Automotive Infotainment Root Cause Engineer

Tech One IT; Auburn Hills (MI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Tech One IT in Auburn Hills, MI seeks a Triage / Root Cause & Development Engineer to lead end-to-end investigation and software-level resolution of complex automotive infotainment issues reported from customer vehicles, warranty claims, validation fleets, and production programs.

You will combine system-level triage, embedded software debugging, log analysis, and source-code analysis to drive issues from symptom to root cause and validated fix, working across Android Automotive, CAN, Ethernet,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/CE/EE or related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on embedded software experience.
• Strong C/C++ and/or Java programming skills.
• Experience with Android, Embedded Linux, or QNX.
• Knowledge of CAN/CAN-FD, Automotive Ethernet, and vehicle networks.
• Ability to analyze complex logs across multiple components.
• Strong communication and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Analyze customer complaints and warranty claims.
• Translate symptoms into reproducible failure scenarios.
• Build event timelines from multi-domain logs.
• Identify root cause and drive corrective actions.
• Develop code-level corrective recommendations.
• Reproduce issues on production or test setups.
• Validate fixes and perform regression assessment.

Skills

C/C++

Java

Embedded systems

Android Automotive

System debugging

Education

BS/MS in CS/CE/EE

Tools

ADB

GDB

Wireshark

CANoe

Git/Gerrit

Job description

The Triage / Root Cause & Development Engineer is responsible for end-to-end investigation, reproduction, root-cause identification, and software-level resolution of complex automotive infotainment and connectivity issues reported from customer vehicles, warranty claims, validation fleets, and production programs.

This role combines system-level triage, embedded software debugging, log analysis, source-code analysis, and hands‑on development capability. The engineer is expected to drive an issue from customer symptom through technical root cause, corrective action, and validation.

The role requires strong cross-domain knowledge across Android Automotive / Android infotainment, embedded software, vehicle networks, connectivity, audio, projection, USB, power management, OTA/FOTA, and vehicle interfaces.

Core Responsibilities

• Analyze customer complaints, warranty claims, and field incidents.
• Translate customer symptoms into reproducible technical failure scenarios.
• Build chronological event timelines using logs from multiple system domains.
• Identify the first point of deviation from expected system behavior.
• Determine whether the issue originates from:
• Application / HMI
• Middleware / HAL
• MCU / Vehicle interface
• Network / external ECU
• Develop hypothesis‑driven investigation plans and validate root cause with evidence.
• Distinguish primary root cause from secondary symptoms or recovery behavior.
• Perform read‑across analysis across software versions, vehicle variants, and programs.
• Support critical warranty, customer escalation, and warroom activities.
• Typical issues may include(but not limited to):
• HU restart, freeze, ANR, crash, or black screen
• Delayed startup / display activation
• Audio loss, volume, routing, or source‑switching issues
• CarPlay / Android Auto failures
• Bluetooth, Wi‑Fi, cellular, Ethernet, or USB issues
• VHAL / CAN signal processing failures
• Navigation, cluster, or HMI synchronization issues

2. Source Code Analysis & Development

• Review C, C++, Java, Android, Linux, or QNX source code associated with the failure.
• Trace execution from application through framework, middleware, HAL, kernel, and vehicle interfaces.
• Correlate runtime logs with source‑code execution paths.
• Identify defects such as:
• Race conditions
• Timeout / retry failures
• IPC / Binder failures
• Synchronization issues
• Memory/resource problems
• Develop corrective software patches or prototype fixes where applicable.
• Add diagnostic logging or instrumentation to isolate intermittent failures.
• Support code review, regression assessment, and fix validation.

The engineer is expected to provide code‑level corrective recommendations, not only identify the suspected component.

• Reproduce issues using:
• Production/development vehicles
• HIL/VHIL systems
• Component‑level test setups
• Validate software level, vehicle configuration, coding, and calibration.
• Simulate ignition, sleep/wake, suspend/resume, remote start, and other vehicle states.
• Reproduce intermittent and timing‑sensitive conditions through controlled testing.
• Compare failed behavior with known‑good systems.
• Validate corrective fixes under original failure conditions.

Capture and analyze data including:

• CAN / CAN‑FD / LIN traces
• Automotive Ethernet
• MCU and vehicle logs
• USB enumeration and power‑control logs
• TCP/IP and packet captures

Typical tools include:

ADB, Linux shell, tcpdump, Wireshark, CANoe/CANalyzer, GDB, Git/Gerrit, Jira, Jenkins, Android Studio, ip, netstat/ss, and diagnostic utilities.

The engineer must be able to correlate events across multiple ECUs and logging sources into a single end‑to‑end failure sequence.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Embedded Systems, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience in embedded software development, automotive infotainment, system integration, debugging, or technical root‑cause analysis.
• Strong programming and debugging skills in C/C++ and/or Java, with the ability to review existing code, trace execution paths, and develop or recommend corrective software changes.
• Hands‑on experience debugging Android, Embedded Linux, and/or QNX‑based systems.
• Strong understanding of embedded system fundamentals, including process/thread behavior, IPC, synchronization, state machines, watchdogs, crash handling, and system startup/shutdown.
• Working knowledge of automotive communication and diagnostics, including CAN/CAN‑FD, UDS, Automotive Ethernet, ECU communication, and vehicle integration.
• Understanding of vehicle power‑state management, including ignition, startup/shutdown, sleep/wake, suspend/resume, and related ECU interactions.
• Proven ability to analyze and correlate complex system logs, traces, crash data, and software execution sequences across multiple components.
• Strong troubleshooting skills with the ability to distinguish software, hardware, configuration, integration, and timing‑related failures.
• Ability to develop hypotheses, identify required diagnostic evidence, reproduce issues, and independently drive complex technical problems from initial triage through validated root cause and closure.
• Strong technical communication and documentation skills, with the ability to clearly present failure sequence, supporting evidence, root cause, corrective action, and validation results.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Android Automotive / Android infotainment platform development or debugging, including Android Framework and native components.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more Android platform areas such as CarService, VHAL, Binder IPC, HIDL/AIDL, Audio Framework/HAL, SystemServer, or native services.
• Experience with automotive SoC/platform environments such as Qualcomm, Intel, NXP, Renesas, or similar embedded platforms.
• Experience integrating or debugging Apple CarPlay and/or Android Auto, including wired and wireless projection.
• Strong knowledge of one or more connectivity domains, including Bluetooth/BLE, Wi‑Fi, USB, TCP/IP networking, Automotive Ethernet, cellular, or telematics.
• Experience troubleshooting automotive audio, multimedia, display/HMI, navigation, or power‑management systems.
• Experience with OTA/FOTA software update architecture, update engines, flashing, recovery, and failure analysis.
• Exposure to AUTOSAR, MCU software, vehicle abstraction layers, or low‑level ECU interfaces.
• Experience with debugging tools such as ADB, Wireshark/tcpdump, CANoe/CANalyzer, Android bugreport/dumpsys, kernel logs, tombstones, and ANR traces.
• Experience supporting warranty, field‑quality, production, or customer escalation investigations.
• Experience working cross‑functionally with OEMs, Tier‑1/Tier‑2 suppliers, platform vendors, development teams, validation teams, and vehicle integration teams.
• Demonstrated experience applying structured problem‑solving methods such as 8D, 5‑Why, Fault Tree Analysis, or hypothesis‑driven debugging.

The role requires an engineer who can bridge development, integration, validation, field quality, and warranty engineering and independently drive high‑impact issues to technical closure.