Senior Virtual Propulsion Engineer - Hydraulic Controls

General Motors is looking for an experienced Senior Engineer to support automotive transmissions hydraulic-controls and lubrication-system development within Global Virtual Engineering. 

This engineer will build plant models and use system simulation models to understand transmission behavior, improve designs, and support decisions throughout product development. The work will connect transmission hardware, hydraulic systems, controls, calibration, testing, and virtual validation. 

The ideal candidate can take a complex engineering question, build or select the right model, compare the results with test data, and explain what the results mean for the product. 

What you’ll do 

• Build and use plant models of transmission hydraulic and lubrication systems. 

• Connect plant models with transmission controls and system-level simulations. 

• Analyze oil flow, pressure, aeration, temperature, valve-body behavior, solenoid response, clutch fill, shift performance, and shift quality. 

• Connect component models to system-level transmission models. 

• Compare simulation results with component, transmission dynamometer, and vehicle test data. 

• Use analysis to support transmission design, controls, calibration, durability, and test decisions. 

• Help define requirements for transmission flow, pressure, lubrication, thermal behavior, and performance. 

• Investigate issues involving hydraulic behavior, shift performance, vibration, durability, friction, wear, and life. 

• Lead technical reviews, communicate recommendations, and mentor other engineers. 

• Develop new modeling capabilities to reduce warranty, or to improve first-time capable designs.  

• Develop new modeling automation methods to reduce development time for new programs.  

Basic requirements 

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, controls engineering, or a related field;  

• At least 8 years of relevant engineering experience, or an equivalent combination of advanced education and experience. 

• Experience in two or more of the following areas: transmission hydraulics, fluid power, electro-hydraulic controls, dynamic-system simulation, or 1D computer-aided engineering. 

• Experience building, using, or reviewing physics-based, control-oriented, or plant models. 

• Experience comparing models with physical test data and using the results to improve a design or engineering decision. 

• Experience with hydraulic components or systems such as pumps, valve bodies, valves, solenoids, actuators, clutches, accumulators, dampers, or lubrication circuits. 

• Ability to work independently, solve complex problems, and deliver results on schedule. 

• Strong written, verbal, and cross-functional communication skills. 

Preferred requirements 

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a related engineering field. 

• Experience with transmission controls, calibration, clutch fill, shift quality, shift-quality evaluation, or pressure control. 

• Experience building plant models for controls development, system simulation, or virtual validation. 

• Experience with Simcenter Amesim, GT-SUITE, Simscape, MATLAB/Simulink, or similar tools. 

• Experience with valve-body computational fluid dynamics, multiphysics analysis, reduced-order models, or model automation. 

• Experience with transmission lubrication, oil aeration, bearing behavior, oil jets, thermal management, drain-down/refill, vibration, durability, friction, wear, or life prediction. 

• Experience with model-in-the-loop, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, dynamometer, vehicle, or other virtual-validation methods. 

• Experience using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for data analysis and automation. 

• Experience leading technical work, working with suppliers, or mentoring engineers.