Senior Safety Integration Validation Engineer Lead – SDV Architecture (GPSSC)

Job Description

At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We’re turning today’s impossible into tomorrow’s standard —from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features.  

Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.

The Role

The Senior Safety Integration Validation Engineer Lead for SDV Architecture provides technical and leadership oversight for end-to-end integration and validation of Core ECUs and Infrastructure Functions within Software Defined Vehicle Architecture. This role also drives broader strategy, readiness, integration, and mentorship for the application domain SIVE community, ensuring that validation standard work, training, and governance are consistently applied.

The Senior SIVE Lead shapes validation operating models, aligns cross-functional partners, and represents the Infrastructure Functions in key readiness and governance forums. The role mentors SIVEs and Senior SIVEs, supports role clarity, and ensures that integration issues, risks, and evidence are managed with a systems mindset and in line with GM Behaviors.

What You'll Do

1. Requirement Translation & Test Intent

• Provide technical leadership for how infrastructure functional requirements are translated into test intent and coverage across overall SDV Architecture.

• Sponsor and review executable test intent, ensuring alignment with system architecture, safety, regulatory, and customer requirements.

• Coach SIVEs and Senior SIVEs on defining ownership and converting ambiguous or evolving requirements into clear validation objectives and coverage.

2. Traceability & Evidence Management

• Define and champion traceability and evidence-management practices across DNG, ETM, Jira, and other tools.

• Ensure evidence flow, source-of-truth rules, and audit-ready documentation expectations are clearly understood and applied by HW/SW development teams, as well as system development teams.

• Review and challenge traceability and evidence completeness at key milestones, driving closure of gaps before Safety Usage Approval Milestones and Formal Reviews.

3. Integration & System Validation Execution

• Oversee integration and system validation execution plans across benches, vehicles, and virtual environments for Core ECUs and Infrastructure Functions within Software Defined Vehicle Architecture

• Define patterns and playbooks for structured exploratory testing, virtual-to-hardware correlation, and variant evaluation.

• Support resolution of complex integration issues spanning multiple systems, hardware, and software, engaging appropriate experts as needed.

4. Readiness, Compliance & Governance

• Lead readiness, compliance, and governance discussions for SDV Architecture in ADV, PAR, DVUL, Regulatory, and related forums.

• Ensure validation, readiness, evidence, and milestone status for the SDV Architecture are accurate, concise, and decision-ready.

• Guide the team on compliance dependency management with DRE and supplier inputs, and on export / regulatory certification documentation.

5. Issue Triage, Closure & Launch Support

• Lead cross-functional issue triage and closure ownership for high-impact integration and validation issues within the SDV Architecture.

• Convert technical discussion into clear owners, actions, timing, and escalation paths, ensuring structured concern surfacing and risk management.

• Support plant, launch, and field teams by prioritizing and coordinating resolution of integration issues impacting launch readiness.

6. Cross-functional Operating Model & Leadership

• Define and continuously improve the cross-functional operating model for system integration and validation for SDV Architecture (roles, handshakes, and decision rights).

• Foster explicit handshakes across systems, safety, software, calibration, validation, and suppliers, aligning on owners and expectations.

• Provide Senior SIVE leadership and mentoring, helping others grow in technical depth, systems thinking, and execution discipline.

• Lead by example through accountability, constructive feedback, inclusion, and consistent application of GM Behaviors.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, Computer, Systems, or related discipline).

• 5+ years of relevant engineering experience in vehicle systems, validation, integration, or testing with ownership of significant technical deliverables.

• Strong knowledge of vehicle systems, interfaces, architecture variants, and failure modes relevant to assigned scope.

• Hands-on experience with system- or feature-level testing on benches, vehicles, and/or virtual test environments.

• Experience owning or leading validation planning, execution, readiness assessment, and evidence closure for assigned scope.

• Ability to interpret requirements and translate them into validation plans, test cases, acceptance criteria, and traceable evidence.

• Experience with issue management, root-cause analysis, and cross-functional problem solving.

• Proficiency with requirements, test management, traceability, and issue-tracking tools.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including ability to present readiness, risks, and trade-offs clearly.

• Ability to support compliance activities tied to [Insert applicable regulatory / compliance requirements].

• Proven experience leading cross-functional integration and validation efforts across programs, domains, or architecture variants.

• Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop engineers and to shape validation strategy at the system or domain level.

What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Master's degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechatronics, Systems, or related field).

• Experience in automotive system integration, validation, or feature / system testing across multiple programs or architecture variants.

• Direct experience validating safety- or regulatory-relevant features and systems.

• Experience with automation, regression testing, HIL/SIL, virtual validation, and/or data-analysis-driven evaluation methods.

• Working knowledge of automotive networks, diagnostics, and tools used to support system integration troubleshooting.

• Experience authoring or reviewing compliance summaries, Product Validation Letters, judgement letters, or similar validation documentation.

• Demonstrated experience coaching others, facilitating reviews, and driving alignment across technical stakeholders.

• Experience with standards, procedures, or domain-specific requirements related to [Insert domain or system area].

• Experience defining validation operating models, standard work, or governance for a broader team or portfolio.

• Demonstrated leadership in readiness, compliance, and milestone governance forums (e.g., ADV, PAR, DVUL).

&#xa;&#xa;GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).&#xa;&#xa;This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}.&#xa;&#xa;The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role.&#xa;&#xa;This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.&#xa;&#xa;This position requires the ability to legally operate a motor vehicle on a regular basis and successfully complete a Motor Vehicle Report review.&#xa;&#xa;

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.

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