Principal Software Engineer - Autonomy Behavior Validation
General Motors22 hours ago
Base Salary
$239k - $366k/yr
Responsibilities
- Set the technical strategy and architecture for counterfactual autonomy behavior evaluation.
- Convert real incidents and simulation events into executable, repeatable, provenance-preserving scenarios with uncertainty characterization.
- Implement and validate human and other road-user response models covering perception, reaction timing, maneuver selection, vehicle dynamics, and plausible outcomes.
- Build scalable pipelines for parameter extraction, scene reconstruction, counterfactual swaps, fuzzing, simulation execution, outcome estimation, and large-scale analysis.
- Define validation methods using baseline comparisons, replay, closed-course evidence, confidence assessment, traceability, and model-limit evaluation.
- Lead cross-functional work across Behavior, Simulation, Safety, Human Factors, Legal, Product, and Operations to produce engineering actions, safety-case evidence, and release recommendations.
Requirements
- Master’s degree in systems engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, human factors, or a related field.
- At least 10 years of professional experience in autonomous vehicles, robotics, vehicle development, simulation, systems engineering, human factors, or safety-critical validation.
- Proven experience evaluating autonomous vehicles for a commercial fleet, launch, supervised release, or another high-consequence product decision.
- Strong understanding of human behavior modeling, driver response, perception and reaction time, vehicle dynamics, uncertainty, and model-based limitations.
- Deep experience building or leading counterfactual, replay, crash reconstruction, incident analysis, or comparable simulation-based evaluation capabilities.
- Professional experience with large-scale simulation evaluation, including scenario generation, parameter sweeps, distributed execution, reproducibility, data quality, and fidelity-confidence-runtime-cost trade-offs.
- Strong Python and agentic workflow experience, with the ability to design and review production-quality analysis, simulation, and validation software.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills for explaining technical results, assumptions, and limitations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Demonstrated technical leadership across organizational boundaries and experience setting direction through a methodology, platform, framework, or reusable validation capability adopted by other teams.
- Preferred experience operationalizing attentive-human benchmarks from naturalistic driving data, human factors research, expert review, or experimentally grounded response models.
- Preferred experience with traffic collision or incident reconstruction using vehicle logs, sensor data, maps, physical constraints, and other evidence.
- Preferred experience modeling other road-user behavior, collision severity, injury risk, risk quantification, safety claims, safety cases, hazard analysis, or residual-risk decisions.
- Preferred experience validating simulation fidelity and counterfactual predictions against real drives, non-intervened events, closed-course tests, or independent evidence.
- Preferred experience translating legal or regulatory expectations into defensible reconstruction methods, validation evidence, or documented claims.
- Preferred track record of developing engineers, leading technical communities, and improving organizational systems engineering, simulation, and validation practices.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, and Flexible Spending Account benefit options.
- Retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation, and paid holidays.
- Tuition assistance and employee assistance programs.
- GM vehicle discounts.
- The role offers a stated base salary range of $238,700 to $365,700, with additional bonus potential based on company, job-level, and individual performance.
- Applicants may be required to complete role-related assessments and/or pre-employment screening where applicable.
About General Motors
General Motors’ vision is to create a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion, and we have committed ourselves to leading the way toward this future. Today, we are in the midst of a transportation revolution, and we have the ambition, the talent and the technology to realize the safer, better and more sustainable world we want. As an open, inclusive company, we’re also creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued for who they are. One team, where all ideas are considered and heard, where everyone can contribute to their fullest potential, with a culture based in respect, integrity, accountability and equality. Our team brings wide-ranging perspectives and experiences to solving the complex transportation challenges of today and tomorrow. For information on the GM Privacy Statement, please visit http://www.gm.com/privacy-statement.html