General Motors

Senior Software Engineer - Secondary Driving System

General Motors • $170K — $261K *
Sunnyvale, CA 94087In-Person
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or related field; or equivalent practical experience.
  • 5+ years in software engineering for robotics, autonomous vehicles, or complex real-time control systems.
  • Strong proficiency in modern C++ (C++14/17 or later) and familiarity with Python for tooling and data analysis.
  • Experience in motion planning and controls including trajectory generation and optimization.
  • Familiarity with integrating perception and prediction pipelines related to autonomous vehicles.
  • Proven track record of delivering reliable autonomous or robotics software with effective testing and performance tuning strategies.
  • Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate across disciplines.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and optimize production-quality C++ software across the SDS stack under tight constraints.
  • Design and implement planning and control algorithms for safe vehicle operation during primary system failures.
  • Collaborate with partners in state estimation and autonomy management to define interfaces for reliable software engagement.
  • Own features from requirements clarification to on-road testing and iteration based on performance metrics.
  • Apply software engineering best practices including code reviews and continuous integration.
  • Analyze and debug integration issues using telemetry and logs to identify root causes.
  • Partner with safety teams to ensure compliance with functional safety and operational requirements.
  • Mentor and assist other engineers to enhance team quality and performance.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health and wellbeing benefit programs including medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Flexible spending and health savings accounts.
  • Retirement savings plan options.
  • Paid vacation and holidays.
  • Tuition assistance programs to support ongoing education.
  • Employee assistance program for personal well-being.
  • GM vehicle discounts for employees.
Full Job Description
Job Description

The Secondary Driving System (SDS) is an independent perception, planning, and controls stack that keeps the vehicle operating safely for a limited time if the primary driving system becomes unavailable, requesting driver takeover and, when needed, executing a Minimal Risk Maneuver (MRM) to bring the vehicle to a safe stop.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Secondary Driving System team within Embodied AI, you will be a strong individual contributor working across the autonomy stack, with a particular emphasis on motion planning and controls in a robotics context. You'll design and build production-quality C++ software that spans ML-based perception, tracking, prediction, planning, and controls, enabling SDS to safely handle faults and reach a minimal risk condition when the primary system cannot.

You will collaborate closely with experts in perception, state estimation, vehicle dynamics, systems engineering, and safety to ship robust, fail-operational behaviors for Super Cruise and future products.

What you'll be doing:

  • Develop and optimize production-grade C++ software across the SDS stack, integrating ML-based perception (object detection, tracking, prediction, lane and road features) with analytical planners and classical controllers under tight latency and compute constraints.
  • Design and implement planning and controls algorithms for the Secondary Driving System, including lane-keeping, obstacle avoidance, lane changes to shoulder, and controlled stopping behaviors tailored to MRM scenarios and limited operational horizons.
  • Work with partners in state estimation, mapping, localization, and autonomy management to define and implement interfaces and contracts that enable reliable SDS engagement in response to primary stack failures.
  • Own features end-to-end: requirements clarification, design reviews, implementation, simulation/HIL bring-up, on-road testing, and iteration based on metrics and driver feedback.
  • Apply and champion software engineering best practices: clean interfaces, code reviews, automated testing, continuous integration, performance profiling, and observability for on-road incidents.
  • Analyze and debug complex integration issues, using logs, telemetry, and principled experiments to root-cause problems at the intersection of perception, planning, controls, and vehicle behavior.
  • Partner with Safety and Systems Engineering to ensure SDS behaviors and software designs align with functional safety, redundancy, and MRM requirements for fail-operational Eyes-Off features.
  • Mentor and unblock other engineers through design discussions, code reviews, and example implementations, helping raise the bar for robustness, clarity, and execution speed on the team.


Qualifications:

  • BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience.
  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience building production systems in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or complex real-time/control systems.
  • Strong proficiency in modern C++ (e.g., C++14/17 or later), with experience in large, multi-contributor codebases; familiarity with Python for tooling, prototyping, and data analysis.
  • Experience in motion planning and controls, including: Trajectory generation and tracking, Optimal control / model-predictive control / trajectory optimization, Classical and modern feedback control design (e.g., PID, LQR, robust control), Handling kinematic and dynamic constraints for ground vehicles
  • Experience integrating with perception and prediction pipelines (object detection, tracking, prediction, lane or road geometry), even if your core focus is planning and controls.
  • Demonstrated track record of delivering reliable, high-quality autonomous or robotics software, including testing strategies, metrics, and performance tuning under latency/compute constraints.
  • Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work across disciplines (ML, systems, platform, safety) and drive clarity in ambiguous technical spaces.
  • Passion for automated driving and robotics, and for building systems that measurably improve safety and driver experience.


Bonus points:

  • Background in ROS or similar robotics middleware.
  • Experience with safety-critical software or working closely with functional safety teams.
  • Hands-on experience with GPU/accelerator-based ML inference, model deployment, and performance optimization in production environments.


Remote:

This role is based remotely but if you live within a 50-mile radius of Mountain View, you are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum.

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 compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of the California Bay Area.

  • The salary range for this role is $170,600.00 - $261,300.00. 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:

  • 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 job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

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About General Motors

General Motors Company engages in the manufacture and sale of cars and trucks in the United States, China, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. It offers sedans, crossovers, sport utility vehicles, pick-up trucks, coupes, sports/convertibles and hybrid vehicles, hatchbacks/wagons, and vans, as well as mini cars in India. The company also provides parts and accessories, such as iPod and MP3 compatibility, mobility accessories, performance parts, AC parts and services, and merchandise. In addition, it offers vehicle safety, security, and information services. The company provides used vehicles. It offers its products through dealers and distributors. General Motors Company was formerly known as NGMCO, Inc. and changed its name to General Motors Company in July 2009. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Detroit, Michigan. It operates manufacturing facilities in India, the United States, and Canada. General Motors Company operates as a subsidiary of the United States Department of The Treasury. General Motors led global vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years from 1931 through 2007, longer than any other automaker, and is currently among the world's largest automakers by vehicle unit sales. General Motors acts in most countries outside the USA via wholly-owned subsidiaries but operates in China through 10 joint ventures. GM's OnStar subsidiary provides vehicle safety, security, and information services. In 2009, General Motors shed several brands, closing Saturn, Pontiac, and Hummer, and emerged from a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization. In 2010, GM made an initial public offering IPOs to date and returned to profitability later that year.

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Learn more about General Motors
Size
157,000 employees
Market Cap
$46.9 billion
Industry
Manufacturing & Automotive
Net Income
$6.4 billion
Founded
1908
5 Year Trend
-3.2%
Revenue
$122.4 billion
NASDAQ
GM
* Ladders Estimates

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