Senior Vehicle Applications Engineer

Blue Bird (NASDAQ: BLBD) is recognized as a technology leader and innovator of school buses since its founding in 1927. Our dedicated team members design, engineer and manufacture school buses with a singular focus on safety, reliability, and durability. School buses carry the most precious cargo in the world – 25 million children twice a day – making them the most trusted mode of student transportation.

The company is the proven leader in low- and zero-emission school buses with more than 25,000 propane, natural gas, and electric powered buses sold. Blue Bird is transforming the student transportation industry through cleaner energy solutions. For more information on Blue Bird’s complete product and service portfolio,  .

The Application Engineer supports the development and execution of the technical product definition for a new commercial chassis platform from concept through production launch.

Working under the direction of the Product Integration and Applications Engineering Lead, this role develops product requirements, supports body builder integration, manages vehicle configurations, evaluates application compatibility, and ensures engineering changes are accurately reflected throughout the product lifecycle. The position serves as a primary technical interface between engineering, manufacturing, body manufacturers, suppliers, and customers to support scalable, manufacturable, and customer-ready vehicle configurations.

This role requires an engineer who thrives in a fast-paced environment, is comfortable making sound engineering decisions within defined product strategy, and enjoys working across multiple engineering disciplines to solve complex vehicle integration challenges.

• Product Requirements Development:
  Develop, document, and maintain vehicle, customer, application, regulatory, and body builder requirements while supporting requirements traceability throughout product development.
• Body Builder Integration:
  Support body manufacturers by defining chassis interfaces, installation requirements, mounting provisions, electrical interfaces, dimensional envelopes, and application guidelines to ensure successful vehicle integration.
• Product Configuration Management:
  Develop and maintain vehicle configurations, option compatibility, feature dependencies, engineering constraints, and configuration logic supporting customer applications and manufacturing.
• Interface Control Documentation:
  Develop and maintain Interface Control Documents (ICDs), application specifications, body builder guides, installation manuals, and technical documentation supporting vehicle integration.
• Engineering Change Coordination:
  Evaluate engineering changes for impacts to product configurations, customer applications, body integrations, manufacturing, and service while maintaining configuration integrity.
• Cross-Functional Product Integration:
  Partner with Systems Engineering, Vehicle Integration, Manufacturing, Strategic Sourcing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Sales to ensure consistent product definition throughout development and launch.
• Customer & Technical Application Support:
  Provide engineering support to body manufacturers, dealers, customers, and internal teams by evaluating vehicle applications, special requests, option compatibility, and integration feasibility.
• Product Data & Configuration Validation:
  Verify engineering documentation, configuration rules, option logic, and technical data to ensure accurate implementation throughout engineering and manufacturing systems.
• Prototype, Launch & Production Support:
  Support prototype builds, manufacturing launch, and early production by resolving product definition, configuration, and application issues affecting vehicle readiness.
• Continuous Product Improvement:
  Identify opportunities to improve product definition, simplify configuration complexity, enhance engineering documentation, and strengthen application processes throughout the product lifecycle.
• Operate in Ambiguity:
  Create structure and drive execution where customer requirements, engineering priorities, and product configurations continue to evolve.