G

General Motors

Builds cars, trucks and SUVs for drivers

Hardware Engineer - ECU Requirements & Specifications

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
No salary listed
Mid
Bachelor's, Master's
Warren, MI, USA
HybridHybrid; expected to report to the Warren location at least 3 times a week. Domestic and/or international travel up to 10%.
Hardware EngineeringHardware Systems Integration
Company Historically Provides H1B Sponsorship

About the job

Requirements
  • At least 2 years of engineering experience in product development, specifications, or related activity.
  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or another related engineering degree.
  • Competency in writing and comprehending ECU hardware technical requirements.
  • Knowledge of microcontrollers, memory technologies, vehicle serial data communications (Ethernet, CAN, LIN, SENT, SERDES), mechatronics, and electrical architectures.
  • Knowledge of semiconductor physics, structures, fundamentals, models, and failure mechanisms.
  • Understanding of hardware and low-level software interface designs and failure modes in electronic control units.
  • Knowledge of GM product design and development cycles, with previous experience in automotive product release and specification processes.
  • Demonstrated leadership and project management of complex technical projects.
  • Experience with technical requirement capture and management tools.
  • DFSS Green Belt Certification
Responsibilities
  • Perform technical requirements updates and develop new ECU hardware electrical and functional interface definitions, including interactions with interfacing vehicle electronic devices and low-level software.
  • Support semiconductor and microprocessor functional safety activities by developing requirements to meet safety manual use-case implementations.
  • Standardize I/O interfaces in hardware requirements and drive commonization of components into ECU hardware designs.
  • Solicit, identify, and create embedded controller requirement definitions from vehicle, electrical/controller architecture, infrastructure software, low-level software, diagnostic, and hardware design teams.
  • Support weekly requirement review and change control meetings to review and approve technical work updating existing and developing new requirements.
  • Perform CTRS compilation and build activities from common and controller-specific requirements to support product team sourcing activities and post-sourcing design change documentation.
  • Identify and implement mechanisms for traceability between internal and external CTRS requirements and their verification activities.
  • Align requirements implementation with outsourced and build-to-print design activities, and drive ECU, sub-component, and/or circuit-level design modifications when implementations fail to adhere to common requirements definitions.
  • Support requirement and specification definition and updates for ECU manufacturing, remanufacturing, and plant/service programming implementations.
  • Stay abreast of new technologies and competitor requirement documentation methods to refine GM requirement documentation and processes.
  • Travel domestically and/or internationally as required, up to 10%.
Desired Qualifications
  • At least 5 years of engineering experience in product development, specifications, or related activity.
  • A Master of Science in Engineering or a related field.
  • Electronic circuit and/or software design, analysis, development, or validation experience.
  • Familiarity with safety-critical embedded controls in at least one automotive subsystem, or experience with a complex safety system in another industry.
  • Experience developing and/or specifying technical requirements for ECU circuit-level designs and product development, analysis, or validation with safety-critical systems or ECUs.
  • Experience with functional safety standards (ISO 26262, IEC 61508, IEC 62304, DO-178C) to develop and specify hardware and low-level software safety requirements for automotive ECUs and embedded control systems.
  • Experience with electric vehicle electrical/electronic architectures and defining ECU hardware and low-level software requirements for high-voltage propulsion, battery management, and charging/control systems.
  • Familiarity with DOORS and/or DOORS next-generation requirement capture and management tools.
  • Familiarity developing ECU hardware interface specifications into robust and maintainable C-language prototypes for HWIO and low-level software implementations.
  • DFSS Black Belt Certification

About the company

General Motors designs, builds and sells cars, trucks and SUVs for individual drivers and commercial fleets, with gasoline and electric models across mainstream and luxury markets. Its Chevrolet and GMC brands cover pickups and utility vehicles, while Cadillac focuses on luxury and Buick sells passenger vehicles. The group sells vehicles and replacement parts mainly through independent dealers, which handle customer sales, maintenance and repairs. Its captive finance subsidiary, GM Financial, earns revenue from vehicle loans and leases and also finances dealer inventories. General Motors traces its roots to 1908 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Detroit, Michigan

Founded

1908

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Subscriptions extend GM revenue beyond car sales: OnStar One bills monthly or yearly for safety and connectivity.
  • Systems engineers get architecture ownership: GM's Core OS staff role shapes foundations across Linux, Android and QNX.
  • Affordable SUVs find buyers: GM reported record quarterly small-SUV sales in October 2026, led by Trax and Envista.

What critics are saying

  • China profits depend on partners: GM shares its vehicle ventures with SAIC amid excess capacity and domestic competition.
  • Demand is uneven: GM reported U.S. sales down 6% in October 2026, citing EV weakness and discontinued vehicles.
  • IT jobs face restructuring: GM confirmed global role cuts in May 2026, with reports estimating 500 to 600 employees.

What makes General Motors unique

  • GM shares battery production with LG: their Ultium Cells venture operates plants in Ohio and Tennessee.
  • GM controls Super Cruise map delivery: its own vehicle software and servers send location-specific road tiles.
  • GM sells backup power alongside cars: GM Energy connects compatible EV batteries to properly equipped homes.

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Benefits

  • Paid Vacation
  • Paid Sick Leave
  • Paid Holidays
  • Parental Leave
  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Life Insurance
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Tuition Reimbursement
  • Student Loan Assistance

Company News

Yahoo Finance
Oct 21st, 2026
GM unveils $20B buyback as higher truck prices test buyers, despite earnings beat

General Motors (GM) approved a new $20 billion multi-year share buyback on October 20, after finishing an earlier $6 billion programme. The new programme has no expiry date. Chief financial officer Paul Jacobson told CNBC the stock trades at one of the lowest price-to-earnings multiples on the street, with a double-digit free cash flow yield. GM has cut its diluted share count by 37% over three years. Third-quarter revenue rose 2.9% to $50.02 billion, beating forecasts of $48.21 billion. Adjusted earnings per share rose 32.2% to $3.70. The stock still fell 8%. Investors worry about a cut of roughly 37,000 pickup trucks in fourth-quarter output and $1 billion to $1.5 billion in cost pressure. The average transaction price rose above $52,000, from $50,500 a year earlier.

TechCrunch
Oct 21st, 2026
GM bets on AI and a 40x faster central computer to take on Chinese automakers

GM unveiled a fourth-generation EV platform at its annual GM Forward event in New York, centred on new battery chemistries, revamped electric motors, and a new central computing architecture. The overhaul debuts in 2028 with the Cadillac Escalade IQ, alongside a hands-off, eyes-off autonomous highway driving feature. The Central Compute Unit (CCU) is 40 times more powerful than GM's current systems. Removing smaller chips cuts wiring by 30%, saving weight and simplifying assembly. GM aims to halve its four-to-five-year development timeline to match Chinese rivals, which work in two to three years. Engineers tested 300,000 virtual designs of a battery pack before building a prototype, and the concept became an approved program in one month. GM's capitalised software amortisation expense in 2025 was $866 million.

CNBC
Oct 21st, 2026
GM targets two-year vehicle development with AI push, eyes-off driving by 2028

General Motors plans to cut vehicle development time to roughly two years from concept to production, down from a traditional four to five years. The automaker will rely on artificial intelligence (AI), simulation, and concurrent engineering to shorten development and reduce physical testing. It gave no timeline for reaching the goal. The push comes as Chinese automakers move faster. AlixPartners says they bring vehicles to market twice as fast as traditional rivals, with 40% to 50% less investment. GM said it virtually tested more than 300,000 battery designs before building a single prototype. Its next-generation vehicles will have 40 times the computing power, debuting on the $130,000 Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028, alongside eyes-off highway driving. An OnStar AI assistant will launch in the coming months on the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq.

TechCrunch
Oct 21st, 2026
GM gives OnStar an AI makeover, debuting in the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq

General Motors is adding a personal AI assistant to OnStar, the subscription-based connected car service it launched 30 years ago. The OnStar AI Assistant will debut in the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq EV in the coming months, with more GM vehicles to follow, the company said Wednesday at its GM Forward event in New York. GM will launch a new OnStar mobile app in 2027 that syncs with the in-car software. It will replace the OnStar Guardian app and the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brand apps. Unlike Google-powered earlier efforts, the assistant is built in-house. Drivers can use voice to control functions such as climate, ask about vehicle features, and set connected cameras to record events such as an aggressive horn honk. GM said customers can decide what data is shared, and that it cannot access camera recordings.

Wired
Oct 21st, 2026
GM unveils OnStar AI assistant to make drivers' car time more productive

General Motors (GM) wants to make drivers' time in the car more useful, relaxing, and engaging. At its annual GM Forward event in New York City on Wednesday, the company outlined its AI-driven plans. GM will launch an AI assistant called OnStar AI, starting with 2027 Cadillac Lyriq models. The name comes from the 30-year-old roadside assistance and security service, which has 12 million subscribers. Paired with a new app, the system will first let drivers turn on the air conditioning by voice, without using a menu. Chief product officer Sterling Anderson says it may later coordinate kid pickups and drop-offs based on which spouse's car is closer.