Staff Software Engineer - ADAS Interactive Experience

General Motors; Sunnyvale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 189,000 - 291,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

GM vehicle discounts

Job summary

General Motors in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to define architecture for production SoC software on automotive platforms. You will lead multi-team initiatives, architect data flows, and drive a driver-monitoring system from concept through vehicle launch.

The role emphasizes deep C/C++ expertise on resource-constrained edge devices, embedded Linux/QNX experience, and collaboration across ADAS, perception, and HMI teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent with 5–12 years delivering production software.
• Deep C/C++ development for SoC applications and embedded systems.
• Experience with Embedded Linux or QNX and IPC/multithreading.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end SoC architecture across ADAS data producers and HMIs.
• Build a driver monitoring system with on-device perception and inference.
• Lead production SoC apps with data processing and platform integration.
• Translate cross-domain requirements into clear interfaces and data flows.

Skills

C/C++ development

SoC architecture

Embedded systems

IPC & multithreading

Cross-team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE/EE

Tools

QNX

Yocto

IPC frameworks

Job description

Job Summary

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join our ADAS HMI team within the Interactive Experience platform. In this role, you will define the architecture and technical direction for production software on automotive System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms that powers driver-facing alerts, controls, and situational-awareness experiences. You will also build the next generation of our driver monitoring system from the ground up. You will lead complex, multi-team systems that process ADAS and vehicle data while meeting demanding requirements for latency, reliability, startup time, compute, memory, security, safety, and maintainability. The ideal candidate is a recognized SoC software expert who operates with broad latitude in a complex environment, turns ambiguous cross-domain requirements into practical system designs, and drives critical workstreams from concept through vehicle launch. This role is focused on SoC software; experience building and deploying machine-learning models on resource-constrained edge devices is a strong differentiator.

Job Responsibilities

• Define and evolve end-to-end SoC architecture spanning ADAS data producers, vehicle interfaces, operating-system services, middleware, hardware accelerators, and downstream HMI applications.
• Architect and build a next-generation driver monitoring system from the ground up, spanning camera and sensor inputs, on-device perception and inference, driver-state interpretation, vehicle interfaces, diagnostics, and HMI integration.
• Lead the design and development of production SoC applications and services using C/C++, including data processing, state management, inter-process communication, and platform integration.
• Translate ambiguous product, vehicle, safety, and system requirements into practical cross-domain designs with clear boundaries, interfaces, data flows, timing budgets, diagnostics, failure modes, and validation strategies.
• Drive architecture reviews and align teams on technical trade-offs involving performance, memory, compute, startup behavior, security, safety, reliability, and long-term maintainability.
• Own complex multi-team workstreams through design, implementation, integration, performance tuning, vehicle validation, release, launch support, and maintenance.
• Establish architecture and engineering practices for reliable, low-latency pipelines that collect, normalize, and expose ADAS and vehicle data to multiple on-device consumers.
• Foresee integration and delivery risks across ADAS algorithm, perception, HMI, platform, systems, safety, and vehicle integration teams; develop mitigation plans and remove critical blockers.
• Define quality standards and release criteria across related SoC codebases, including code review, static analysis, automated testing, performance benchmarking, observability, and structured release processes.
• Diagnose and lead resolution of complex cross-system issues involving IPC, scheduling, memory use, concurrency, operating-system behavior, hardware acceleration, and vehicle integration.
• Develop practical technology roadmaps for SoC services and edge-compute capabilities across vehicle programs and platform generations.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers on SoC architecture, C/C++ development, performance analysis, system debugging, execution discipline, and cross-team technical leadership.
• Communicate technical direction, risks, trade-offs, and delivery status clearly to senior engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Job Qualifications

Bachelor's degree or Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, with 5–8 years of relevant software engineering experience; or equivalent practical experience with 10–12 years delivering production software. Staff-level experience designing and shipping complex embedded or SoC-based production systems with multi-team scope, broad technical ambiguity, and end-to-end accountability. Deep C/C++ development experience for SoC applications, services, or middleware. Hands-on experience with Embedded Linux, QNX, or a comparable SoC operating environment, including IPC, multithreading, and system resource management. Demonstrated system design expertise across application, middleware, data, operating-system, and hardware boundaries, including interfaces, data flows, state management, failure modes, and validation strategies. Proven ability to own roadmaps, commitments, risks, dependencies, and release quality without day-to-day direction. Experience diagnosing and optimizing complex integrated systems using logs, traces, profilers, memory-analysis tools, performance benchmarks, and automated tests. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence architecture and priority decisions across teams without direct authority.

Preferred Skills

Experience building, optimizing, and deploying production machine-learning models on edge or embedded devices. Experience with ML frameworks and edge-inference runtimes such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, ONNX Runtime, TensorRT, or comparable technologies. Experience developing driver or occupant monitoring systems, in-cabin computer vision, camera pipelines, or real-time perception software. Experience with SoC hardware accelerators such as GPUs, NPUs, or DSPs and the software stacks used to access them. Experience with automotive middleware and communication technologies such as ROS 2, SOME/IP, DDS, shared memory, or service-oriented IPC. Experience processing perception outputs and sensor data. Familiarity with Yocto, board-support packages, containerized workloads, or embedded platform bring‑up. Experience leading architecture reviews, technical readiness reviews, release planning, and production issue triage for safety-relevant or vehicle-integrated software. Familiarity with automotive engineering practices such as ASPICE, ISO 26262 concepts, CI/CD, HIL/SIL validation, and structured release governance.

Staff Software Engineer Expectations

The successful candidate should already demonstrate Staff Software Engineer behaviors: System Design: Defines novel, cross-domain architecture for complex SoC systems spanning multiple teams. Domain Expertise: Serves as a recognized expert across SoC software, embedded operating systems, vehicle data, performance, and system integration. Accountability: Owns multi-team workstreams and measurable delivery outcomes aligned with vehicle program and business priorities. Execution: Foresees cross-discipline risks, develops mitigation strategies, removes blockers, and de-risks critical delivery paths. Technical Vision: Develops practical technology roadmaps that connect SoC and edge-compute investments to product and business objectives. Leadership: Mentors engineers, influences stakeholders across departments, and raises engineering standards through repeatable practices.

Compensation

• The salary range for this role: is $189,300 to $290,700. 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. Benefit options include 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

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