Staff Embedded Controls Engineer, Vehicle Motion

Lincoln Motor Company; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 284,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Paid time off

Sponsorship for visa

Job summary

Ford Motor Company is seeking a Staff Embedded Controls Software Engineer to lead the development of centralized vehicle motion control systems. You will design control strategies for lateral and longitudinal dynamics and work with suppliers to integrate 3rd party components.

The role requires deep expertise in embedded hardware, vehicle networks, and safety analyses. The position emphasizes hands-on firmware development, hardware validation, and automated testing in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or computer science with exceptional ability.
• 6+ years in embedded controls systems such as chassis dynamics, VCM, or similar functions.
• 6+ years of experience with electrical hardware applications, prototype bring-up, and systems development.
• 6+ years of experience with Vehicle Network Protocols (CAN, LIN & Automotive Ethernet).
• 6+ years of experience with C, Python, Git, Bazel, CANape, and RTOS.
• Strong EE fundamentals and hands-on experience with electrical test equipment.
• 4+ years of experience using embedded networking interface tools for automotive or related fields.
• Experience with system development, vehicle architecture, battery technologies, software/hardware tool development, motor calibration, OBD calibration, functional safety, network and diagnostics processes.
• Experience with creating and executing component-level test procedures and owning test results.

Responsibilities

• Create and implement control strategies for lateral and longitudinal vehicle dynamics.
• Work with suppliers to define interfaces into 3rd party components for centralized motion control.
• Collaborate with software integration teams to bring up core functions and define requirements across teams.
• Understand functional safety principles and participate in safety analyses.
• Develop test plans and perform testing to validate firmware functionality, stability, and performance.
• Author subsystem diagrams and lead reviews through vehicle program phases.
• Coordinate with system integration leads for component requirements and device transmittals.
• In early firmware phases, focus on hardware validation, LabCar testing, and automation setup for unit, SIL, and HIL testing.

Skills

Embedded controls

Vehicle networks

C

Python

Git

Bazel

CMake

CANape

RTOS

Hardware bring-up

Lab testing

Education

Master's degree in Electrical / Mechanical / CS

Tools

Bazel

SCons

CMake

CANape

Git

RTOS

Job description

The dynamics that a driver feels as lateral and longitudinal forces in a vehicle define the vehicle's DNA. Join us in developing our next-generation centralized vehicle motion control system, where we can further bridge the interaction between the driver and the vehicle in a natural and intuitive way.

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Staff Embedded Controls Software Engineer to join our team. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in embedded development for complex, distributed, safety-critical embedded systems and hands-on experience developing math- and physics-based control strategies.

What you'll do...

• Create and implement the control strategy for various vehicle motion attributes and functions, including lateral and longitudinal vehicle dynamics.

• Work with suppliers to define functions and interfaces into 3rd party components, driving further consolidation and integration of vehicle functions into our centralized vehicle motion control system.

• Collaborate with software integration teams to bring up core functions and broadcast software level requirements to electrical hardware and systems teams.

• Understand functional safety principles and participate in functional safety analyses of complex vehicle subsystems.

• Develop comprehensive test plans and perform thorough testing to validate firmware functionality, stability, and performance under various conditions.

• Author subsystem block diagrams and lead subsystem reviews through all vehicle program development phases

• Collaborate with other system integration leads to capture component level requirements, provide subject matter expertise in sourcing discussions, and collect and approve Device Transmittals.

• Early phases of firmware development will focus on hardware validation, labcar testing, and setting up the automation framework for unit, SIL and HIL testing.

You'll have...

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Computer Science, with evidence of exceptional ability, or equivalent.

• 6+ years of experience on embedded controls systems such as chassis systems, VCM, or similar dynamic functions.

• 6+ years of experience on electrical hardware applications, prototype bring-up, and systems development.

• 6+ years of experience with Vehicle Network Protocols such as CAN, LIN & Automotive Ethernet

• 6+ years of experience with C, Python, Git, Bazel, CANape, and RTOS

• Strong EE fundamentals and hands‑on experience with electrical test equipment (oscilloscopes, DMMs, signal generators, power supplies, etc.)

• 4+ years of experience using embedded networking interface tools for automotive, aerospace, or similar field

• Experience and working knowledge of systems development, vehicle architecture, battery technologies, software/hardware tool development, motor calibration technologies, OBD calibration, functional safety, network, and diagnostics processes

• Experience with creating and executing component‑level test procedures and owning all test results.

Even better, you may have…

• Highly collaborative mindset and strong communication skills

• Experience developing features such as hill hold, stability controls, anti‑lock braking, park assist, cruise or adaptive cruise control, or other similar vehicle dynamic features.

• Experience with software build tools like Bazel, Scons, Cmake etc.

• Experience with fundamental hardware components on PCB and their analysis tools.

• Ability to write testing scripts for using scripting languages (Python)

• Fluent in software fundamentals including software design and maintainability.

• Hands‑on experience in hardware bring‑up, system debugging, and codeoptimization

• Knowledgeofelectrical engineering fundamentals including circuit analysis and design

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage

Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp‑up programs, subsidized back‑up child care and more

Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more

Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases

Tuition assistance

Established and active employee resource groups

Paid time off for individual and team community service

A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day

Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a leadership level 6 and ranges from $150,200-$283,500.

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid. Candidates who are in commuting distance to a Ford hub location may be required to be onsite four or more days per week.