STAFF APPLICATION ENGINEER AT PROTERRA (GREER, SC)

About the role

This position on the Proterra Application Engineering team is part of the broader Customer Engineering organization that supports Proterra customers during all phases of development, testing, and product launch. This is an exciting team of diverse and dynamic electric vehicle experts playing a key role in ensuring success both for our organization and for customers. A Proterra Application Engineer often functions as a high‑power consultant for our customers, helping them successfully integrate our high voltage battery packs into their vehicles, in addition to acting as the lead technical contact throughout all phases of the project. The Application Engineer provides hands‑on support for our OEM customers when they install our products in their vehicles, as a first line of support for installation, issue resolution, and technical troubleshooting. This person often brings key skillsets of design, validation, or integration engineering. This position requires strong technical competencies in electric vehicles as well as outstanding communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Support customers with all aspects of integration and installation – mechanical aspects including mounting and physical interfaces, electrical aspects both HV and LV, and controls interfaces including messages and diagnostics that pass between Proterra components and OEM controllers.
• Directly manage and train 3rd party distributor integration partners on Proterra’s Application Approval Process.
• Act as the primary technical point of contact throughout various project activities, leading technical support, issue resolution, and customer design reviews as required.
• Lead analysis of technical requirements at the beginning of project discussions, working closely with Business Development team to accurately scope engineering work.
• Utilize and adapt Proterra Battery MATLAB Simulink models for next generation battery platforms.
• Create documentation of key architectural aspects with customers to define interfaces between them, Proterra, and possibly other 3rd parties engaged in the project, in various levels of detail depending on where we are at in the project. This includes cross‑disciplinary aspects of mechanical, electrical/HV, and software/controls aspects.
• Identify key customer safety requirements to determine feasibility and impacts to Proterra systems, including crash, Functional Safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Engage with other internal Proterra teams early in the project to understand impacts to current Proterra products, modifications needed to support the customer’s applications.
• First line of support for troubleshooting controls issues and software issues with customers – digging into root causes and finding issues.
• Work closely with customers to diagnose electrical issues, which could include wiring, pinouts, damages/chafes that could impact overall vehicle performance.
• Extensive diagnosis into CAN traces using CANalyzer and other tools. Interact hands‑on with other engineering tools to analyze data for HV systems, including oscilloscopes and other instrumentation.
• Work closely with Proterra and customer technicians to make repairs and fixes as needed, also handling repairs autonomously as needs arise.
• Build relationships with technical contacts at customers and 3rd party partners, creating trust and strong collaboration.
• Continuously evaluate Proterra processes for improvement and refinement, and propose creative methods to improve efficiency, robustness, and quality.
• Help train and provide mentorship to less experienced engineers in the organization.

Requirements

• Strong technical competencies in electric vehicles.
• Outstanding communication and collaboration skills.

Qualifications

• Experience in design, validation, or integration engineering.

Skills

• Proficiency with MATLAB Simulink for battery modeling.
• Experience with CANalyzer and other tools for CAN trace analysis.
• Hands‑on use of oscilloscopes and instrumentation for HV systems.
• Knowledge of high‑voltage and low‑voltage electrical interfaces.
• Ability to troubleshoot controls and software issues.