes
    • Usage of Adams Car, Matlab-Simulink
    • Testing measurements, data postprocessing and correlation to models
    • K&C and 7post testing and data post-pro
    • VI-CarRealTime, Abaqus or Nastran
    • 1D systems modelling of cooling circuits: AMESim, GT Power, MATLAB/Simulink

Personal attributes:

  • “Can do” approach, “out-of-box” thinking, excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to operate within a team environment
  • Proactive collaboration with all other units in Motorsport & Automotive
  • Quantitative rigor and an inquisitive outlook to prove design solutions
  • Strong verbal and written and oral presentation skills together with ability to communicate at all levels
  • Delivery focussed, with demonstrable track record of on-time delivery

We recognise that we can only achieve our vision with the dedication and collaboration of our world class employees.  It is our aim to become the employer of choice within the global automotive industry.

At McLaren Automotive we are constantly looking to improve. To become the employer of choice we are always looking to develop our employee offerings. We currently offer a range of benefits to employees at all levels of the business including Private Healthcare, Contributory Pension Scheme, Life Assurance and Personal Lease Car Scheme. We also offer a range of discounts with our partner organisations.