Vehicle Functional Manager (VFM)

Job Description – Vehicle Functional Manager (VFM)

Automotive | Chennai | 2 Openings | 5 Years’ Experience

Role Purpose: Own vehicle-level functional maturity by coordinating feature requirements, software readiness, integration, validation, issue resolution, and release status across engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage vehicle functions from target definition and requirements cascade through integration, validation, and maturity sign-off.
• Assess software and feature readiness, track dependencies, risks, defects, corrective actions, and release milestones.
• Develop and coordinate physical and virtual validation plans, maintaining traceability between requirements, tests, and results.
• Analyze vehicle or bench-test results, lead cross-functional root-cause reviews, and drive issues to closure.
• Coordinate engineering, software, validation, homologation, quality, and supplier stakeholders; report status through concise dashboards and reviews.

Required Profile:

• 5 years of hands-on automotive experience involving vehicle functions, E/E architecture, system integration, or validation.
• Working knowledge of mechanical/electrical interfaces, functional architecture, vehicle networks, diagnostics, product-development processes, and change management.
• Experience preparing validation procedures, analyzing CAN or test data, documenting defects, and presenting recommendations.
• Ability to set measurable performance targets and balance safety, quality, cost, timing, weight, efficiency, NVH, ergonomics, and regulatory needs.
• Strong analytical, stakeholder-management, presentation, organization, and Excel-based reporting skills.

Good to Have: ISO 26262 awareness, software-development lifecycle knowledge, homologation exposure, test-bench or vehicle instrumentation experience, and familiarity with project or issue-tracking tools.

Project Brief: Join an automotive program for a French OEM preparing future product launches. The role offers end-to-end ownership of vehicle-function maturity and cross-functional delivery.