Senior Software Engineer - Protocol Operations & Trust

General Motors (GM); Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 153,000 - 234,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors in Sunnyvale is seeking a hands-on Software Engineer to turn simulation-testing challenges into production-ready software. You'll build across backend services, data pipelines, production infrastructure, and evaluation feedback loops to automate test creation and maintenance.

Collaborate with Autonomy, Systems, and Safety teams, lead design reviews, and mentor engineers. You will leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve code quality and drive faster, more reliable

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years designing, building, and operating production software or data platforms.
• Strong Python development skills with production-quality coding and tests.

Responsibilities

• Own the delivery of the simulation test suites that validate autonomous vehicle software, building on partner teams' test tools to produce tests in bulk.
• Automate and standardize test creation and maintenance, so coverage grows with minimal manual effort.
• Partner with Autonomy, Systems, Safety, and customer teams to turn testing needs into tooling and automation.
• Uphold high standards for code quality and software architecture through reviews and leadership.
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools and analytics platforms to improve productivity and test quality.

Skills

Python

Backend systems

Data pipelines

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Testing & QA

Technical leadership

Communication

Time-series data

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS or Engineering or related

Tools

SQL

NoSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

Airflow

Terraform

Job description

Job DescriptionThe Company:General Motors is a global leader in advanced driver assistance. With Super Cruise hands-free technology in more than 750,000 Super Cruise-equipped vehicles on the road and over 1 billion hands-free miles driven, GM is demonstrating how automation can be trusted, intuitive, and helpful. GM has the global reach to bring cutting-edge advances to everyday drivers at an unprecedented scale. Join us to help deliver the next generation of safe and delightful autonomous vehicle experiences.The Team:Protocol Operations & Trust (POT) is part of Scaled Engineering Operations (SEO) within GM’s AV Simulation organization. We build and operate workflows, automation, tooling, and data products that make simulation testing scalable, reliable, and trusted.We own the simulation-protocol lifecycle: from definition and tier correlation through test creation, quality validation, monitoring, maintenance, and release safeguards. By working across simulation, evaluation, validation, autonomy development, data, and infrastructure teams, we turn complex testing workflows into clear, reproducible, decision-ready products that help engineering teams develop and validate autonomous vehicles with greater speed and confidence.The Role:We are looking for a hands-on Software Engineer to turn complex simulation-testing challenges into production-ready software. Working closely with operations and engineering teams, you will build across backend services, data pipelines, production infrastructure, and evaluation feedback loops to move our testing from manual to automated. That means automating the workflows people run by hand today, replacing hand-collected metrics with a pipeline that collects, analyzes, and acts on them, and connecting each team's standalone tools into a single streaming system that makes test creation and maintenance scale. The result is faster test creation and higher-quality test protocols that every downstream team can build with confidence.What You’ll Do:Own the delivery of the simulation test suites that validate autonomous vehicle software, building on partner teams' test creation tools to produce and maintain tests in bulk, and building the orchestration and pipelines that connect those systems into an end-to-end workflow from incoming requests to running tests.Automate and standardize test creation and maintenance, so coverage grows without growing manual effort and integrate partner teams' evaluation systems as inputs that drive how tests are built, triaged, and retired.Partner with Autonomy, Systems, Safety, and customer teams to turn their testing needs into the tooling, interfaces, and automation that can deliver them seamlessly.Uphold high standards for code quality and software architecture through code reviews and technical leadership, mentoring other engineers on software engineering and simulation testing best practices.Leverage AI-assisted development tools and analytics platforms to enhance productivity, improve code quality, and drive innovation in simulation testing.Take ownership of ambiguous problem spaces, define practical paths forward, and move quickly from prototype to productionOperate with urgency and a strong bias toward execution velocity while maintaining a high bar for engineering qualityYour Skills and Abilities:BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.5+ years of experience designing, building, and operating production software, backend services, data platforms, or infrastructure systems.Strong Python development skills, including production-quality coding, unit testing, code review, debugging, and reliability practices.Experience building scalable backend systems, APIs, microservices, workflow orchestration, or internal engineering platforms.Experience with cloud-based production systems, including deployment, observability, performance, and operational reliability.Experience designing or operating data pipelines and data-processing systems using SQL, NoSQL and other tools for large-scale operational, telemetry, or time-series data.Experience building automated tests, validation, quality checks, CI/CD, or release workflows.Ability to lead high-level technical design doc and drive execution across multiple teams.Strong communication skills and the ability to turn ambiguous technical problems into practical, maintainable solutions.Demonstrated adaptability, ownership, and ability to operate effectively in evolving technical environments.What Will Give You a Competitive Edge:Experience with autonomous vehicles, robotics, simulation, evaluation systems, or other complex software platforms.Experience building automated test-generation, test-execution, or workflow-orchestration systems.Experience with defining human-in-the-loop/automation quality processes or release-management systems where reproducibility and traceability are critical.Experience developing data-processing, query, analysis, anomaly detection, or issue-triage systems that help identify and prioritize system problems.Experience with observability, time-series analysis, performance monitoring, dashboards, or operational analytics.Experience working on safety-critical, mission-critical, or highly reliable products.Familiarity with simulation validation, test-quality metrics, human-in-the-loop evaluation, or feedback-driven quality improvement.Experience with cloud-native deployment, infrastructure, code, containerization, or distributed systems.Demonstrated ability to adapt quickly in evolving technical environments and take ownership of ambiguous problem spaces.Location:This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Sunnyvale OR Bellevue three times per week, at minimum.Compensation:The salary range for this role is $153,200 and $234,100. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.About GMOur 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 UsWe 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 OverviewFrom 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.)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.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 .AccommodationsGeneral 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 1-800-865-7580. 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.