Damage detection in uniform structures has been studied in numerous previous researches. However, damage detection in non-uniform structures is less studied. In this paper, a damage detection algorithm for identifying rectangular notch parameters in a stepped waveguide using Lamb waves is presented. The proposed algorithm is based on mode conversion and scattering phenomena because of interaction of Lamb wave modes with defects. The analysis is divided into two steps: notch localization and notch geometry detection. The main advantage of this method is its ability to detect all of the notch parameters in a waveguide with arbitrary number of step discontinuities. The method is applied to a numerical example and the results show that it can successfully identify the notch location, depth, and width in a multi-step plate. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature