Senior Display Hardware Engineer, Optics

General Motors; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellbeing benefits

GM vehicle discounts

Job summary

General Motors is seeking a Senior Display Hardware Engineer, Optics to lead the development of next‑generation optical film and light management for automotive LCD and OLED displays. You will establish optical characterization methods and validate technologies with suppliers and internal teams.

You will drive evaluation, validation, and integration of advanced optical solutions, ensuring performance, reliability, and manufacturability before production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Display Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in display optics, optical film stack design, or light management systems.
• Strong understanding of LCD and OLED optical architectures and light management technologies.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate and develop advanced optical film stack architectures for automotive LCD and OLED displays.
• Select and optimize films such as DBEF, BEF, diffuser films, prism films, polarizers, and circular polarizers to meet system‑level performance targets.
• Perform optical simulations and modeling to assess brightness, contrast, viewing angle, color shift, reflectivity, and power efficiency.
• Establish and execute optical measurement methodologies to characterize and validate new technologies.
• Partner with display panel suppliers to evaluate optical performance under automotive environmental conditions.
• Analyze optical performance data and correlate results to film stack design and material selection.
• Investigate and resolve display optical issues, including non‑uniformity, Mura, glare, reflections, and halo artifacts.
• Collaborate with material suppliers to assess new optical films, coatings, and lamination technologies.
• Support technology maturation, risk reduction, and transition of validated solutions into production programs.

Skills

Display optics

Optical film stack design

Light management

LCD/OLED optics

Optical simulation

Education

Optical Eng/Physics/Display Eng degree

Tools

Optical simulation tools

Optical measurement tools

Job description

About the Team

Compute & Connectivity Hardware (CCH) is part of GM’s Vehicle Software & Electronics Engineering (VSEE) organization within Software & Services Engineering. The team develops the physical hardware foundation for GM’s software‑defined vehicles, including compute, connectivity, networking, displays, and other electronic platforms that enable in‑vehicle software, infotainment, ADAS, vehicle controls, and connected experiences.

Job Description

About the Team

Compute & Connectivity Hardware (CCH) is part of GM’s Vehicle Software & Electronics Engineering (VSEE) organization within Software & Services Engineering. The team develops the physical hardware foundation for GM’s software‑defined vehicles, including compute, connectivity, networking, displays, and other electronic platforms that enable in‑vehicle software, infotainment, ADAS, vehicle controls, and connected experiences.

CCH’s work spans architecture, requirements, hardware and electronics design, embedded hardware, systems integration, validation, launch, and in‑market performance. Our engineers collaborate across software, systems, controls, cybersecurity, functional safety, vehicle engineering, suppliers, and manufacturing to develop reliable, production‑ready hardware for GM’s vehicle portfolio.

The Role

The Senior Display Hardware Engineer, Optics will lead the development and maturation of next‑generation optical film and light management technologies for automotive LCD and OLED displays. This role focuses on evaluating and optimizing optical stacks, including brightness enhancement films (BEF/DBEF), diffuser and prism films, polarizers, circular polarizers, and other advanced optical materials that improve display brightness, efficiency, contrast, and outdoor readability.

You will establish optical characterization methodologies and validation processes used to benchmark emerging technologies and assess their readiness for future automotive applications, including instrument clusters, center displays, and passenger infotainment systems.

Working closely with optical material suppliers, display manufacturers, and internal engineering teams, you will drive the evaluation, validation, and integration of advanced optical solutions. You will also collaborate with Display Panel Engineers and Materials Engineers to ensure optical technologies meet performance, reliability, and manufacturability requirements before transitioning into production programs.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate and develop advanced optical film stack architectures for automotive LCD and OLED displays.
• Select and optimize films such as DBEF, BEF, diffuser films, prism films, polarizers, and circular polarizers to meet system‑level performance targets.
• Perform optical simulations and modeling to assess brightness, contrast, viewing angle, color shift, reflectivity, and power efficiency.
• Establish and execute optical measurement methodologies to characterize and validate new technologies.
• Partner with display panel suppliers to evaluate optical performance under automotive environmental conditions.
• Analyze optical performance data and correlate results to film stack design and material selection.
• Investigate and resolve display optical issues, including non‑uniformity, Mura, glare, reflections, and halo artifacts.
• Collaborate with material suppliers to assess new optical films, coatings, and lamination technologies.
• Support technology maturation, risk reduction, and transition of validated solutions into production programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Display Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in display optics, optical film stack design, or light management systems.
• Strong understanding of LCD and OLED optical architectures and light management technologies.
• Experience with brightness enhancement films, polarizers, optical compensation films, and display optical performance metrics.
• Proficiency with optical simulation, analysis, and characterization tools.

  Preferred Qualifications

  • Master's degree in a related engineering or science discipline.
  • Experience working with display panel manufacturers or optical material suppliers.
  • Knowledge of Mini-LED backlight systems and associated optical stack design.
  • Experience with optical bonding and cover glass integration.
  • Experience qualifying optical materials for environmental, thermal, UV, and mechanical durability requirements.

  Compensation: The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position, as well as geography of the selected candidate.

  • The salary range for this role is (125,200- 192,700). The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
  • Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.

  Benefits

  • Benefits: GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.

  This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}. The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role. This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

  About GM

  Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

  Why Join Us

  We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

  Benefits Overview

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  We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role‑related assessment(s) and/or a pre‑employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

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