CAE Methods Technical Specialist - Structures & Fatigue

Description

At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We're turning today's impossible into tomorrow's standard -from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features.

Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.

The Role

The CAE Methods Technical Specialist - Structures & Fatigue is responsible for defining, advancing, and industrializing world-class virtual engineering methods for structural durability, fatigue, fracture, and manufacturing-induced performance variation across vehicle, propulsion, and subsystem applications. This position serves as a recognized technical expert who applies highly specialized CAE knowledge, broad practical experience, and strong business acumen to solve complex engineering problems that directly influence functional strategy, simulation capability, and product execution. This role works independently with broad latitude in decisions and actions in a complex environment. The Technical Specialist is expected to develop new or significantly improved methods, workflows, and systems; lead large, visible technical initiatives; influence cross-functional and external stakeholders; and deliver measurable business impact through stronger predictive capability, reduced hardware dependence, faster learning cycles, and improved product robustness. This is the top individual contributor track for the function and is intended for a professional who leads through deep technical expertise, originality, conceptual thinking, and enterprise influence rather than through direct people management. The role may serve as an indirect leader and mentor across the organization by setting technical direction, establishing best practices, and raising the standard of engineering execution.

What You'll Do

• Serve as the enterprise subject matter expert for CAE methods in structures and fatigue, with recognized expertise spanning durability, fracture, manufacturing effects, material behavior, and system-level structural performance simulation.
• Define the technical vision and roadmap for next-generation CAE methods that strengthen GM's virtual engineering capability and align with business priorities for quality, cost, timing, and hardware reduction.
• Develop, validate, and deploy new or significantly improved simulation methods, policies, standards, and workflows for structural and fatigue analysis across vehicle and propulsion development programs.
• Lead complex, high-visibility capability development initiatives that require originality, conceptual thinking, and integration across multiple engineering disciplines, organizations, and external partners.
• Apply independent judgment to identify, analyze, and resolve broad and complex technical issues that influence functional objectives, including issues with incomplete data, competing priorities, and significant downstream implications.
• Drive innovation in advanced durability and fracture technologies, including but not limited to crack initiation and propagation, critical distance methods, multi-axial fatigue, combined LCF/HCF damage, creep, environmental effects, and manufacturing-driven performance variation.
• Translate emerging theory, software capability, test evidence, and competitive benchmarking into practical engineering methods that improve predictive accuracy, robustness, and development efficiency.
• Lead cross-functional Road-Lab-Math activities and related focus group initiatives to connect simulation, test, design, manufacturing, and product development teams around common technical objectives and validated engineering decisions.
• Establish validation strategies and coordinate with testing and laboratory teams to ensure that developed methods are grounded in physical behavior, statistically sound, and suitable for scalable program application.
• Guide the resolution of critical product issues by assessing variation, identifying root causes, defining high-confidence simulation approaches, and influencing optimized design or process decisions.
• Partner with software suppliers, external experts, consortia, and peer organizations to shape tool development in areas that matter most to GM and to benchmark GM methods against industry-leading practice.
• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentorship to engineers adopting new methods, and raise organizational capability through training, peer reviews, best-practice documentation, and consultative support.
• Influence stakeholders across functions and levels, including situations where differing opinions, legacy practices, or organizational inertia may constrain adoption of new ideas, methods, or approaches.
• Set objectives and success metrics for major technical initiatives and drive measurable outcomes tied to simulation accuracy, process efficiency, engineering quality, and execution of functional strategy.
• Leverage a broad internal network of technical specialists and domain experts to close workflow gaps, integrate subsystem learnings, and enable end-to-end virtual development solutions.
• Continuously assess technology trends, competitor methods, and evolving business needs, and proactively reposition priorities, experiments, and implementation plans to maintain GM leadership in CAE methods.

• The role delivers measurable contributions to functional outcomes by improving the fidelity, efficiency, scalability, and business relevance of structural and fatigue simulation methods.
• Decisions made in this role influence multiple departments and functions, including CAE, design, validation, manufacturing, materials, and supplier engagement, and may affect both current product issue resolution and long-term capability strategy.
• The role leads large technical projects with broad visibility and coordinates internal and external stakeholders to implement solutions that support GM strategic priorities.
• The role acts as an indirect leader within the function by setting technical expectations, championing change, and serving as a trusted resource for complex engineering decisions.

• Master's degree or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, or a closely related field.
• 10+ years of industry experience, including significant experience in structures, durability, fatigue, or fracture methods development.
• Extensive industry experience in virtual engineering, structural analysis, and CAE methods development, with substantial depth in fatigue, fracture, and durability simulation.
• Expert knowledge of structural CAE theory, methods, and tools, such as Abaqus, HyperMesh, SimLab, Nastran, fe-safe, nCode, Verity, Simufact, TFAT, or equivalent platforms relevant to structural durability and manufacturing effects.
• Demonstrated ability to develop or significantly improve engineering methods, workflows, standards, or systems and to translate advanced technical concepts into practical enterprise applications.
• Proven record of solving complex technical problems through independent judgment, conceptual thinking, and wide application of engineering principles, theories, and experience.
• Strong capability to lead large cross-functional technical initiatives and influence decisions without formal organizational authority.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical issues, recommendations, and trade-offs clearly across different disciplines and levels of the organization.
• Experience working with testing and validation organizations to correlate analysis methods with physical evidence and establish robust engineering confidence.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and elevate other engineers through technical coaching, peer review, and knowledge transfer.
• Strong business acumen and understanding of how simulation methods influence program execution, risk reduction, investment efficiency, and customer outcomes.
• Recognition by peers and stakeholders as a technical leader and trusted expert in the field.
• Demonstrated alignment with GM Behaviors, including integrity, customer focus, innovation, urgency, inclusion, collaboration, and ownership of outcomes.

• Deep expertise in manufacturing effects on structural performance, including weld behavior, residual stress, material/process variation, and durability implications.
• Experience influencing commercial CAE software roadmaps or co-developing advanced methods with software suppliers and research partners.
• DFSS Black Belt or Master Black Belt certification.
• Track record of leading enterprise-level technical transformations, standards deployment, or capability industrialization efforts with measurable business results.
• External technical visibility through patents, publications, standards work, conference leadership, or recognized industry collaboration.