Staff Systems Engineer - Automotive Network Communications

General Motors; Milford Charter Township (MI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors in Michigan is seeking a Staff Systems Engineer-Automotive Network Communications to lead the definition, assessment, and improvement of in-vehicle network performance across product spaces.

You will manage the Network Performance Budget, forecast loading, and collaborate with software and hardware teams to ensure scalable, reliable feature delivery across Ethernet, CAN, LIN, and other networks.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of engineering/technical experience in in-vehicle networks or automotive electrical systems.
• Proven experience with network performance analysis (utilization, latency, jitter, margin).
• Strong understanding of CAN, LIN, Ethernet-based networks (e.g., 100BASE-T1, 1000BASE-T1, TSN).

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the Network Performance Budget by product area across vehicle programs.
• Forecast future network loading and bandwidth needs based on roadmaps and architecture strategy.
• Drive end-to-end network load assessment including message catalogs, traffic modeling, and latency/jitter measurements.
• Create and manage a Network Performance Dashboard for leadership visibility.
• Support Electrical Architecture Reviews and governance with data-driven input on changes.

Skills

Network performance analysis

Systems thinking

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer/Systems Engineering

Tools

CANoe

Vector tools

Wireshark

OEM tools

Job description

Job Description

The Role:

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Staff Systems Engineer-Automotive Network Communications to lead the definition, assessment, and continuous improvement of in‑vehicle network performance across multiple vehicle product spaces. This role is critical in establishing and managing the Network Performance Budget, Forecast, and Load Assessment for GM's electrical architecture, ensuring that current and future feature content can be delivered reliably and at scale across Ethernet, CAN, LIN, UART, and other in‑vehicle networks.

What You'll Do (Responsibilities):

Network Performance Budget & Forecast

Define and maintain the Network Performance Budget by product area (e.g., propulsion, body, chassis, ADAS, infotainment) across vehicle programs and architectures.

Forecast future network loading and bandwidth needs based on product roadmaps, feature growth, and architectural strategy (SDV2 & beyond).

Network Load Assessment & Analysis

Drive end‑to‑end network load assessment activities including message catalog reviews, traffic modeling, and simulation/measurement of bus utilization, latency, and jitter for Ethernet, CAN, LIN, and other vehicle networks.

Establish clear criteria and thresholds for acceptable network loading and performance and communicate these to product teams.

Network Performance Dashboarding

Create and manage a Network Performance Dashboard that provides visibility to leadership and product teams on current and projected network performance health.

Design Reviews & Governance

Support Electrical Architecture Reviews (EAR) and other forums to evaluate the network implications of new features, ECUs, and topology changes, providing clear recommendations and risk assessments.

Partner with EA PSEs to ensure adherence to Electrical Architecture Core Principles , including performance, reliability, and scalability, and provide data‑driven input to NAR/SAR and other change control processes.

Collaboration with Software, Hardware, and Microcontroller Stakeholders

Act as a key interface between network performance analysis, ECU software teams, hardware design teams, and microcontroller strategy teams to align on bandwidth needs, timing budgets, and implementation constraints.

Provide a "voice of the customer" perspective for SW and microcontroller teams regarding network‑related performance and resource constraints.

Tools, Methods, and Continuous Improvement

Develop, standardize, and continuously improve methods and tools for network performance modeling, simulation, test, and reporting (e.g., message databases, simulation environments, data pipelines for log analysis).

Document and share best practices, reference architectures, and lessons learned to improve consistency and scalability of network performance assessment across product areas.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications):

Bachelor's degree (or higher) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.

Minimum of 7 years of engineering/technical experience, including substantial experience with in‑vehicle networks and/or automotive electrical systems.

Proven experience performing network performance analysis (e.g., utilization, latency, jitter, margin) in complex embedded or automotive systems.

Technical Expertise

Strong understanding of automotive network and electrical architectures, including CAN, LIN, and Ethernet‑based communication systems (e.g., 100BASE‑T1, 1000BASE‑T1, TSN concepts).

Hands‑on experience with network modeling, simulation, and measurement tools (for example: CANoe, Vector tools, Wireshark, proprietary OEM tools) for load and latency assessment.

Demonstrated ability to translate feature roadmaps and electrical architecture proposals into concrete network capacity and performance requirements.

Tools & Methodologies

Experience building or using dashboards and data pipelines to aggregate and visualize performance metrics for large, distributed engineering teams.

Familiarity with systems engineering frameworks and safety/quality standards (e.g., ASPICE, ISO 26262, MBSE) and how they relate to network performance and reliability.

Proficiency with requirements engineering and change control processes, including the ability to define and validate non‑functional requirements (performance, reliability, scalability) at the system and network level.

People Skills:

Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with a systems‑level mindset; able to balance local optimizat