General Motors

Senior Systems Engineer - Autonomy Behavior

General Motors • $153K — $234K *
Sunnyvale, CA 94087In-Person
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Master's degree in a related engineering field or computer science
  • 5+ years in systems engineering or autonomous vehicles
  • Experience with commercial fleet launch evaluations
  • Strong grasp of systems engineering principles
  • Proficiency in simulation-based evaluations at scale
  • Advanced Python skills for data analysis and automation
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities

Responsibilities

  • Own end-to-end validation for autonomous driving behaviors
  • Evaluate behavior using diverse testing methods and data
  • Define and refine metrics and test strategies for behavior
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams for readiness assessments
  • Analyze results to identify weaknesses and next steps

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health and wellness programs including medical, dental, and vision
  • Health Savings and Flexible Spending Account options
  • Retirement savings plan offerings
  • Paid vacation and holidays
  • Tuition assistance programs
  • Employee assistance program
  • Discounts on GM vehicles
Full Job Description
Job Description
Senior Systems Engineer - Autonomy Behavior
The Role

As a Senior Autonomy Behavior Systems Engineer, you will help define and validate how an autonomous vehicle behaves in the real world. You will own one or more behavior areas from requirements through simulation evaluation, road-data review, and release recommendation.

This role sits at the intersection of systems engineering, software validation, simulation, and safety. You will turn broad product and safety goals into clear behavior definitions, testable requirements, metrics, test plans, and evidence. You will also need to understand what the results mean, where they are weak, and what should happen next.
What You'll Do
  • Own end-to-end validation for one or more autonomous driving behaviors, from initial behavior scoping and requirements definition to product launch.
  • Combine simulation, road data, closed-course testing, and expert review to evaluate behavior across large scenario sets, diverse conditions, software versions, and fleet configurations.
  • Define, deploy, and refine metrics, test strategies and acceptance criteria for autonomous behavior for simulation and road.
  • Partner with teams across and outside the autonomy organization to assess, author, and present behavior readiness for release and launch decisions.
Required Qualifications
  • Master's degree in systems engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, or a related field.
  • 5 or more years of professional experience in systems engineering, autonomous vehicles, robotics, simulation, or safety-critical validation.
  • Proven experience evaluating autonomous vehicles in support of a commercial fleet launch.
  • Strong understanding of systems engineering fundamentals, including system decomposition, use-case definition, requirements authoring, interface definition, verification planning, and traceability.
  • Professional experience designing or executing simulation-based evaluations at scale, not just isolated scenario demonstrations.
  • Strong Python experience for data analysis, test automation, simulation workflows, and engineering tools and exposure to agentic workflows.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of working effectively across teams.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage stakeholders, resolve ambiguity, set expectations, and drive work to completion without waiting for a perfect process.
What Will Give You a Competitive Edge
  • Experience with human benchmarking for behavioral or safety evaluation, including attentive human benchmark data, human percentiles, or expert labeling.
  • Experience with counterfactual analysis in simulation, including comparing an autonomous vehicle response with a human or alternate-system response under the same scene conditions.
  • Familiarity with safety cases, safety claims, and the role of validation evidence in supporting them.
  • Experience with hazard analysis, including structured hazard analysis, scenario-based hazard analysis, failure analysis, or similar methods.
  • Understanding of risk quantification, risk acceptance, risk budgets, and mitigation prioritization.
  • Experience translating legal or regulatory expectations into behavioral requirements, metrics, test coverage, or compliance evidence.
  • Experience with large scenario libraries, synthetic test generation, replay-to-simulation workflows, simulation test protocols, or validation scorecards.


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 New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.
• The salary range for this role: is $153,200 to $234,100. 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

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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Join the dynamic team at General Motors, a global leader in automotive innovation and technology. At General Motors, we offer unparalleled job opportunities that propel your career forward while contributing to a legacy of engineering excellence.

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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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