Staff Software Engineer, ECU Simulation & Virtualization

NIO; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical plans

Dental & Vision

HSA contribution

FSA

401(k)

Life Insurance

Paid holidays

Parental leave

Disability leave

Voluntary benefits

Job summary

NIO Inc. is building the next-generation ECU simulation platform powering software-defined vehicle development. You will design and deliver foundational low-level software at the intersection of hypervisor tech, hardware architecture, and automotive RTOS, impacting future mobility programs.

The role emphasizes ownership of end-to-end emulation and virtualization components, cross-platform delivery, and collaboration with validation and integration teams to accelerate vehicle software development.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of hands-on experience building complex, high-performance software systems (embedded systems, virtualization, or large-scale simulation preferred).
• 3+ years of deep expertise in QEMU or similar simulation / emulation / virtualization software development on Linux (KVM experience highly valued).
• Strong architectural background in CPU, GPU, and NPU architectures, modern SoC designs, software stacks, and virtualization technologies (including virtualization extensions and performance optimization techniques).
• Solid mastery of Linux kernel internals, embedded / real-time operating systems (real-time OS), and low-level driver development.
• Proven experience with ARM platform bring-up and bare-metal / low-level software development.
• BS / MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, production-grade code on aggressive timelines, with excellent technical documentation and communication skills.
• Organized mindset and a passion for delivering high-quality software in a collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end design and delivery of low-level emulation and virtualization software for high-performance, high-throughput ECU simulation across multiple cross-platform vehicle initiatives, ensuring industry-leading reliability, scalability, and efficiency.
• Architect and optimize CPU, GPU, NPU simulation / emulation / virtualization technologies continuously pushing the boundaries of functionality, performance, efficiency, and reliability.
• Deliver production-grade simulation components that precisely meet product definitions, customer specifications, and vehicle platform requirements, maintaining full traceability to requirements.
• Design and implement high-performance Linux guest drivers and libraries for CPU, GPU, NPU, and peripheral components, enabling seamless virtualized hardware access in a virtualized environment.
• Partner closely with application and system development, validation, and integration teams to translate real-world automotive constraints into robust, high-quality simulation solutions that accelerate vehicle product SW development, validation, and integration.
• Drive high-quality, on-time delivery of software deliverables across multiple vehicle programs while championing best practices in testing strategies, traceability, and continuous improvement.

Skills

QEMU

Linux

C/C++

Hypervisor

SoC architectures

ARM

Real-time Linux

Education

BS/MS in EE/CE/CS

Tools

QEMU

KVM

VMware

VirtualBox

Xen

Job description

NIO Inc. is building the next-generation ECU simulation platform powering software-defined vehicle development. You will design and deliver foundational low-level software at the intersection of hypervisor tech, hardware architecture, and automotive RTOS, impacting future mobility programs.

The role emphasizes ownership of end-to-end emulation and virtualization components, cross-platform delivery, and collaboration with validation and integration teams to accelerate vehicle software development.