Senior Software Engineer, AV Frameworks

RTL2 Fernsehen GmbH & Co. KG; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 154,420 - 235,900; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Flexible Spending Accounts

Retirement savings plan

Tuition assistance programs

Job summary

General Motors is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design core communication building blocks for AV/Robotics applications. This role requires 7+ years of experience with C++ and deep knowledge in systems design.

The successful candidate will own IPC architecture and collaborate across multiple teams, delivering reliable, low-latency solutions. Compensation includes a salary range of $154,420 to $235,900, with additional benefits and bonuses based on performance.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of building systems-level software in modern C++ or Rust.
• Deep knowledge of memory management and performance profiling.
• Hands-on experience with IPC/messaging systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and implementation of high-performance IPC.
• Profile and optimize latency, throughput, and determinism.
• Build developer-facing APIs and tooling to enhance usability.

Skills

C++

Linux

IPC

Networking

Concurrency

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Bazel

CMake

Job description

Job Description

We’re AV Frameworks within AV Platform Core at General Motors. We build the foundational frameworks that power robotics and autonomous capabilities across distributed compute – with a focus on inter-process communication (IPC), middleware, and developer experience that make complex systems reliable, observable, and fast.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will design and deliver the core communication and runtime building blocks used by AV/Robotics applications on vehicle, on benches, and in simulation. You’ll work across C++ systems, Linux, and networking/IPC to achieve low‑latency messaging, deterministic scheduling, and production‑grade reliability at scale.

What you'll do

• Own design and implementation of high‑performance IPC and middleware primitives (publish/subscribe, shared memory, serialization, discovery, QoS).
• Drive latency, throughput, and determinism improvements through profiling, tracing, benchmarking, and targeted optimizations.
• Build developer‑facing APIs, tooling, and documentation that improve ergonomics, correctness, and velocity for internal customers.
• Deliver platform‑ready components with observability (metrics, logs, traces), robust fault handling, and reproducible performance characteristics.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with platform OS, drivers, safety, controls, perception, and tooling teams to integrate end‑to‑end solutions.
• Apply production rigor: code reviews, testing strategies (unit, integration, soak), performance and regression gates, and rollout/rollback discipline.
• Mentor engineers, contribute to design reviews, and raise the bar on engineering excellence.

Required Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years building systems‑level software in modern C++ (C++17/20/23) or Rust on Linux.
• Deep knowledge of concurrency, memory management, lock‑free or low‑contention patterns, and performance profiling.
• Hands‑on experience with IPC/messaging systems and distributed systems fundamentals (serialization, backpressure, flow control, QoS).
• Strong understanding of networking (sockets, TCP/UDP, multicast, NICs, buffers, MTU, packetization) and time synchronization concepts.
• Proficiency with build and CI tooling (Bazel/Buck/CMake, test frameworks, artifact/versioning strategies).

Preferred Qualifications

• Robotics/AV middleware: ROS 2, DDS, gRPC, ZeroMQ, eCAL, shared memory IPC.
• Serialization and data: Protobuf, FlatBuffers, Cap’n Proto, zero‑copy techniques, record/re‑simulation pipelines.
• Advanced networking/IO: io_uring, RDMA/PCIe messaging, kernel/bpf‑based observability, packet capture and analysis.
• Real‑time Linux and system constraints (scheduling, CPU isolation, priority inversion mitigation, bounded latency).
• Tracing and performance tooling: perf, LTTng, eBPF, flamegraphs; defining and enforcing performance SLOs.
• Safety and reliability awareness (diagnostics, failover, degraded modes, basics of ISO 26262 considerations for software components).
• Secondary languages and tooling: Python/Go for tooling/integration.

Compensation

• Salary range: $154,420 to $235,900. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
• Bonus potential: 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, including 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.

EEO Statement

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.

All employment decisions are made on a non‑discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws.

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.

General Motors offers opportunities to all job seekers including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, email us or call us at 800-865-7580. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.