Industry | Ryanhickey

Industry Experience

General Motors, Advanced Senior Hardware Engineer - Thermal System Lead

Drove $4.0B+ in cost avoidance by leading development and productionization of 2 battery safety design trade secret, recognized with GM's prestigious 45th & 47th Annual Boss Kettering Award (2022 & 2024).
Owned end-to-end product lifecycle for battery thermal management and power distribution systems across advanced and new product groups – from requirements definition and architecture design through prototyping, validation testing, and production launch on large-volume EV platforms.
Invented 80+ pending patents, 18 granted patents and 13 trade secrets, invention board member reviewing 500+ invention submissions with >90% USPTO approval rate, directly shaping GM's EV IP strategy.
Defined customer-facing product requirements and led cross-functional teams (legal, mechanical, electrical, safety, manufacturing, robotics, suppliers, and purchasing) — working effectively across all organizational levels to align stakeholders on product goals.
Launched battery and thermal systems across major EV platforms (Hummer EV, Lyriq, Blazer EV, and future architectures through MY2033), contributing to field safety investigations and read-across analysis.
Scaled safety knowledge organization-wide: trained and mentored 15+ cross-functional engineers and directed GM's national EV safety training program for 5,000 first responders across 30 U.S. cities.
Ensured regulatory compliance with FMVSS305a, UL9540 and global standards, managing design risk through DFMEA and structured trade-off analysis.

General Motors, Advanced Product Design Thermal Engineer

Secured architecture approval for a novel HV battery design by building cross-functional alignment across engineering, manufacturing, and executive stakeholders for a new low-volume launch.
Accelerated prototyping and validation timelines by partnering with CAE team to develop advanced 1D/3D CFD simulation models — improving design accuracy and reducing physical testing cycles enabling rapid design iteration.
Contributed to 7 granted patents and 1 trade secret, translating engineering insights into protectable IP assets.
Benchmarked competitive EV battery systems to surface industry trends and inform product positioning and roadmap decisions.
Guided 10+ cross-functional engineers, recognized by GM's Executive VP as critical technical talent award for exceptional contributions to battery thermal design.

General Motors, Product Development Engineer - Safety & Abuse

Established GM's off-site testing facility, managing a 5-person team and delivering $4.5M in annual capital cost savings — enabling critical EV program deliverables.
Secured a granted patent for an innovative product solution that resolved a critical blocker and unlocked launch in Asian markets.
Led test fixture design, prototyping, and validation methodology for abuse testing and failure analysis across all programs
Earned GM DFSS Green & Black Belt certification, through structured problem-solving & data-driven methods to product challenges.
I played a pivotal role in preparing testimony prior to an interview with OSHA regarding a safety incident.

Johnson Controls, Advanced Battery Technology Engineer Co-Op

I performed engineering process automation essential to designing, developing, and improving innovative battery systems. By enabling the automation of processing and modeling methods for lithium-ion battery development, I saved more than 500 engineering hours annually.