Staff Software Engineer, Cloud Platform - Nova

General Motors; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company vehicle evaluation program

GM vehicle discounts

Health and wellbeing benefits

Job summary

General Motors is seeking a Staff Software Engineer, Cloud Platform - Nova, to lead Kubernetes-based platform efforts. You will shape architecture, build reusable platform capabilities, and empower internal teams to deploy software at scale across multi-cloud (Azure and GCP).

The role focuses on operators, control-plane abstractions, and improving developer experience with robust observability and deployment patterns. Hybrid work with multiple centers and relocation benefits may apply.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/IS or related field.
• 8+ years in engineering or architecture roles.
• Experience building and operating production cloud/platform systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of shared cloud platform capabilities with Kubernetes at core.
• Build abstractions, tooling, and platform services for internal customers.
• Develop operators, controllers, and control-plane components for automation and operability.
• Improve monitoring, observability, deployment patterns, and reliability of services.

Skills

Kubernetes

Cloud platform

Go

Java

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/IS

Tools

Azure

GCP

Terraform

Git

Job description

Job Description

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Warren Global Technical Center, Mountain View Technical Center, or Austin Technical Center three times per week, at minimum [or other frequency dictated by the business if more than 3 days].

The Role

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Cloud Platform - Nova to join the Atmos team building GM's next generation cloud platform, Nova. Nova powers customer and vehicle-centric systems across GM, including areas such as OnStar, GM Energy, and Commercial and Fleet partnerships. This role is for a strong software engineer with platform experience who can lead through technical execution, build reusable platform capabilities, and make it easier for internal platform customers to build and run software at scale.

This is a strong opportunity for an engineer who wants to take on meaningful technical challenges at real scale. The size, complexity, and reach of the platform create an environment where great engineers can have outsized impact by simplifying hard problems, building reusable abstractions, and improving how large numbers of teams deliver software. The scope of the role is unusual: the systems you build will support a broad set of internal customers and power important customer and vehicle capabilities across GM.

This role will focus heavily on Kubernetes-based platform engineering and on the operational patterns required to run highly reliable services. The right candidate will have experience running platforms on Kubernetes, building operators and related control-plane capabilities, and abstracting away platform complexity so that customers can focus on delivering business value. This engineer will help shape the architecture and developer experience of a multi-cloud platform running on Azure and GCP while improving monitoring, observability, deployment patterns, and overall service operability. This role is especially well suited for an engineer who understands how to turn infrastructure into a product by creating paved roads, abstractions, and control-plane capabilities that make the secure, reliable path the easiest path for engineering teams.

What You’ll Do

• Lead design and implementation of shared cloud platform capabilities with a strong focus on Kubernetes-based systems
• Build reusable abstractions, tooling, and platform services that reduce complexity for internal customers
• Design and develop operators, controllers, and related platform components that improve automation, consistency, operability, and platform safety
• Improve monitoring, observability, deployment patterns, release safety, and other operational practices needed to run highly reliable services
• Improve the developer experience by making platform capabilities easier to consume, integrate with, and operate
• Partner across teams to identify systemic friction and deliver technical solutions that scale across the platform
• Contribute deeply to architecture, implementation, code quality, testing, and technical direction for cloud platform systems
• Participate in on-call activities, incident response, and operational improvement work for platform services
• Help improve reliability, scalability, observability, and maintainability of platform services running across Azure and GCP
• Lead by example in engineering standards, design reviews, and thoughtful technical mentorship
• Influence technical direction across team boundaries without relying on formal authority

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• 8+ years experience in engineering or architecture roles
• Strong software engineering experience building and operating production systems in cloud or platform environments
• Strong object-oriented programming skills and a history of building complicated or complex systems
• Strong experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native platform architecture
• Experience running platforms on Kubernetes in production environments
• Experience building operators, controllers, or similar control-plane abstractions
• Demonstrated ability to create reusable technical capabilities rather than one-off solutions
• Strong coding, design, debugging, and systems thinking skills
• Experience improving platform usability, reliability, monitoring, observability, deployment patterns, and operational maturity for internal customers
• Experience participating in on-call rotations and improving service operations in production environments
• Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction across teams
• Ability to independently identify important platform problems and drive solutions from concept through delivery

What Can Give You a Competitive Advantage (Preferred Qualifications)

• Deep experience in platform engineering and developer enablement
• Experience building internal platform products that abstract infrastructure and operational complexity from customers
• Strong background in Kubernetes ecosystem tooling, operators, and platform automation
• Experience with Go and/or Java in production platform environments
• Experience with multi-cloud platform environments running on Azure and GCP
• A track record of delivering both immediate engineering value and long-term platform leverage through reusable software

This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

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.

Compensation:

• The expected base compensation for this role is: $184,100 - $275,450. Actual base compensation within the identified 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.

GM DOES NOT PROVIDE IMMIGRATION-RELATED SPONSORSHIP FOR THIS ROLE. DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS ROLE IF YOU WILL NEED GM IMMIGRATION SPONSORSHIP NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. THIS INCLUDES DIRECT COMPANY SPONSORSHIP, ENTRY OF GM AS THE IMMIGRATION EMPLOYER OF RECORD ON A GOVERNMENT FORM, AND ANY WORK AUTHORIZATION REQUIRING A WRITTEN SUBMISSION OR OTHER IMMIGRATION SUPPORT FROM THE COMPANY (e.g., H-1B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.)

#LI-CC1

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 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.

Accommodations

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 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.