Structural Design Engineer - Battery Packs

Structural Design Engineer - Battery Packs

Key Responsibilities and Qualifications
1. Develop structural architectures and production-ready designs for battery pack frames, enclosures, mounting systems, cross-members, brackets, covers, and supporting components.
2. Work with Caterpillar machine and application teams to define operational loads, duty cycles, mounting interfaces, stiffness targets, environmental conditions, installation constraints, acceptance criteria, and structural design margins.
3. Apply strong fundamentals in engineering mechanics, strength of materials, structural dynamics, vibration, fatigue, load-path development, and mechanical joint design.
4. Establish representative load cases and boundary conditions for machine operation, transportation, lifting, handling, installation, shock, and vibration. Define effective load paths through the battery pack, mounting system, and machine structure.
5. Perform linear and nonlinear FEA, including static, modal, frequency-response, random-vibration, shock, and fatigue analyses, to evaluate stress, deformation, stiffness, structural margins, durability, and fatigue life.
6. Develop representative simulation models incorporating nonlinear contact, bolt pretension, frictional interfaces, welded joints, and realistic structural connections. Determine mounting-stiffness requirements and assess interactions between the battery pack and machine interface.
7. Analyze bolted joints for preload retention, slip, separation, bearing, fastener loading, joint stiffness, and fatigue. Evaluate welded structures for static strength, stress concentration, distortion, weld fatigue, accessibility, and manufacturing feasibility.
8. Evaluate assembly-induced stresses, tolerance variation, mounting misalignment, weld distortion, material properties, joint stiffness, manufacturing variation, and loading assumptions through tolerance analysis and sensitivity studies.
9. Select materials, structural sections, joining methods, and manufacturing processes to meet strength, stiffness, fatigue life, weight, durability, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost targets. Maximize the use of standard Caterpillar-approved parts, materials, fasteners, and processes.
10. Develop production-ready 3D models, assemblies, BOMs, material specifications, structural interfaces, and technical requirements. Apply GD&T, tolerance stack-up, DFM, and DFA principles.
11. Support the structural integration of cooling manifolds, coolant routing, high-voltage and low-voltage harnesses, electrical components, sealing systems, grounding provisions, service interfaces, and thermal-management components.
12. Correlate simulation results with component-, subsystem-, and machine-level testing.

Preferred Qualifications
1. Experience designing structures for battery packs, energy-storage systems, power electronics, or high-voltage electromechanical products.
2. Experience with off-highway equipment, construction machinery, mining equipment, rail, marine, industrial machinery, or similar heavy-duty applications.
3. Experience integrating cooling manifolds, coolant routing, sealing interfaces, and high-voltage and low-voltage harnesses within structural assemblies.
4. Familiarity with electrical isolation, clearance and creepage, ingress protection, sealing, grounding, thermal management, and applicable battery pack certification requirements.
5. Experience with structural test correlation, durability issue resolution, and supplier APQP and PPAP activities.

Education and Experience
• Bachelor's or master's degree in mechanical engineering, structural engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• More than three years of relevant experience in heavy structural design.
• Demonstrated experience developing structural products from concept and analysis through prototype validation and production release.