RAE Software Engineer

Ford-Motor-Company; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Family care days

Tuition assistance

Vehicle discount program

Paid time off

Job summary

Ford Motor Company seeks a Senior Software Engineer to lead low-level C++ software for AR HUD pipelines and platform infrastructure. You will work across vehicle interfaces, sensors, and rendering stacks to enable real-time AR experiences in production-intent systems.

Candidates should have 7+ years in software engineering, strong C++ and system-level programming skills, and experience with Qt/OpenGL/Vulkan. This hybrid role sits in Dearborn, MI, with collaboration across ADAS and optics teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 7+ years of software engineering experience.
• Strong expertise in C++ for performance-critical systems.
• System-level programming including multi-threading, memory, IPC.
• End-to-end ownership of a complex software subsystem including architecture and implementation.
• Experience integrating software with hardware, sensors, and embedded platforms.
• Experience with latency-sensitive or real-time applications and performance tradeoffs.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop low-level C++ for AR HUD pipelines and platform infrastructure.
• Integrate platform software with real-time AR rendering stacks (Qt/OpenGL/Vulkan).
• Interface with vehicle data pipelines (CAN/Ethernet) to ingest ADAS signals and localization data.
• Translate vehicle signals into real-time AR visualization inputs and support test environments.
• Define and execute validation strategies for latency, timing, and synchronization.
• Collaborate with optics and ADAS teams to drive technical decisions and mitigations.

Skills

C++

System-level programming

Multi-threading

Real-time

Software architecture

AR HUD

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

Qt

OpenGL

Vulkan

Unity/Unreal

CAN bus

GitHub Copilot

Job description

In this position...

Ford is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to lead development of core software infrastructure for next-generation Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Up Display (HUD) systems. This role focuses on low-level systems engineering, platform architecture, hardware and software integration, vehicle data ingestion, and real-time AR rendering pipelines. The engineer will work across the stack from vehicle interfaces and sensor inputs to rendering integration and system validation to help transition advanced prototypes toward production-intent systems.

What you'll do...

• Design and develop low-level, high-performance C++ software supporting AR HUD pipelines, building and maintaining modular platform infrastructure enabling including rendering pipelines, sensor/camera ingestion, and vehicle signal integration while debugging and optimizing memory for threading, and real-time performance constraints.
• Integrate platform software with real-time AR rendering stacks (e.g., Qt / OpenGL / Vulkan), supporting multi-view / autostereoscopic rendering pipelines while ensuring synchronization between rendering outputs and sensor inputs (eye tracking, cameras).
• Interface with vehicle data pipelines (CAN/Ethernet) to ingest ADAS signals, navigation and localization data, vehicle state information, and sensor inputs such as LiDAR.
• Translate vehicle signals into real-time AR visualization inputs and support integration and debugging in vehicle and bench environments.
• Collaborate with lab and prototype teams to stabilize demo and test systems.
• Defineand execute validation strategies for latency, timing behavior, and sensor-to-render synchronization.
• Maintain stability under real-world conditions (thermal, vibration, sunlight) and identify and resolve system-level bottlenecks.
• Act as a technical owner across software and hardware boundaries, working closely with optics experts, camera experts, the ADAS team, and suppliers to drive technical decisions, evaluate tradeoffs, and mitigate technical risks.
• Leverage AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, LLM-based code assistants) to accelerate C++ development, refactoring, and unit test generation for performance-critical systems.
• Leverage 3D rendering engine coding experience (e.g., Unity, Unreal Engine, or custom rendering engines) to inform shader development, scene composition, and real-time rendering optimizations within the Qt/OpenGL/Vulkan AR HUD pipeline.

You’ll have...

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• 7+ years of experience in software engineering or equivalent demonstrable impact
• 7+ years of experience Strong expertise in C++ development for performance-critical systems
• 7+ years of experience with system-level programming (multi-threading, memory, IPC, etc.)
• 7+ years of experience with end-to-end ownership of a complex software subsystem, including architectural definition and implementation.
• 7+ years of experience integrating software with hardware, sensors, cameras, vehicle systems, or embedded platforms.
• 7+ years of experience in work on latency-sensitive or real-time applications with an understanding of performance tradeoffs and constraints.

Even better, you may have...

• PhD in Computer Science or related field
• Experience with graphics or rendering systems (Qt, OpenGL, Vulkan)
• Exposure to AR/VR, HUDs, or display systems
• Experience with vehicle networks (CAN, Ethernet)
• Familiarity with ADAS data pipelines or perception systems
• Experience in prototype-to-production technology development environments
• Linux or UNIX system experience.
• Experience with real-time rendering pipelines, shader development, and GPU performance optimization in a shipped game or interactive entertainment product
• Experience shipping performance-critical, latency-sensitive software in consumer hardware environments (console, PC, or mobile), demonstrating comfort with hardware constraints similar to automotive embedded systems

You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder...or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a salary grade 8 and ranges from $115,000-$192,900.

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

For more information on salary and benefits, click here: https://fordcareers.co/GSR

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid. Candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location may be required to be onsite four or more days per week.