Archived listing. The details below describe a past opening.
Position Overview
International Motors is seeking a highly accomplished Platform Chief Engineer - Bus Platform to provide technical and business leadership for one of our vehicle platforms within the Research & Development organization. This role serves as the primary engineering leader responsible for vehicle-level performance, quality, cost, timing, and customer satisfaction throughout the product lifecycle.
The Platform Chief Engineer - Bus Platform acts as the critical bridge between the Commercial teams, Program Management, Product Strategy, and Engineering organizations, ensuring customer needs are translated into innovative, profitable, and regulatory-compliant vehicle solutions. This role requires a strong technical leader who can drive cross-functional alignment, influence strategic decisions, and champion execution across multiple engineering disciplines.
Responsibilities
Platform Leadership
- Provide overall engineering leadership and accountability for vehicle-level performance, quality, cost, timing, and product execution.
- Serve as the principal engineering representative to the Commercial team, ensuring alignment between customer, market, and engineering priorities.
- Represent Commercial requirements within R&D, vehicle programs, and strategic planning activities.
Product Strategy & Program Execution
- Support development of platform strategy, program charters, scope definition, and vehicle performance attribute requirements.
- Guide cross-functional decision-making and tradeoff analysis related to vehicle packaging, performance, quality, cost, manufacturability, and delivery.
- Drive execution of platform initiatives while ensuring alignment with program objectives and business goals.
- Partner with Program Management and functional leaders to identify risks, resolve issues, and maintain program commitments.
Engineering Governance & Cost Management
- Lead engineering decision-making processes through participation in Change Control Boards (CCB) and related governance forums.
- Ensure feature implementation balances customer value, platform complexity, quality, and cost considerations.
- Support product cost management through Tracked Typical Reviews and ongoing cost optimization initiatives.
- Drive disciplined engineering change management processes across the platform.
Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead and develop the Application Engineering team responsible for platform execution and support.
- Collaborate with Custom Engineering to ensure timely delivery of Special Quote (SQ) content and customer-specific solutions.
- Build strong partnerships across Engineering, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Sales, Service, Quality, Regulatory, and Commercial organizations.
- Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, and customer focus.
Quality, Customer Support & Product Advocacy
- Engage in resolution of engineering, manufacturing, and field quality concerns to achieve product quality objectives.
- Serve as a technical consultant to Sales and Dealer organizations for special quotations, specification reviews, order configuration, and customer support.
- Support Aftersales teams by providing engineering expertise related to product support, serviceability, and customer satisfaction.
- Represent the platform at customer events, industry engagements, and trade shows as required.
Regulatory & Compliance Leadership
- Ensure platform compliance with all applicable regulatory, safety, environmental, and certification requirements.
- Maintain awareness of evolving industry regulations and proactively integrate requirements into product development activities.
Minimum Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology or Computer Science and at least 6 years of product design/development and/or computer science experience
- At least 3 years of lead experience
OR
- Master’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology or Computer Science and at least 5 years of product design/development and/or computer science experience
- At least 3 years of lead experience
OR
- PhD in Engineering, Engineering Technology or Computer Science and at least 4 years of product design/development and/or computer science experience
- At least 3 years of lead experience
Additional Requirements
- Qualified candidates, excluding current employees, must be legally authorized on an unrestricted basis (US Citizen, Legal Permanent Resident, Refugee or Asylee) to be employed in the United States. We do not anticipate providing employment related work sponsorship for this position (e.g., H-1B status)
Desired Skills
- Exceptional communication and executive presentation skills.
- Strong business acumen and customer-focused decision-making.
- Ability to evaluate and lead complex tradeoff decisions involving performance, cost, quality, and timing.
- High sense of urgency, ownership, and accountability.
- Proven commercial vehicle product development experience.
- Strong leadership and team development capabilities.
- Ability to influence without direct authority and build consensus across diverse stakeholders.
- Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Demonstrated ability to build lasting relationships across engineering, commercial, and operational functions.
- School bus development experience.
- Knowledge of school bus industry, requirements, and regulations.