Manager, Vehicle Controls

Arc; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 183,000 - 247,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Parental leave

Generous time off

Income protection

Retirement savings

Water fund

Professional development

Safety Support

Captain training

Office perks

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Arc is seeking a Vehicle Controls Manager to lead our embedded systems and cross-domain control efforts from our Los Angeles headquarters. You will guide a lean, high-trust team across requirements, resource allocation, and performance optimization, delivering robust control solutions for marine vehicles.

You will collaborate with electrical, firmware, and mechanical teams, drive design decisions, and help shape our roadmap for future programs while maintaining Arc’s culture and mission.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in embedded systems, controls, or vehicle electrical integration.
• 2+ years leading engineering teams with mentoring and hiring.
• Experience shipping complex hardware-integrated real-time systems.
• Strong ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and communicate effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing vehicle controls engineering team.
• Invest in processes to maximize efficiency, quality, and velocity.
• Model Arc’s values to improve team culture and inspire others.
• Partner with electrical, firmware, and mechanical teams for cross-domain integration.
• Collaborate with service and manufacturing teams to triage faults and ensure high fleet uptime.
• Contribute to roadmap planning and identify technical risks and staffing needs.
• Drive long-term technical strategy to build moats and leapfrog capabilities.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.

Skills

Embedded systems

Vehicle controls

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

System-level tradeoffs

Communication skills

Tools

C/C++

Rust

MATLAB/Simulink

Job description

What we’re building The marine industry supports recreation, global commerce, and national defense. And yet it runs on technology that hasn’t meaningfully changed in fifty years. Until now. Arc is on a mission to electrify the marine industry. We’re rethinking powertrains, software, and vessel designs from first principles. And we’re already executing. We started with consumers to develop and harden our core technology. We’re now scaling production of our flagship model with new models and sectors on the horizon. Now we’re extending our platform to commercial applications, starting with tugs, ferries, and defense, with years worth of signed contracts and a pipeline that spans every vessel type on the water. The technology is proven, the momentum is building, and the opportunity is enormous. The marine industry is going electric and Arc is building the platform that powers it.

Who We’re Looking for

As Arc’s vehicle controls manager, you will lead the development of cutting-
dge vehicle control systems across all of our programs. That means gathering requirements, allocating resources, and optimizing team performance, while having fun along the way. This is a full-time, on-site role at our Los Angeles headquarters. You’ll report to the Director of Software Engineering and work closely with a lean, high-trust team where everyone’s work matters.

What You’ll Do

• Leading, mentoring, and growing a high-performing vehicle controls engineering team, providing employee guidance and career development support.
• Investing in processes that maximize efficiency, quality, and velocity.
• Improving team culture by modeling Arc’s values and inspiring them in others.
• Partnering with electrical, firmware, and mechanical teams to lead cross-domain integration and resolve complex system-level issues.
• Collaborating with service and manufacturing teams to proactively triage controls faults, define service actions, and ensure high uptime across the fleet.
• Contributing to roadmap planning for future vehicle programs, identifying technical risks, staffing needs.
• Drive long term technical strategy to build moats and leapfrog our capabilities.
• Fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in embedded systems, controls, or vehicle electrical integration, with a strong ability to guide and support engineers in troubleshooting and development.
• 2+ years of proven experience leading and managing engineering teams, including mentorship, performance management, and hiring.
• Demonstrated experience shipping complex hardware-integrated, real-time systems into production.
• Strong intuition for system-level tradeoffs under real-world constraints.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills with a proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders, lead a team, and deliver challenging feedback

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with EV or marine electrical and controls architectures.
• Proficiency in C/C++, Rust, or similar languages for embedded or automation development.
• Experience with model-based design or control algorithm development (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink).
• Enthusiasm for boating and the water.

What we offer

The base salary for this role is $215,000 annually

Highly competitive equity grants are included with full time offers. As well as semi-annual bonuses tied to your impact, not just your tenure.

Additionally, Arc offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:

• Healthcare benefits — 99% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision
• Parental leave — 14 weeks fully paid for birthing and non-birthing parents
• Generous time off — Highly competitive PTO with an opportunity to earn more time with tenure
• Income protection — Life and disability insurance for all employees
• Retirement savings — Traditional and Roth 401(k) access
• Water fund — $500 for you to spend each year to get out on the water, however you choose
• Professional development — $500 annual reimbursement for professional development and a monthly AI stipend
• Safety Support- Annual reimbursement for PPE, ergonomic equipment and anything that ensures we keep our crew safe
• Captain training — Training and access to take Arcboats out with friends and family
• Office perks — Daily lunches, snacks, and good coffee while onsite
• Relocation assistance — Available depending on role eligibility.

Our values

• Ownership over both your work and the company’s success
• Empathy for colleagues and for customers
• Humility in problem solving and collaboration
• Pragmatism for navigating ambiguity quickly and sensibly
• Inclusion of different backgrounds, opinions, cultures, and perspectives.

We want people who share and embody these values. It is vital that our values align - we’d be happy to elaborate on any or all of these during the interview process.