Ford - Irvine, CA
posted 14 days ago
Full-time - Intern
Irvine, CA
Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
About the position
The Electric Motor Mechanical Design Associate position is a 6-month Student Worker Program at Ford, aimed at providing hands-on experience in the design, analysis, and development of electric motors for the next generation of electric vehicles. The role involves collaboration with cross-functional teams and offers the opportunity to contribute to real-world projects in a fast-paced and innovative environment.
Responsibilities
- Assist in the design and implementation of firmware for distributed embedded systems with a focus on power/energy consumption and safety.
- Participate in the specification, design, implementation, and testing of bare-metal and RTOS-based low-level software for energy management and powertrain controls applications.
- Contribute to the development of embedded software, from low-level base software to application modules.
- Support the design and specification of interfaces between application software and firmware.
- Learn about multicore, timing-critical software architectures.
- Gain experience working with and resolving ambiguities in requirements, specifications, and designs.
- Develop basic real-time software components and interfaces under the guidance of senior engineers.
- Learn about software component testing methodologies and assist in their implementation.
- Gain hands-on experience with hardware and debuggers at a bench and HIL level to verify software operation.
- Learn about ISO26262-compliant software development practices.
- Assist in defining system-level power requirements and implementing low-power modes of operation for microcontrollers.
- Learn how to instrument and profile software to identify optimization opportunities.
- Contribute to early-phase firmware development activities, including hardware validation, lab car testing, and setting up automation frameworks for unit, SIL, and HIL testing.
- Assist in developing test plans and performing tests to validate firmware functionality, stability, and performance.
Requirements
- Current enrollment in a Bachelor's degree program in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- Foundational coursework in embedded systems or related areas.
- Basic proficiency in C/C++.
- Strong communication and teamwork skills.
Nice-to-haves
- Familiarity with RTOS concepts and low-level driver development.
- Experience with software build tools (e.g., Bazel, Scons, CMake).
- Basic knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals, including circuit analysis and design.
- Experience with scripting languages, particularly Python, for test automation.
- Familiarity with software testing methodologies.
Benefits
- Hands-on experience in a fast-paced and innovative environment.
- Opportunity to work alongside top engineering, design, and software talent.
- Involvement in meaningful projects that contribute to the future of mobility.
