The automotive industry leverages Material Extrusion (MEX)-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) to reduce lead time and costs for prototypes, rapid tooling, and low-volume customized designs. For effective design, the mechanical and physical properties of a material need to be known. This paper examines the impact of print orientation on the tensile properties of Polylactic Acid (PLA), selected for its ease of use and accessibility. Double-angle builds were included. Dog bone samples were designed to the ASTM D638 tensile testing standard and printed solid with a 0.2mm layer height, two outer walls, and a 45° raster-fill angle, with layers alternating by 90°. A nomenclature was developed to represent rotations around the X, Y, and Z axes. Testing was conducted on the MTS Criterion Model 43, 50 kN system. From the experimental stress-strain curves, the Young’s modulus, and yield, ultimate, and fracture stresses, in relation to build orientation, were extracted. Notable differences can be observed. It is shown that by strategically configuring build parameters, PLA exhibits both flexible and rigid characteristics. Therefore, when creating AM solutions, Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) and material selection are important, but pre-processing parameters—such as print orientation, wall thickness, infill density, raster-fill angle, and layer height—also play a crucial role in determining a part's final mechanical properties. These findings lay the groundwork for applying this methodology to other thermoplastics commonly used in the automotive industry, such as ABS and Nylon 12. Understanding how build orientation influences part strength helps engineers optimize performance and predict failure modes.