Principal Software Engineer - Virtualization

Job Description

Work Arrangement:

This role is based remotely, but if the candidate lives within a 50 miles radius of a GM hub, they will be expected to report to the location three times a week (or other frequency dictated by your manager). 

The Role:

General Motors is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to shape and scale the engineering platforms that build, test, integrate, validate, and deliver embedded software for software-defined vehicles. This role is for a hands-on technical leader who can turn ambiguous, cross-team problems into durable architecture, practical standards, and measurable improvements in engineering effectiveness, release confidence, and product quality. 

The successful candidate will lead a major capability across multiple teams, influence technical direction beyond their immediate organization, and connect software, tooling, infrastructure, test, and release activities into a coherent engineering system.

What You'll Do:  

• Be a critical leader of software engineering productivity and effectiveness.  
• Identify opportunities, strategies, process improvements, and lead the change. 
• Be hands-on by leading high impact efforts.  
• Be a strong communicator, coach, and mentor.  
• Analyze unusual and difficult problems effectively.  
• Ability to connect multiple initiatives together to deliver higher value.  
• Visualize required innovation, learning and simplification in this space and transition the team to execute what is required to achieve.  
• Maintain command skills and empathy at the same time  
• Architect enterprise‑scale CI/CD systems for embedded, simulation, and cloud workloads. 
• Define branching, release, and quality‑gate standards across multiple engineering domains. 
• Design GitOps‑based delivery for multi‑cluster Kubernetes environments. 
• Lead progressive delivery strategy including automated rollback and analysis. 
• Establish IaC architecture using Terraform modules and multi‑environment patterns. 
• Integrate security and compliance into pipelines and artifact flows. 
• Define observability standards for pipelines, simulation workloads, and runtime systems. 
• Mentor DevOps and simulation developers across the organization. 

   
Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications):  

• Bachelor's degree in software engineering or equivalent experience. 
• 12+ years of experience in software development .
• Deep understanding of software architecture for real time systems.  
• Experience shipping high quality safety critical products.
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical abilities, with a keen attention to detail.  
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.  
• Demonstrated ability to work in an action-oriented decision-making environment.  
• Deep Kubernetes knowledge including cluster operations. 
• Strong Terraform/IaC experience with production‑grade module design. 
• Experience with embedded or simulation workflows (vECUs, SIL, FMU, SSP). 
• Cloud architecture experience across AWS, Azure, or GCP.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications): 

• Master's degree in software engineering or equivalent experience 
• 15+ years of experience in software development .
• Experience in automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, or another embedded, real-time, regulated, or safety-critical environment. 

• Knowledge of functional safety, ISO 26262, cybersecurity engineering, ASPICE, MISRA, AUTOSAR, or related engineering practices. 

• Experience with vehicle-level integration and validation, including SIL, CoSIM, vECU, HIL, benches, physical systems, or other virtual and hardware-based environments. 

• A record of creating enterprise standards, platform strategies, technical communities, developer self-service, reliability objectives, or measurable productivity improvements. 

• Advanced degree in a related technical field.

Company Vehicle:

Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, though 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 compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position, as well as geography of the selected candidate.

The Salary Range:

Salary range for this role is 171,150 and 288,500. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this 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. 

This role is based remotely, but if the selected candidate lives within a specific mile radius of a GM hub, they will be expected to report to the location three times a week {or other frequency dictated by your manager}. The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role. Relocation benefits are available for candidates who qualify under company policy.

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. 

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

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.