Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Evaluation

generalmotors; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 284,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

Company vehicle program

Relocation assistance

Job summary

General Motors in Sunnyvale is seeking an experienced professional to shape the evaluation platform for autonomous driving software. You will define metrics, lead cross-functional teams, and translate system results into actionable insights for product readiness.

The role emphasizes ML methods, large-scale time-series analysis, and performance dashboards, with a hybrid work model and potential relocation support.

Qualifications

• 7+ years experience in robotics or autonomous systems software.
• 3+ years leading evaluation of complex dynamic systems using numerical and ML approaches on large-scale time series data.
• Proficiency developing Python in production environments; strong ability to work in large C++ autonomy codebases.
• Proven cross-team technical leadership, including defining strategies adopted by multiple teams and influencing system and architecture decisions.
• PhD, Masters, or Bachelor’s degree in CS, Robotics, Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related field.

Responsibilities

• Define the strategy and architecture for metrics and analyses to evaluate autonomous driving software performance across the autonomy stack.
• Lead cross-functional efforts with autonomy, systems engineering, simulation, and data teams to embed evaluation into development workflows and release decisions.
• Invent and drive new statistical and ML methods, and ML introspection techniques, to quantify performance, detect regressions, and reveal patterns of system behavior at scale.
• Own and refine key AV evaluation metrics and KPIs used for readiness and safety decisions; synthesize and present results and tradeoffs to stakeholders; make insights readily available to partner teams through interactive dashboards.

Skills

Robotics software

Autonomy systems

Python development

C++ codebase

Cross-team leadership

Education

PhD, Masters, or Bachelor’s degree in CS/Robotics/Engineering

Tools

Python

C++

Pandas

NumPy

SciPy

PyTorch

ROS

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 Organization

The Evaluation team builds and evolves the evaluation ecosystem that powers developing and scaling GM’s autonomous driving technology. We develop metrics, automated workflows, and analysis approaches that enable data‑driven decisions across AV development and verification. Partnering with Autonomy, Simulation, Systems, and Safety teams, we act as system‑level integrators and arbiters of end‑to‑end AV quality. We own large scale test scenario libraries, continuous evaluation pipelines, and critical risk assessment and release gating components, treating road testing, data mining, training, and metrics as first‑class use cases in a unified analytics framework. By joining this team, you will help shape GM’s core evaluation platforms, turn system‑level results into clear feedback, and help accelerate validated AV deployment at scale.

What You’ll Do

• Define the strategy and architecture for metrics and analyses to evaluate autonomous driving software performance across the autonomy stack.

• Lead cross‑functional efforts with autonomy, systems engineering, simulation, and data teams to embed evaluation into development workflows and release decisions.

• Invent and drive new statistical and ML methods, and ML introspection techniques, to quantify performance, detect regressions, and reveal patterns of system behavior at scale.

• Own and refine key AV evaluation metrics and KPIs used for readiness and safety decisions; synthesize and present results and tradeoffs to stakeholders; make insights readily available to partner teams through interactive dashboards.

Your Skills and Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 7+ years applied experience with robotics or autonomous systems software, spanning multiple subsystems from perception through planning and control of the vehicle.

• 3+ years leading evaluation of complex dynamic systems using numerical and ML approaches on large‑scale time series data.

• Proficiency developing Python in production team environments; strong ability to work in large C++ autonomy codebases.

• Proven cross‑team technical leadership, including defining strategies adopted by multiple teams and influencing system and architecture decisions.

• PhD, Masters, or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Machine Learning, or a related field.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience in autonomous driving or high‑stakes field robotics; designing, running, and interpreting large-scale simulation and field experiments.

• Deep familiarity with statistical modeling, experimental design, and hypothesis testing for autonomy evaluation; command of Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, and visualization libraries.

• Proficiency in C++ and SQL, and experience shaping logging, data schemas, and evaluation pipelines for large-scale autonomy testing.

• Experience working with ROS or other IPC, robotics stack logging, and with large-scale experiment databases, including designing or scaling evaluation platforms.

• Prior development with computational geometry, linear algebra, PyTorch, and machine learning.

• Background in modeling agent interaction and owning or designing release gating criteria and processes for autonomy systems.

Hybrid:

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to the Sunnyvale or Mountain View office three times per week.

*This job may be eligible forrelocationbenefits if you are interested in relocating to the bay area.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $185,00 and $284,100. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.

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.

Company Vehicle

Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, through which you will be assigned a General Motors vehicle to drive and evaluate. Note: program participants are required to purchase/lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies.

#LI-TO1

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}.

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 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 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.

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.

Accommodations

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