Sr. Electrical Architecture 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,  .

JOB SUMMARY

The Lead Electrical Architecture Engineer is responsible for defining and implementing the electrical architecture for next-generation commercial vehicle platforms from concept through production launch. This role owns the vehicle electrical backbone, including low- and high-voltage power distribution, communication networks, electrical interfaces, wiring architecture, and system integration strategy. Working closely with the Systems & Integration engineering teams, this position ensures all electrical systems integrate seamlessly into the overall vehicle architecture while supporting manufacturability, serviceability, reliability, and future scalability.

The role provides technical leadership to internal engineering teams, suppliers, and external engineering partners while maintaining ownership of electrical architecture decisions, technical standards, interface definition, and design quality throughout the product lifecycle.

This is a high-impact technical leadership role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys building new architectures from a clean sheet, and wants meaningful ownership over the electrical foundation of an entirely new vehicle platform.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Electrical Architecture Ownership:
  Define and own the vehicle electrical architecture, including power distribution strategy, grounding philosophy, wiring topology, electrical interfaces, and system partitioning.
• Vehicle Network Architecture:
  Develop CAN, J1939, LIN, Automotive Ethernet, and future communication network architectures supporting propulsion, body controls, diagnostics, telematics, and vehicle systems.
• High-Voltage & Low-Voltage Integration:
  Lead integration of 12V/24V electrical systems and high-voltage propulsion architectures, including batteries, inverters, DC/DC converters, charging systems, and power electronics.
• Electrical Interface Definition:
  Develop and maintain electrical interface definitions, connector strategies, communication mappings, and integration requirements between vehicle systems and suppliers.
• Wiring & Harness Architecture:
  Define vehicle wiring architecture, harness topology, routing strategy, electrical protection, connector selection, and serviceability requirements.
• Cross-Functional Systems Integration:
  Partner with Systems Integration, Propulsion Integration, Vehicle Integration & Validation, Manufacturing, Quality, and Program Management teams to ensure electrical architecture supports vehicle-level integration and launch readiness.
• Supplier & External Engineering Leadership:
  Provide technical direction to suppliers and external engineering partners while maintaining ownership of electrical architecture, design quality, technical deliverables, and engineering decisions.
• Validation & Launch Support:
  Support prototype builds, validation testing, manufacturing launch, and early production by resolving electrical integration issues and ensuring production-ready system performance.
• Standards & Technical Governance:
  Develop electrical design standards, architecture guidelines, best practices, and reusable design strategies to improve engineering consistency and future platform scalability.
• Regulatory Compliance:
  Ensure electrical architectures comply with FMVSS, SAE, ISO, EMC, cybersecurity, and applicable commercial vehicle regulations and industry standards.
• Operate in Ambiguity:
  Create structure and drive execution in environments where…