Principal Software Engineer - Vehicle Test Platforms

General Motors is a leading automotive company focused on innovation and safety. They are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to define and develop virtualization technology related products and services, enhancing the quality and reliability of vehicle development. The role involves collaborating with cross-functional teams and mentoring junior engineers while contributing to the codebase as a technical leader.

Responsibilities:

• Deliver high-impact, high-ROI technical solutions for highly automated and highly scaled virtualized testing for GM products and services
• Write production-quality code, prototypes, and reference implementations that unblock teams and demonstrate best practices
• Partner with product, platform, and security teams through design reviews, feedback sessions, and brainstorming with a focus on testing and validation
• Mentor and coach ICs, helping them navigate complex technical decisions and grow as senior engineers
• Create and maintain reusable guidance, examples, and documentation that scale knowledge across GM’s engineering community

Requirements:

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on building and operating production systems
• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field OR equivalent work experience
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-team technical initiatives as a staff or principal-level engineer
• Strong proficiency in at least one of Java, Go, or C/C++ and willingness to learn others as needed
• Deep understanding of software architecture and design principles, including distributed systems, scalability, and reliability
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority, build strong partnerships, and communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science or Computer Engineering
• Hands-on experience evolving existing large-scale, distributed, or event-driven systems
• Demonstrated expertise in low-level or embedded software at the hardware/software boundary
• Familiarity with security, reliability, and cost-optimization best practices in cloud-native environments
• Demonstrated success driving cultural or process improvements (e.g., testing practices, observability, CI/CD, documentation)