Senior Software Engineer - AV Data & Analysis Tools

General Motors LLC; Sunnyvale (CA); Remote; USD 145,000 - 261,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors Company is seeking a senior software engineer to build and lead data-tools for autonomous-vehicle development. You will own major parts of the data lifecycle—from collecting and cataloging AV data to advanced search and analysis—collaborating with perception and software teams to accelerate debugging and validation.

You’ll drive fast, reliable production tools, write design docs, mentor others, and ensure performance and observability.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 3+ years building data-intensive web apps with TS/JS and React.
• Experience with SQL and vector databases and performance tuning.
• API design and services in Node.js or Python.
• Strong written and verbal communication with technical users.
• Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Identify high-leverage gaps in how engineers search, analyze, and debug AV data.
• Collaborate with users to design and ship tools with broad adoption.
• Record and catalog AV data with context for trusted searches.
• Build high-performance tools for synchronized replay of camera video, lidar, and maps.
• Lead multi-project workstreams and guide design reviews.
• Mentor engineers and improve CI, observability, and developer experience.

Skills

Software engineering

TypeScript/JavaScript

React

SQL databases

Vector databases

API design

Node.js

Python

Performance profiling

Technical leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

PostgreSQL

BigQuery

Vespa

Milvus

pgvector

OpenSearch

Node.js

Python

Job description

Job Description

General Motors is a global leader in advanced driver assistance. With Super Cruise hands-free technology in more than 500,000 Super Cruise-equipped vehicles on the road and over 700 million hands-free miles driven, GM is proving that automation can be trusted, intuitive, and helpful. GM has the global reach to bring cutting-edge advances to everyday drivers at unprecedented scale. Join us to help deliver the next generation of safe and delightful personal autonomous vehicle experiences.

About the Team

Every autonomous-driving engineer at GM eventually asks the same questions: What happened on that drive? Where else has this happened? Why did the vehicle do that? Did my change fix it? The AV Analysis team builds the tools that answer them, across the full life of AV data: Record and catalog new data as it comes in from the fleet, so engineers know what exists, where it came from, and whether it's ready to use. Index and mine road data alongside simulation output, so engineers can find the scenes that matter using structured filters, similarity search, and natural-language queries. Analyze what happened by replaying sensor data, perception output, and planner decisions in synchronized 3D, camera, plot, and map views. Engineers do this to triage and diagnose an issue, or to validate a new change. Perception, planning, simulation, mapping, validation, and data teams use these tools every day. That work spans next-generation autonomous development vehicles, Super Cruise programs, and autonomous mobile robots in GM factories. We’re part of AV Tooling, which also builds GM’s fleet-operations tools and AI-assisted triage. We share one goal: shorten the loop from collecting data, to understanding it, to fixing the vehicle.

About the Role

Our senior engineers don't wait for a spec. Demand for our tools outpaces any roadmap, so the most valuable thing you’ll do is decide what to build. That means finding the problem that’s quietly costing engineers hours every week, designing the tool that removes it, and shipping it. You’ll own a major part of the data lifecycle end to end, such as how engineers search and mine data, or how they analyze and debug it. You’ll also help connect cataloging, search, and analysis into one workflow.

What You’ll Do

Find the highest-leverage gaps in how engineers find, analyze, and debug AV data. Work alongside users, read support channels and bug reports, and notice where teams are building their own workarounds. Then turn those gaps into tools people adopt. Record and catalog new AV data as it arrives, with the context engineers need to trust and use it: vehicle, software version, location, and ingestion status. Index and mine road data alongside simulation output. Build search that combines structured metadata queries in SQL with embedding-based similarity search in vector databases, plus natural-language queries and LLM- and VLM-powered curation. Build high-performance tools for analyzing what happened, with synchronized replay of camera video, lidar, 3D scenes, plots, and maps. Engineers use them to triage and diagnose issues, to validate new software changes, and to debug live in the vehicle during testing. Take ambiguous requests from idea to shipped. Write requirements and design docs that weigh options, build consensus with stakeholders, and deliver iteratively so users are unblocked early. Serve as technical lead for a multi-project workstream. Plan and break down the work, delegate, hold a high bar in design and code reviews, and guide engineers across GM who contribute to our tools. Keep tools fast and reliable in production, and raise the bar for the team’s engineering systems: tests, CI speed, developer experience, observability, and on-call. Mentor engineers, and use AI-assisted development and agentic workflows to multiply what a small team can deliver.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 3+ years building complex, data-intensive web applications with TypeScript/JavaScript and React.
• A track record of spotting an unmet user need yourself, building the tool or feature that addressed it, and driving it to real adoption.
• Hands-on experience building on both SQL and vector databases, including data modeling, indexing, and query performance (e.g., PostgreSQL or BigQuery, and Vespa, Milvus, pgvector, or OpenSearch).
• Comfort working across the stack, designing APIs and building services in Node.js or Python.
• Deep experience diagnosing and fixing web application performance problems (rendering, memory, large-data and streaming throughput) through profiling and measurement.
• Demonstrated technical leadership: leading multi-person projects, writing design docs, and driving decisions across teams.
• Clear written and verbal communication with technical users whose needs differ widely, from perception researchers to test operators.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Depth in search and retrieval: multimodal embeddings (e.g., CLIP- or SigLIP-style image-text models), hybrid ranking that blends vector similarity with structured filters, and measuring search relevance.
• Building LLM-, VLM-, or agent-based features into products, and fluency with AI-assisted development tools.
• 3D and GPU-accelerated graphics in the browser (WebGL, three.js, regl), and map visualization (deck.gl, Mapbox GL).
• Browser media and concurrency APIs: WebCodecs (H.264 video), Web Workers, OffscreenCanvas, WebAssembly.
• Robotics or AV data: ROS/ROS 2, rosbag or MCAP, Protobuf, and Apache Arrow or Parquet, plus visualizing or debugging time-series sensor data (camera, lidar, radar).
• Data ingestion and cataloging at scale: metadata, provenance, and lineage for large sensor datasets; workflow engines such as Temporal; Kubernetes and Google Cloud.
• Owning internal developer tools in production: SLOs, monitoring, incident response, and on-call.

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 NewYork, Colorado, California, or Washington. The salary range for this role: is $144,700 to $261,300. 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

GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs.

• 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

Location and Travel

This role is based remotely, but if the selected candidate lives within a specific mile radius of a GM hub, they will be expected to report to the location three times a week {or other frequency dictated by your manager}. The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role. Relocation benefits are available for candidates who qualify under company policy.

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 everyday - 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

From day one, we’re looking out for your well-being at work and at home so you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

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