Onur Akyol
Kenilworth,Warwickshire
Summary
Results-driven Engineering Leader with over 10 years in vehicle CAE, crashworthiness, durability, and battery structural engineering. Currently serving as Attribute Lead Engineer, overseeing Shock & Sled CAE activities for MLA, EMA, and JEA electrified vehicle programmes. Expertise in leading teams, enhancing simulation methods, and implementing engineering optimisations to drive cost and efficiency improvements.
Overview
3
3
Languages
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
Lead Crash Durability Attribute Engineer
JAGUAR LAND ROVER
Whitley, West Midlands
04.2023 - Current
- Lead the Shock and Sled durability attribute within Energy Storage Systems, providing technical and CAE delivery leadership across battery development activities for the MLA, EMA and JEA electrified vehicle programmes.
- Provide technical assessment of battery structural robustness, durability and shock/sled performance, translating simulation results into practical engineering design recommendations and countermeasures.
- Managing a team of 5 offshore CAE engineers, with responsibility for day-to-day technical direction, workload allocation, resource planning and capacity management to ensure delivery against programme priorities.
- Supported programme risk management by leveraging high-confidence CAE forecasts to reduce execution numbers by 50%, identifying structural and durability concerns early and communicating impacts and recommendations to stakeholders.
- Drove improvements in simulation methodologies across battery assembly, enhancing confidence in CAE predictions and facilitating DV-item assessments and sign-off activities.
- Contributed to cost reduction and material optimisation initiatives across battery programmes, applying CAE insights to inform design decisions while ensuring structural performance and programme requirements were met.
- Work within an agile engineering environment, coordinating activities across cross-functional teams including design, test, integration and suppliers to resolve structural and performance issues.
- Led the automation of CAE result interpretation and reporting processes, delivering approximately 30% reduction in engineering effort and reporting turnaround time, improving team efficiency and enabling engineers to focus on higher-value technical activities.
- Powertrain Engineering – Energy Storage Systems
Lead CAE Engineer
FEV TURKEY
Istanbul
11.2019 - 04.2023
- Conducted front, side, and rear crash analyses to meet regulatory targets for battery electric vehicles.
- Assessed simulation results and presented detailed reports, recommending countermeasures to ensure compliance with regulations and client-specific requirements.
- Developed comprehensive vehicle model, meshing CAD data and implementing connections for crashworthiness simulations.
- Represented the company on vehicle safety topics for clients and project partners, defining and planning necessary crash analysis.
- Istanbul, Turkey
Senior CAE Engineer
ASSAN HANIL AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
Kocaeli
05.2018 - 11.2019
- Executed CAE and virtual validation activities for automotive components and systems, ensuring alignment with performance specifications.
- Correlated simulation results with physical test data, facilitating investigation of structural performance issues and enhancing accuracy of simulations.
- Collaborated with test and engineering teams to refine simulation methods and develop effective engineering solutions.
- Kocaeli, Turkey
CAE Engineer
DAIMLER AG / MERCEDES-BENZ TÜRK
Istanbul
05.2014 - 05.2018
- Evaluated stiffness, strength and fatigue performance of chassis and structural components, identifying areas for design enhancement.
- Investigated leaf springs, chassis frames, frame-mounted components and cab structures to support structural integrity and optimise design solutions.
- Conducted whole-vehicle static and rough-road durability analyses, ensuring compliance with performance standards for truck and bus programmes.
- Defined CAE measurement points and supported simulation-to-test correlation.
- Worked with multidisciplinary teams to identify structural weaknesses and develop design improvements.
- Istanbul, Turkey
Research Assistant
IWM – RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY
Aachen
11.2011 - 02.2013
- Developed numerical material models and user-defined material behaviour to enhance predictive capabilities in material testing.
- Conducted tensile and compression testing of tool steels, characterising elastoplastic material properties to inform material selection and design processes.
- Performed thermo-mechanical and metallurgical finite element analysis using Abaqus/Standard to support material performance evaluations.
- Aachen, Germany
Education
M.Sc. - Energy Systems
University of Applied Sciences Aachen
Aachen / Germany01-2012
B.Eng. - Mechanical Engineering
Yildiz Technical University
Istanbul / Turkey01-2008
Skills
- Battery structural performance
- Simulation methodology
- Countermeasure development
- Structural performance
- Technical ownership
- Cost reduction
- Design optimisation
- Risk management
- Vehicle safety
- Electrified vehicles
- Battery systems
- LS-DYNA
- Radioss
- PAM-Crash
- Agile delivery
- Resource planning
- Technical direction
- Team leadership
- Stakeholder management
- Engineering Leadership
- Abaqus/Standard
- OptiStruct
- Nastran
- PERMAS
- FEMFAT
- ANSA
- HyperMesh
- Medina
- HyperCrash
- LS-PrePost
- HyperView
- GNS Animator
- MetaPost
Custom
Technical direction, Team leadership, Resource & capacity planning, Stakeholder management, Agile delivery, Vehicle CAE, Crash & sled, Battery structural performance, Durability & fatigue, Nonlinear FE, Simulation methodology, Technical ownership, Risk management, Test correlation, Countermeasure development, Design optimisation, Cost & material reduction, Vehicle safety, Electrified vehicles, Battery systems, Structural performance, Programme delivery
Languages
Turkish
First Language
English
Advanced
C1
German
Advanced
C1
Timeline
Lead Crash Durability Attribute Engineer
JAGUAR LAND ROVER
04.2023 - Current
Lead CAE Engineer
FEV TURKEY
11.2019 - 04.2023
Senior CAE Engineer
ASSAN HANIL AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
05.2018 - 11.2019
CAE Engineer
DAIMLER AG / MERCEDES-BENZ TÜRK
05.2014 - 05.2018
Research Assistant
IWM – RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY
11.2011 - 02.2013
M.Sc. - Energy Systems
University of Applied Sciences Aachen
B.Eng. - Mechanical Engineering
Yildiz Technical University