Design Release Engineer (Automotive Accessories)

Kelly Engineering is seeking a Design Release Engineer (Accessories) for a long-term contract opportunity with a global luxury automotive OEM in Mahwah, NJ.

Overview

The Design Release Engineer will own the release process for assigned interior and exterior vehicle accessories, ensuring supplier-developed products meet engineering standards, certification requirements, fitment expectations, and release readiness before being sold under the OEM brand.

Typical commodities may include exterior side steps/running boards, roof rails, spoilers, lighting accessories, bumper accessories, protective trim, exterior trim, roof-carrying products, seat covers, cup holders, cargo partitions, bulkheads, cargo management products, and related interior or exterior accessory hardware.

Responsibilities

• Own the design release process for assigned vehicle accessory commodities from requirements review through engineering approval and production release.
• Evaluate supplier-developed accessory products for compliance with engineering, quality, safety, durability, homologation, and North American certification requirements.
• Review supplier documentation, test reports, certification records, compliance evidence, validation data, and engineering sign-off packages.
• Develop and maintain commodity plans covering scope, requirements, timing, open issues, risks, dependencies, approval routes, and release readiness.
• Coordinate fitment trials, validation activity, benchmarking, and engineering evaluations for interior and exterior accessory products.
• Partner with CAD and visualization resources to review packaging, fit, dimensions, clearances, interfaces, and product feasibility; direct CAD resources on required evaluations or changes.
• Prepare engineering release documentation, gateway readiness materials, risk assessments, validation gap summaries, and sign-off recommendations.
• Manage supplier action trackers, issue logs, open points, escalation summaries, and regular status reporting.
• Collaborate with suppliers, SMEs, Chapter Leads, vehicle engineering, program, procurement, commercial, finance, and global engineering teams across the U.S., UK, and China.
• Release approved products into engineering systems and support ongoing product lifecycle management for the North American market.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or equivalent technical qualification required.
• 3–7 years of automotive engineering experience preferred, ideally within an OEM or Tier 1 supplier environment.
• Previous Design Release Engineering, product development engineering, or accessory engineering experience.
• Experience supporting automotive component or system delivery from concept, validation, and supplier development through production release.
• Strong understanding of engineering release processes, change management, product lifecycle management, validation planning, and sign-off requirements.
• Ability to review technical data, supplier test reports, certification records, compliance documentation, and engineering evidence packages.
• Strong engineering judgment related to risk, failure modes, validation gaps, safety, durability, fit, function, and release readiness.
• Experience coordinating suppliers, managing open issues, tracking actions, and driving engineering approvals across multiple priorities.
• Working knowledge of CAD/model review and visualization tools; candidates do not need to be daily CAD modelers but must be comfortable reviewing models for fit, packaging, clearances, and interfaces.
• Automotive accessory, exterior trim, interior trim, vehicle hardware, functional accessory, or related commodity experience preferred.
• Knowledge of 3DEXPERIENCE / 3D Experience strongly preferred; exposure to Digi-Buck, Vis-Mockup, WERS, AIMs, RMDV, APQP, PSW, Jira, engineering release systems, and change management tools is a plus.

Benefit Package

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off (PTO) and paid company holidays
• Employee perks including retail and travel discounts, tuition discounts, and free professional development and online training resources