Job Information
Actalent Senior Motor Design Engineer in Poway, California
Job Title: Senior Motor Design EngineerJob Description
The Senior Motor Design Engineer leads the end-to-end design and development of DC and other electromagnetic machines for both new and legacy aerospace applications. This role owns the full lifecycle of electric motor assemblies—from concept definition and analysis through design, development, manufacturing support, verification, and integration into ground and flight systems. The engineer collaborates closely with cross-functional teams and suppliers to optimize motor performance, ensure robust documentation, and support production and fielded systems.
Responsibilities
Design, develop, document, test, troubleshoot, and implement DC motors for both new and legacy products.
Lead the complete lifecycle of electric motor assemblies, including definition, analysis, design, development, manufacturing, assembly, verification, and integration into ground and flight systems.
Create and optimize electromagnetic machines based on system and customer requirements, working directly with vendors when needed.
Collaborate with technicians, manufacturing, actuation, motor drive, motor controls, and systems engineering teams to ensure successful motor and system integration.
Provide technical support for legacy electromagnetic machines and components, including brushed DC motors, brushless DC motors, generators, alternators, fail-safe brakes, solenoids, voice coils, resolvers, encoders, and Hall and proximity sensors.
Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for new designs, including design records, test plans, and engineering change notices.
Prepare and execute verification test plans, generate test reports, and support production test procedures to ensure product performance and reliability.
Create and maintain production-support documentation such as bills of materials (BOMs), change requests (CRs), change notices (CNs), and source control drawings.
Conduct trade studies and technical analyses to evaluate design options and support new motor and actuator concepts.
Support onboard aircraft integration activities, including production and field support tests, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis as needed.
Determine technical objectives and develop solutions for advanced and complex engineering problems related to electric motors and electromagnetic machines.
Work independently and as part of a team to meet project schedules and technical requirements while maintaining high engineering standards.
Maintain strict confidentiality of sensitive technical and program information.
Essential Skills
Typically requires a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or PhD in engineering or a related technical discipline from an accredited institution, or equivalent engineering experience in lieu of formal education.
Progressive engineering experience: six or more years of experience with a bachelor’s degree, four or more years with a master’s degree, or two or more years with a PhD.
5+ years of experience with motor design preferred, including hands-on involvement in the design of DC motors and other electromagnetic machines.
Strong knowledge of lamination design for electric motors and how lamination geometry affects performance.
Expertise with magnets, including magnet shapes, sizes, and how these elements combine to form an effective magnetic circuit.
Understanding of insulation systems and insulation ratings required to design reliable motors across different voltage and power ranges.
Fundamental knowledge of different types of electromagnetic machines, including brushless and brushed permanent magnet motors.
Knowledge of magnetic machine design principles for DC motors, including true engineering principles, materials, and processing considerations.
Experience with electric motor manufacturing processes such as stator windings, lamination stacking, stator varnishing, and working with various insulation classes.
Electromechanical experience with electric motors, including collaboration with suppliers to identify commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and define custom modifications when needed.
Experience using finite element analysis (FEA) tools for electromagnetic design, with ANSYS Maxwell strongly preferred.
Ability to work both independently and in a collaborative team environment.
Ability to work extended hours when required to meet program and test milestones.
Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
Demonstrated ability to maintain strict confidentiality of sensitive and proprietary information.
Additional Skills & Qualifications
Experience across a power range from approximately 50 watts up to 1 kilowatt, including understanding of voltage considerations in this range.
Experience with modeling, controlling, and driving electric motors, including interaction with motor drive and controls teams.
Experience with 3D mechanical design tools is preferred, including familiarity with CAD platforms such as SolidWorks, Creo, or NX.
Experience with FEA tools beyond ANSYS Maxwell is welcome, as long as there is a strong foundation in electromagnetic analysis.
Exposure to or support of related components such as generators, alternators, solenoids, resolvers, encoders, and proximity sensors.
Ability to perform trade studies comparing different motor topologies, materials, and manufacturing approaches.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills applied to advanced technical engineering challenges.
Effective communication skills to clearly document designs, test plans, test reports, and engineering changes for cross-functional stakeholders.
Work Environment
This role operates in a highly technical engineering environment focused on electric motor and electromagnetic machine development for aerospace applications. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams, including technicians, manufacturing, actuation, motor drive, motor controls, and systems engineering, in an office and laboratory setting that supports design, analysis, and testing activities. The position involves regular use of engineering tools such as electromagnetic FEA software (e.g., ANSYS Maxwell or similar) and 3D CAD systems (such as SolidWorks, Creo, or NX), as well as interaction with production and test facilities where motors and related assemblies are built and verified. Work hours are generally full-time, with the need for extended hours at times to support critical program milestones, verification testing, and aircraft integration or field support activities. The environment emphasizes collaboration, technical rigor, thorough documentation, and adherence to security and confidentiality requirements, including the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.
Job Type & Location
This is a Permanent position based out of Poway, CA.
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $150000.00 - $190000.00/yr.
Competitive benefits: medical, 401K, bonus, pension etc
Workplace Type
This is a fully onsite position in Poway,CA.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Apr 22, 2026.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
At Actalent, diversity and inclusion are a bridge towards the equity and success of our people. DE&I is embedded into our culture through:
Hiring diverse talent
Maintaining an inclusive environment through persistent self-reflection
Building a culture of care, engagement, and recognition with clear outcomes
Ensuring growth opportunities for our people
Actalent is an equal opportunity employer.
About Actalent
Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services. For more than 40 years, we’ve helped visionary companies advance their goals. Headquartered in the United States, our teams span 150 offices across North America, EMEA, and APAC—with four delivery centers in India led by 1,000+ extraordinary employees who connect their passion with purpose every day.
Our Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai delivery centers are hubs of engineering expertise, with core capabilities in mechanical and electrical engineering, systems and software, and manufacturing engineering. Our teams deliver work across multiple industries including transportation, consumer and industrial products, and life sciences. We serve more than 4,500 clients, including many Fortune 500 brands. Learn more about how we can work together at actalentservices.com.