# Izzy Shawki > Director of Vehicle Engineering Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/izzyshawki Experienced Product Design Engineering Manager with a history of working end to end product design and navigating the product development of electro-mechanical and passive systems from early architecture trades including with unproven technologies. Strong experience in mechatronics, dynamics, prototyping, and research and development. Extremely strong communication and leadership skills. Adept at leading a multi-disciplined team to achieve a successful product as well as working within a team to meet organizational goals. I am passionate about delivering high quality work and attacking a problem from first principles and top down to ensure we have the optimal solution. ## Work Experience ### Director of Vehicle Engineering @ Also. Jan 2025 – Present | Palo Alto, California, United States Leading a dedicated and multi-disciplined team of engineers in charge of vehicle architecture, feature development, systems engineering, requirements management, vehicle modeling, drive cycles, thermal modeling, optimization, vehicle attributes, vehicle integration, reliability, durability, homologation, functional safety, fault management, vehicle verification and validation testing for the development of next generation light electric vehicles. Started as a stealth project within Rivian. ### Senior Manager, Vehicle Systems Engineering and Modeling @ Rivian Jan 2022 – Jan 2025 | Palo Alto, California, United States Leading a dedicated and multi-disciplined team of systems engineers, modeling, integration, testing and validation engineers. Working closely with product managers and executive team in creating and cascading vehicle features and requirements. Driving vehicle architecture decisions through system trades, modeling, analysis and benchmarking for a vertically integrated micro-mobility product. Team's responsibilities include: A. Product feature and requirements development, definition and cascade (propulsion, energy storage, connectivity, and other software enabled features) - Attribute definition, feature functions and activity diagrams - Establish functional requirements and software and hardware test cases for model or software in the loop (MIL / SIL) and Hardware in the Loop (HIL) testing - Long-term roadmap planning and providing executive updates B. Vehicle modeling and attributes definition - Vehicle plant model - Vehicle, drive unit, battery, and motor thermal modeling/testing - Range and efficiency estimation - Drive cycles and duty cycles establishment and collection - Developing and maintaining vehicle attributes (Mass, Power, Acceleration, Performance segmentation) C. Vehicle integration, test, durability and validation - Vehicle integration, hardware in the loop testing, and system bring-up - Vehicle verification and validation test planning and execution - Durability and loads collection and validation campaign execution - Fleet management and data pipeline establishment - Lead and drive debugging of the hardware-software issues to closure, and identify and work with key cross-functional partners to root cause and provide resolution ### Product Design Engineering Manager @ Apple Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 Special Projects Group - Mechanical actuation systems and mechanisms development for next generation products from early concept, packaging, and architecture trades to prototyping and finally through to mass production - Product definition and performance characteristics definition. Leveraging modeling and simulation with targeted prototypes and demonstrations to executive leadership to weigh performance and customer experience with cost, mass, power, and development implications - Leading product design - including motor and sensor selections, design for manufacturing, finite element analysis and modal analysis, establishing end of line procedures and necessary on-platform health checks - Leading cross collaboration between cross functional teams of structural analysts, modeling & controls, advanced manufacturing, noise and vibration, sensors, and software to deliver the multi-attribute system for the platform. - Supplier engagement for industrialization and mass production - High bandwidth Electro-mechanical systems, hydraulic actuation systems, Pneumatic actuation systems, passive mechanical systems, mechanical isolation systems ### Staff Engineer @ Apple Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 Special Projects Group Electro-mechanical systems development & high performance actuation systems for future products. ### Senior Mechanical Engineer @ Apple Jan 2017 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area Special Projects Group Electro-mechanical systems development & high performance actuation systems for future products. ### Responsible Engineer, Crew Dragon Mechanisms @ SpaceX Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 • Responsible engineer for the active ballast system, an electro-hydrostatic mechanism used to control the Crew Dragon space capsule during hypersonic re-entry. • Led the mechanical design and analysis of the hydraulic mechanism. Coordinated a team consisting of manufacturing, design, verification, test and build engineers. • Developed several different prototypes to prove out active ballast system actuation concept and viability to meet important system performance metrics. • Managed architecture trades to reduce complexity, optimize costs and simplify the assembly. Guided the system architecture to use proven components with high technology readiness levels (TRL) while maintaining mechanism performance. Enabled freeing up engineering resources and reduced the recurring cost of the system by baselining a control architecture that reuses already developed mechanism controllers and electronics. • Provided technical data and review packages in support of major >$100M milestones to customers • Managed and executed plans for technical and schedule risk reduction. Came up with strategy and relevant development tests/ prototypes to address key performance and manufacturing risks of the system and its components. • Established and coordinated the design verification, acceptance testing and qualification campaign of the system and ensuring compliance with NASA requirements for manned missions and SMC-S-016. Worked with NASA to get concurrence on testing campaign and approach. Worked with integration, verification and test teams to ensure tests and fixtures are properly designed and executed. • Coordinated between Guidance, Navigation and Controls (GNC), avionics, manufacturing, and production to ensure the mechanism predictably and reliably is produced and meets all performance and environmental requirements. ### Senior Mechanical Engineer @ Raytheon Jan 2010 – Jan 2015 • Responsible Engineering Authority (REA) for a pointing & scanning stabilization mechanism for use in space. In charge of design, build, test, and execution to schedule and budget. Supported proposal and customer negotiations for the multi-million dollar follow-on contract to take the mechanism to NASA Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6 • Test Director of pointing and stabilization mechanism for optical & laser based systems. Developed methods and procedures for fast steering mirror mechanism integration and to verify line of sight, jitter, exported forces and torques, and environmental and durability testing. Involved guiding design of integration and test fixtures, qualifying test equipment, and developing algorithms for data analysis • Supported new business acquisition, strategy and proposal development of pointing& scanning mechanisms for space and airborne use such as gimbals, fast steering/beam steering mirrors, and focus mechanisms on 6DOF (stewart) platforms • Led the design, integration, and testing of a strategic grade (GPS level accuracy) Differential Eddy Current Accelerometer for use in guidance systems and missiles • Led the detailed design, verification, integration and testing of the Responder™ Fast Steering Mirror, a passive reaction compensated mechanism. Successfully achieved NASA TRL 5 (validation in relative environmental and physical testing of the mechanism) while also attaining the record for highest bandwidth fast steering mirror in the industry (3.3Khz closed loop). Co-authored patent for the mechanism • Selected for Raytheon's Engineering Rotation Program. Completed 2 year program with rotations as a Systems Engineer in the System Design Center and Lead Responsible engineer in Mechanical and Optical Engineering Center • Designed a Variable Aperture Mechanism using voice coil technology for use in vacuum and cryogenic temperatures • Designed dewar, imager optical bench, and performed detailed design for the Sequoia hyper-spectral sensor ### Research Assistant @ Columbia University Jan 2009 – Jan 2010 | New York, NY Advanced Robotics and Mechanisms Applications Laboratory • Researched the design, control and dexterity of a micro-surgical system for ophthalmic surgery • Redesigned a differential wrist mechanism for the surgical stenting unit for manufacturing feasibility • Built mechanical and electrical interfaces to standardize connections between robots and break out boxes • Optimized and designed devices such as a steerable silicon electrode array for cochlear surgery ### Engineering Assistant @ Suzuki Jan 2008 – Jan 2008 • Assisted in the optimization of assembly line resulting in a higher throughput of cars than projected • Ensured all complete knock down kits and other essential equipment were available for assembly • Contributed to daily office procedures in the assembly, welding, painting and sales divisions ## Education ### Bachelor of Science - BS Columbia University ### Master of Science (MS) in Mechanical Engineering & Controls UCLA ### Bachelor of Science (BS) in Mechanical Engineering Columbia Engineering ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/izzy-m-shawki --- Source: https://flows.cv/izzyshawki JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/izzyshawki/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13