Lighting Design Release Engineer

Job Description: Lighting DRE

Location: Irvine, CA

Experience: 5+ Years

Position Overview

The Lighting DRE will be responsible for the design, development, engineering, and validation of automotive exterior lighting systems. The role requires strong knowledge of lighting components, automotive regulations, plastic design, manufacturing processes, and product development from concept through implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop automotive exterior lighting systems and components .
• Support engineering activities from project kickoff through implementation and production release .
• Perform benchmarking, feature analysis, QFD, engineering design, drawing creation, 3D model development, and design release.
• Develop and maintain master sections and component interfaces to meet craftsmanship and packaging requirements.
• Define mounting strategies for lighting components and exterior trim while meeting robustness, quality, and performance requirements.
• Support CAE analysis and physical validation activities.
• Prepare and support DFMEA, DVP&R, and Bill of Materials (BOM) activities.
• Ensure lighting designs comply with applicable global regulatory and homologation requirements .
• Work with cross-functional teams including engineering, manufacturing, tooling, validation, and suppliers.

Required Technical Skills

• 5+ years of experience in automotive exterior lighting design and development .
• Strong understanding of exterior lighting regulatory requirements and homologation .
• Knowledge of light sources, optics, reflector design, venting, sealing, airflow, condensation, and lamp architecture .
• Knowledge of mounting strategies, interfaces, GD&T, and craftsmanship requirements .
• Experience with lamp assembly techniques, testing, and validation .
• Strong knowledge of plastic component design and tooling .
• Understanding of plastic manufacturing processes, including multi-K injection molding and other injection molding processes .
• Knowledge of manufacturing parameters that impact exterior trim and lighting product requirements.
• Strong experience with CATIA V5/V6 .
• Experience working with engineering data management systems (EDMS) .
• Understanding of automotive product development, engineering change, and release processes.