Principal Software Engineer - Vehicle Test Platforms

Role Overview

As a Principal Software Engineer on GM’s Virtual Test Platforms team, you will help define, design, validate, architect, implement, verify, deploy, and support virtualization technologies that accelerate vehicle development and improve quality, reliability, security, and diagnosability.

You will work closely with engineers across GM who deliver code across a wide range of embedded systems, from low-level controllers to infotainment units.

What You’ll Do

• Deliver high-impact, high-ROI solutions for highly automated and highly scaled virtualized testing.
• 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 and brainstorming focused on testing and validation.
• Mentor and coach individual contributors, guiding complex technical decisions and helping engineers grow.
• Create and maintain reusable guidance, examples, and documentation to scale knowledge across GM.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating production systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (or related) or equivalent work experience.
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-team technical initiatives at staff/principal level.
• Strong proficiency in at least one of: Java, Go, or C/C++ (and willingness to learn others).
• Deep understanding of software architecture and design principles, especially distributed systems, scalability, and reliability.
• Ability to influence without authority, build partnerships, and communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
• Hands-on experience evolving large-scale distributed or event-driven systems.
• Expertise at the hardware/software boundary (low-level/embedded software).
• Familiarity with security, reliability, and cost optimization best practices in cloud-native environments.
• Track record driving cultural/process improvements (e.g., testing practices, observability, CI/CD, documentation).