Senior Hardware Engineer- NFC Digital Key

General Motors; Warren (MI); Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 193,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors is seeking a Senior Hardware Engineer focused on NFC Digital Key subsystems. You will architect and validate NFC readers, Secure Elements, and controllers used for secure vehicle access across GM programs.

You will work at the intersection of hardware, RF systems, and cybersecurity, collaborating with cross-functional teams including Vehicle Access, Digital Key, and suppliers to deliver robust, scalable NFC solutions for millions of vehicles worldwide.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years RF or wireless hardware experience.
• Experience delivering Digital Key or similar NFC automotive systems.
• Familiar with CCC Digital Key specs and ISO standards for NFC/UWB.
• Strong understanding of EMI and automotive packaging.
• Experience with NFC reader antenna and coil design for vehicle contexts.
• Proven cross-functional leadership across hardware, software, and supplier teams.

Responsibilities

• Define NFC hardware architecture and requirements for readers and Secure Element subsystems.
• Lead schematic and PCB layout reviews for NFC subsystems in Digital Key controllers and readers.
• Bring up and debug NFC hardware in the lab; optimize for real vehicle environments.
• Develop NFC-focused test plans reflecting real customer access scenarios and packaging conditions.
• Coordinate with Digital Key, Vehicle Access, Antenna, and supplier teams on system alignment and test strategies.
• Mentor junior wireless hardware engineers and lab staff.

Skills

NFC hardware

RF/wireless hardware

Digital Key experience

Coexistence testing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree (preferred)

Tools

Test equipment

NFC reader coil design tools

Job description

Why Join Us:

Digital Key enables customers to use their phones and other devices to securely access and start their vehicles. These experiences rely on advanced Near-Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ultra-Wideband (UWB), technologies that must perform reliably in challenging automotive environments alongside Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and GNSS systems.

Job Description

Digital Key enables customers to use their phones and other devices to securely access and start their vehicles. These experiences rely on advanced Near-Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ultra-Wideband (UWB), technologies that must perform reliably in challenging automotive environments alongside Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and GNSS systems.

As a Senior Hardware Engineer- NFC Digital Key, you will help architect, design, and validate the Wireless hardware that makes secure, precise Digital Key experiences possible for millions of vehicles and customers worldwide. You will work at the intersection of hardware, RF systems, security, and vehicle access, and you will collaborate with teams across GM and with leading silicon and module vendors.

The Team:

The Short Range Wireless Technology team develops and validates GM’s short-range wireless capabilities—particularly NFC, BLE, UWB, and Digital Key—covering RF architecture, hardware bring-up, antenna performance, coexistence, testing, and collaboration with software, cybersecurity, vehicle-access, and supplier teams.

The team is part of the broader Wireless Technology organization, which provides the wireless foundation for GM’s connectivity platforms, including cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GNSS, Digital Key, and related networking services. The organization’s focus is delivering reliable, scalable connectivity across vehicle programs while enabling customer experiences including passive entry, phone-as-a-key, hotspot connectivity, projection, OnStar, remote commands, and OTA services.

The Role:

You will be a Senior Hardware Engineer focused on NFC subsystems used for Digital Key, including NFC readers, Secure Element and controllers. You will split your time between system-level architecture and requirements and hands-on lab work, including bring-up, measurements, coexistence testing, and debug.

You will partner closely with Vehicle Access and Digital Key, Connectivity, Cybersecurity, Antenna, Validation, Manufacturing, and suppliers to deliver robust solutions that can be reused across programs and platforms.

What You Will Do (Responsibilities):

• NFC Hardware Architecture and Requirements

• Act as a hardware subject matter expert for NFC within GM’s Digital Key and short-range access systems.
• Define hardware and requirements for NFC readers that support features such as vehicle entry, vehicle start, trunk access, and NFC card and phone access.
• Lead the concept and requirements for vehicle Digital Key system development.
• Translate vehicle level use cases and customer scenarios into clear performance targets for NFC, including accuracy, precision, latency, robustness, and reader field strength and alignment in automotive packaging.
• Provide NFC input into short range wireless and antenna roadmaps that can scale across nameplates and regions.
  
  

• Hands-on NFC Design, Bring-up, and Validation

• Lead schematic and PCB layout reviews for NFC and Secure Element subsystems on Digital Key controllers, and NFC readers, focusing on NFC reader coil geometry, tuning networks, interaction with nearby metals (for example, the wireless charging coil), and coupling paths to other subsystems.
• Bring up and debug Digital Key hardware in the lab, including reader front-end components, coils, tuning networks, power and clocking, calibration, and performance optimization for real vehicle environments.
• Develop and execute NFC-focused test plans covering realistic positions, orientations, doors or zones, and packaging conditions that reflect real customer access paths, in addition to validating behavior for key Digital Key use cases.
• Use frequency and time domain instrumentation to conduct NFC-specific tests such as field strength and load-modulation maps over the pad area, coupling and detuning versus phone cases and nearby metals, and ISO/IEC 14443/15693 interoperability and timing margin checks across voltage, temperature, and mechanical conditions.
  
  

• CCC Digital Key, Security, and System Alignment

• Ensure NFC hardware implementations support current and emerging Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) Digital Key expectations, particularly for secure, precise ranging and multi device operation.
• Work with Digital Key system and software leads so that NFC, BLE and UWB behaviors, limitations, and coverage concepts are correctly reflected in system architecture, algorithms, and test strategies.
  
  

• Short Range Coexistence Leadership

• Lead coexistence analysis and test content for Digital Key NFC readers in the presence of other technologies maintaining robust NFC detection and transaction reliability under multi-radio activities.
• Coordinate with Qi, UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular, and GNSS teams on time domain and resource sharing strategies where appropriate, ensuring coexistence remains a shared responsibility while you provide technical leadership on problem framing, test design, and mitigation plans.
  
  

• Execution, Documentation, and Mentorship

• Build reusable reference test setups for NFC performance that can be used across labs and programs, including setups that directly compare different implementations.
• Produce clear, structured documentation of requirements, architecture decisions, test strategies, coverage studies, and coexistence analysis that can be used in design reviews, engineering requirements, and supplier communication.
• Mentor junior wireless, RF and hardware engineers and lab staff, modeling GM behaviors and helping to scale the Wireless Technology organization’s impact on Digital Key and short range connectivity.
  
  

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications):

• Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of relevant RF or wireless hardware experience.
• Experience delivering Digital Key or similar access systems that leverage NFC in automotive or consumer products.
• Hands-on experience with CCC Digital Key specifications and broader industry trends in digital vehicle access and secure ranging, including standards such as IEEE 802.15.4z and draft 802.15.4ab for UWB ranging and NFC standards like ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 15693, and ISO/IEC 18092 (or equivalent regional variants).
• Strong understanding of Electromagnetic fundamentals, and material properties, and the ability to reason about interference and coupling paths in dense automotive designs.
• Experience with NFC reader antenna and coil design and placement in vehicle contexts optimizing wireless charging module pad geometry, reader orientation, and nearby metal keep-outs for robust card/phone detection at door, trunk, and center console locations.
• Demonstrated experience with short range coexistence involving NFC, Qi, UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, cellular, and GNSS, including test definition, analysis, and mitigation strategies.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and a track record of leading cross functional technical initiatives across hardware, software, systems, and supplier teams.
  
  

What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Hands-on experience with UWB, and BLE transceivers and systems, including ranging, link budgets, and RF front end design.
• Experience with RF and hardware design reviews, bring-up, and debug on complex, multi radio boards that integrate NFC, Qi, UWB, BLE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and GNSS.
• Awareness of cybersecurity and privacy considerations for UWB, BLE and NFC systems used for secure vehicle access.
• Proficiency with RF test equipment and at least one scripting language such as Python for test automation and data analysis.
• Contributions to patents, standards, or technical publications in UWB, UWB-NBA, NFC, or short-range wireless hardware design.
  
  

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 compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.

The expected base compensation for this role is: $125,200 - $193,000. Actual base compensation within the identified 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 : 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.

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