ECU Project Leader / Design Leader

Autoliv; Vårgårda kommun; On-site; SEK 1,200,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Autoliv seeks an experienced ECU Project Leader/Design Leader to drive the next-generation automotive safety electronics platforms. You will transform customer and market trends into robust ECU concepts while guiding distributed teams across Europe, North America, and Asia toward a common roadmap.

The role requires strong technical leadership, strategic thinking, and excellent communication to ensure alignment with SOP readiness and future product milestones.

Qualifications

• Requires degree in Electronics Engineering, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering, Embedded Systems, or similar.
• Experience in leading automotive ECU development and system concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead creation and maturation of next-generation ECU and system concepts for future mobility and safety.
• Define product vision, technology roadmaps, and development strategies.
• Drive technology selection, feasibility studies, and innovation initiatives.
• Translate customer needs, market trends, and regulatory requirements into future product concepts.
• Lead globally distributed engineering teams to align on roadmap and priorities.
• Collaborate with system leadership to ensure alignment with long-term strategies.

Skills

Team leadership

Systems engineering

ECU development

Safety standards

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Communication

ISO 26262 knowledge

Global collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering, Embedded Systems, or similar

Job description

About Autoliv

At Autoliv, our mission is to save more lives. As the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, we develop innovative technologies that protect vehicle occupants and enable safer mobility. Every year, our products help save thousands of lives, making safety the core purpose behind everything we do. Our success is built on engineering excellence, innovation, teamwork, and a strong customer focus. We foster a global and collaborative environment where employees are empowered to lead, innovate, and make a meaningful impact on the future of mobility.

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced ECU Project Leader/ Design Leader to drive the definition and development of next-generation automotive safety electronics platforms and system concepts. This role is rooted in Innovation, focusing on early concept creation and maturation while ensuring key downstream needs—customer application, validation, industrialization, and SOP readiness—are considered from the start. The successful candidate will be responsible for transforming customer, market, regulatory, and technology trends into robust system and ECU concepts that can serve as the foundation for future product programs. The role requires strong technical leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to align globally distributed teams around a common vision and roadmap.

Key Responsibilities

Innovation & Concept Leadership

• Lead the creation and maturation of next-generation ECU and system concepts for future mobility and safety applications.

• Define product vision, technology roadmaps, concept architectures, and development strategies.

• Drive technology selection, proof-of-concept activities, feasibility studies, and innovation initiatives.

• Translate emerging customer needs, market trends, competitive benchmarks, and regulatory requirements into future product concepts.

• Identify technology gaps

System & Platform Strategy

• Define scalable platform concepts capable of supporting multiple future customer applications.

• Drive system-level thinking and ensure coherence between product vision, architecture, functionality, and business objectives.

• Lead trade-off analyses involving performance, safety, cybersecurity, cost, scalability, and technology readiness.

• Collaborate with system leadership to ensure alignment between concept development activities and long-term product strategies.

Global Leadership & Alignment

• Lead and influence globally distributed engineering teams located across Europe, North America, and Asia.

• Build strong alignment across engineering disciplines, technology domains, and organizational boundaries.

• Create a shared vision and ensure all stakeholders understand priorities, objectives, assumptions, and technical direction.

• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, and technical excellence.

• Drive decision-making in complex environments where requirements and solutions may still be evolving.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a key interface between innovation teams, system architects, customers, suppliers, and business leaders.

• Facilitate alignment between strategic objectives and technical development activities.

• Support customer engagements, innovation workshops, technology demonstrations, and concept reviews.

• Build strong partnerships with global engineering centers and external technology providers.

Communication, Reporting & Visibility

• Ensure clear, structured, and timely communication of project vision, progress, risks, decisions, and key achievements to stakeholders at all levels.

• Provide regular reporting and executive-level visibility on concept maturity, roadmap status, technology readiness, and alignment with future product milestones up to SOP.

• Promote transparency across global teams by maintaining consistent communication channels, decision records, and alignment forums.

Leadership & Team Development

• Provide technical and organizational leadership for international project teams.

• Coach and mentor engineers and technical leaders.

• Promote a high-performance culture focused on ownership, execution excellence, and continuous learning.

• Drive cross-functional collaboration while maintaining focus on common business and technology objectives. Guarentee alignment of global teams around a common technology roadmap and product vision.

Required Qualifications

• A degree in Electronics Engineering, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering, Embedded Systems, or similar.

• Significant experience within a Tier-1 automotive supplier (highly preferred) or OEM environment.

• Experience in safety-critical automotive systems like EPS and chassis related function is a big plus.

• Proven experience leading advanced engineering, concept development, or innovation programs.

• Strong background in leading automotive electronics systems and ECU development (HW, SW, FuSa and all sub domains)

• Demonstrated ability to lead globally distributed teams and influence stakeholders across multiple organizations.

• Strategic mindset combined with strong technical credibility.

• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred

• Knowledge of ISO 26262, ISO 21434, and ASPICE.

• Experience defining platforms, architectures, or next-generation product concepts.

• Experience working on pre-RFQ, innovation, research, or advanced development activities.