PDEng trainee positions (TOIO) 'Automotive Systems Design'

The Automotive sector is rapidly changing into a high-tech sector with huge challenges in terms of multidisciplinary product and process engineering. The trend toward smart components and systems, boosts the Dutch automotive sector, and requires new generations of engineers being able to cope with this. Eindhoven University of Technology* (TU/e) in the Netherlands plays an important role within the automotive high-tech industry in the Netherlands and in Europe.

With the purpose to support the automotive sector by training engineers in systems design, the competitive PDEng program Automotive Systems Design (ASD), accredited by the Dutch Ministry of Education, was established in 2011. Working with industry is an essential ingredient of this program. It is organized with close links to and cooperation with other successful PDEng programs such as Software Technology (ST). For its PDEng program Automotive Systems Design, the TU/e is looking for ambitious Master's graduates for:

                  2-year post-Master PDEng traineeships


                      Track: Automotive Systems Design
The next round of this 2-year program starts on November 1, 2021. This track of the program focuses on systems design and architecture in an automotive context. It trains graduates from Automotive related disciplines to become the professional system designers and architects that the industry needs to conceive its new, innovative products.

The program is devoted to deepening, broadening and reinforcing Automotive related technological knowledge and competencies, as well as personal and professional skills. This program with a unique structure consists of 4 educational blocks followed by an 11-12 months individual design project in industry. In the first 4 blocks about half the time is spent on lectures, workshops and training, and the other half on projects on solving a real-life problem from one of the industrial partners with a team.

The lecturers, who mostly have an extensive experience in industry and who cover the theory on topics such as systems architecture, design, and problem solving, return as coach during the projects to help translate the theory to practice. The lectures are in part general, and in part tailored to the problem domain coming up. Team projects are selected from different domains and address various technological areas to both provide multidisciplinary exposure and enhance cross-domain thinking. In this set-up the trainee gets the opportunity to experience the different roles that make a good team.

Program graduates will be awarded a certified diploma and the degree 'Professional Doctorate in Engineering' (PDEng). Their name will be entered in the PDEng register of the Royal Dutch Institute for Engineers (KIVI). The program is affiliated to the British Association of Engineering Doctorates (AEngD).

The PDEng program Automotive Systems Design is open to recent university graduates, in particular to Master's graduates from one of the following fields: Automotive Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Control Systems, Electrical Engineering, Embedded Systems, or comparable.  

The ASD program is internationally oriented and taught in English. The candidate should furthermore have:

• Affinity with technology, keen interest in and good awareness of the current technological developments; knowledge of and affinity with the automotive field; experience with Matlab/Simulink or similar; preferably knowledge of Vehicle Dynamics, and Classical Feedback Control Theory (or extended knowledge of other fields that are in high demand in the Automotive sector, such as sensors, vision, machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, advanced driver assistant systems, automated driving, and electrification of engines);
• An academic, critical attitude and a good awareness of the state of the art in engineering design for high tech systems, most notable in the area of the Master thesis project;
• The ability to choose and apply methods, tools and techniques to solve actual, practical problems;
• The ability to stay abreast of current developments in the field of Automotive;
• Better than average social and communicative competencies, including an excellent English proficiency in writing, speaking, reading, and understanding;
• A clear ambition in an industrial career, and an inclination towards the design and development of innovative, complex products, transforming academic research results into practical solutions.
• Interest in being part of an international program with various cultures including the Dutch culture (and language).

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with a close relationship to industry.
• A full-time employment for two years.
• To support you during your PDEng and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will have free access to a personal development program for PDEng trainees.
• A gross monthly salary and benefits in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care, sports facilities and migrants can make use of the 30% ruling (an income tax advantage).
• The formal employment position at the Technical University of Eindhoven is according to the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch academic universities (VSNU).
• Trainees do not have to pay tuition fees. The program is financed by the Dutch Government and the industrial partners.