Staff Systems Engineer – Autonomy Behavior

General Motors

Staff Systems Engineer setting validation strategy for General Motors’ autonomous vehicle behavior systems. Connecting simulation, safety evidence, and release decisions.

Posted 9/3/2026full-timeSunnyvale • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $189,300 - $290,700 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in systems engineering with a focus on behavior validation, simulation evaluation, and safety-critical validation for autonomous vehicles. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage stakeholders, and translate complex results into actionable recommendations.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Systems EngineeringSimulation EvaluationPython ProgrammingSafety Case DevelopmentStakeholder Management

ATS Keywords

Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills

Behavior DecompositionRequirements StrategyVerification and Validation PlanningRisk QuantificationCounterfactual AnalysisHazard AnalysisValidation Lifecycle DesignAutomation of Expert ReviewTechnical LeadershipArchitecture and Decomposition

Soft Skills

Strong Communication SkillsTechnical LeadershipStakeholder Management

Tools & Technologies

Validation ToolsData PipelinesSimulation Workflows

Industry Keywords

Autonomous VehiclesSafety-Critical ValidationFMEASTPAFault Trees

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Python

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Set the systems engineering approach for behavior validation from product requirements through release and monitoring
Define behavior decomposition, metrics, acceptance criteria, coverage, confidence, and traceability
Lead validation strategy for major capabilities and cross-cutting behaviors
Connect safety claims, legal and compliance expectations, hazard analysis, requirements, simulation tests, and release evidence
Set direction for behavior evaluation and simulation at scale across synthetic tests, road data, and counterfactual references
Guide scenario sourcing, sampling, orchestration, data quality, and reproducibility
Lead cross-functional technical reviews
Guide validation tools, data pipelines, simulation workflows, and analysis products toward repeatable systems
Turn complex results into clear recommendations
Work across behavior, software, simulation, safety, legal, product, and operations teams

Requirements

What you’ll need

Master's degree in systems engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, or a related field
8 or more years of professional experience in systems engineering, autonomous vehicles, robotics, vehicle development, simulation, or safety-critical validation
Proven record of evaluating autonomous vehicles for a commercial fleet, launch, supervised release, or other high-consequence product decision
Deep systems engineering fundamentals, including architecture and decomposition, use-case and scene modeling, requirements strategy, interface definition, verification and validation planning, and traceability
Professional experience defining or leading simulation evaluation at scale
Strong Python experience, including production-quality analysis or validation software, design and pull request reviews, and rapid engineering experimentation
Strong communication skills
Demonstrated stakeholder management and technical leadership across organizational boundaries
Evidence of setting direction beyond a single project
Human benchmarking for behavior and safety evaluation
Counterfactual analysis in simulation
Experience building or using a safety case and writing or reviewing safety claims
Familiarity with hazard analysis and structured safety methods such as STPA, FMEA, fault trees, scenario-based hazard analysis, or equivalent approaches
Experience with risk quantification, risk acceptance, severity and exposure reasoning, risk budgets, and mitigation decisions
Experience translating legal or regulatory expectations into a compliance strategy
Experience designing validation lifecycles
Experience building or guiding validation scorecards, confidence rubrics, behavior protocols, or similar products
Experience reducing manual expert review through automation
Track record of developing other engineers and leading technical communities

Benefits

Comp & perks

Bonus potential based on company performance, job level, and individual performance
Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Health Savings Account
Flexible Spending Accounts
Retirement savings plan
Sickness and accident benefits
Life insurance
Paid vacation and holidays
Tuition assistance programs
Employee assistance program
GM vehicle discounts