Senior Mechanical Hardware Engineer – ECU Connectors & Interfaces

generalmotors; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors is seeking a Senior Mechanical Hardware Engineer to lead the mechanical development of ECU headers and connector interfaces, ensuring robust electrical performance and environmental protection within vehicle packaging constraints.

The role requires end-to-end mechanical ownership of connector hardware, collaboration with electrical, PCB, packaging, and manufacturing teams, and a focus on manufacturability and production readiness in automotive applications.

Qualifications

• Experience leading mechanical development of ECU headers and connectors.
• Knowledge of connector terminals, bus bars, seals, and housing integration.
• Ability to define terminal architectures with manufacturability and reliability in mind.
• Experience with selecting materials for connectors and sealing components.
• Familiarity with environmental and assembly considerations in automotive.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical development of ECU headers and connector interfaces for power, high-speed signals, communications, RF, and I/O, ensuring compatibility with packaging and environmental conditions.
• Own mechanical content from concept through production release, including housings, headers, terminals, seals, and attachment features.
• Define and develop connector terminal architectures and bus bar solutions for PCB and housing integration.
• Select materials for connector terminals, conductors, insulators, seals, and housing interfaces.
• Develop sealing strategies for connector-to-housing interfaces to meet automotive environmental performance.
• Create and maintain high-quality 3D CAD models and 2D drawings in NX; use Teamcenter to support design decisions.
• Apply GD&T.

Skills

Mechanical leadership

ECU connector design

Cross-functional collaboration

GD&T

Thermal management

Tools

NX

Teamcenter

Job description

Job Description

The Role

At General Motors, we are reinventing the vehicle through electrification, centralized computing, and software-defined technologies. The Central Compute Hardware Mechanical team develops the mechanical foundation for advanced ECU platforms, leading enclosure design, thermal management, and EMI mitigation to deliver reliable, scalable hardware solutions for future vehicle architectures.

We are seeking a Senior Mechanical Hardware Engineer to lead the design, development, and integration of ECU connector and header solutions supporting power distribution, high-speed data, communications, RF, and I/O interfaces. Leveraging ECU architecture as a foundation, this role focuses on technical ownership of connector systems, driving the development of terminals, bus bars, sealing solutions, material selections, and connector-to-housing integration strategies.

The ideal candidate will provide end-to-end mechanical leadership for connector hardware, ensuring robust electrical performance, environmental protection, manufacturability, and production readiness. This engineer will collaborate closely with electrical and systems engineers, PCB designers, packaging teams, manufacturing organizations, and suppliers to deliver reliable, high-quality ECU connector solutions that meet vehicle-level performance, durability, and assembly requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical development of ECU headers and connector interfaces for power, high-speed signals, communication signals, RF signals, and I/O, ensuring compatibility with vehicle packaging, electrical architecture, environmental conditions, and ECU enclosure constraints.
• Own mechanical design of connector-related content from concept through production release, including connector housings, integrated or discrete headers, terminal retention features, bus bar interfaces, seals, gaskets, and attachment features to the ECU housing.
• Define and develop connector terminal architectures and bus bar solutions with focus on current-carrying capability, retention robustness, manufacturability, assembly robustness, and integration to PCB and housing systems.
• Select and specify materials for connector terminals, conductive elements, insulators, sealing components, and housing interfaces based on mechanical performance, temperature exposure, corrosion risk, environmental sealing needs, and manufacturing process compatibility.
• Develop sealing strategies for connector-to-housing interfaces, including water management, compression control, stack-up definition, and design features required to achieve robust environmental performance in automotive use cases.
• Create and maintain high-quality 3D CAD models and 2D drawings in NX for connector, header, seal, and interface components, with CAD and Teamcenter used as enabling tools to support sound technical design decisions.
• Apply GD&T