Staff Hardware Engineer – UWB/BLE Digital Key

General Motors

Staff Hardware Engineer specializing in UWB/BLE technologies for Digital Key at GM. Designing and validating wireless hardware for precise digital access in vehicles.

Posted 5/3/2026full-timeMountain View • California, Missouri • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $160,000 - $250,000 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Act as a hardware and wireless subject matter expert for UWB/BLE within GM’s Digital Key and short-range access systems.
Define hardware and RF/Wireless requirements for UWB ranging/BLE that support features such as passive entry, passive start, trunk access, and backup phone access.
Lead the concept and requirements for vehicle Digital Key system development.
Translate vehicle level use cases and customer scenarios into clear link budgets and performance targets for UWB/BLE including accuracy, precision, latency, robustness, and reader field strength and alignment in automotive packaging.
Provide UWB/BLE input into short range wireless and antenna roadmaps that can scale across nameplates and regions.
Hands-on RF Design, Bring-up, and Validation.
Lead schematic and PCB layout reviews for UWB/BLE subsystems on Digital Key controllers, focusing on RF paths, antenna and reader interfaces, and coupling paths to other radios.
Bring up and debug UWB/BLE hardware in the lab, including front-end components, antennas, readers, power and clocking, calibration, and tuning for real vehicle environments.
Develop and execute test plans for UWB ranging across distances, angles, doors or zones, and environments that reflect real customer access paths, as well as NFC card and phone performance in reader locations.
Use RF and time domain instrumentation, and over-the-air setups to characterize UWB/BLE performance across voltage, temperature, and mechanical conditions.
Lead coexistence analysis and test content for UWB/BLE with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Cellular, GNSS, and other radios.
Define blocking, defense, and link budget degradation limits for UWB/BLE channels under realistic aggressor conditions, and drive mitigations such as filtering, shielding, containment, and antenna placement and orientation tradeoffs.
Coordinate with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular, and GNSS teams on time domain and resource sharing strategies where appropriate, ensuring coexistence remains a shared responsibility while you provide technical leadership on problem framing, test design, and mitigation plans.
Ensure UWB/BLE hardware implementations support current and emerging Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) Digital Key expectations, particularly for secure, precise ranging and multi device operation.
Work with Digital Key system and software leads so that UWB, BLE behavior, limitations, and coverage concepts are correctly reflected in system architecture, algorithms, and test strategies.
Build reusable reference test setups for UWB/BLE performance, and coexistence that can be used across labs and programs, including setups that directly compare different implementations.
Produce clear, structured documentation of requirements, architecture decisions, test strategies, coverage studies, and coexistence analysis that can be used in design reviews, engineering requirements, and supplier communication.
Mentor junior wireless, RF and hardware engineers and lab staff, modeling GM behaviors and helping to scale the Wireless Technology organization’s impact on Digital Key and short range connectivity.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
10+ years of relevant RF or wireless hardware experience.
Hands-on experience with UWB, and BLE transceivers and systems, including ranging, link budgets, and RF front end design.
Strong understanding of RF fundamentals, propagation, and multi antenna systems, and the ability to reason about interference and coupling paths in dense multi radio designs such as CHM.
Experience with RF and hardware design reviews, bring-up, and debug on complex, multi radio boards that integrate UWB, BLE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and GNSS.
Demonstrated experience with short range coexistence involving UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, cellular, and GNSS, including test definition, analysis, and mitigation strategies.
Strong written and verbal communication skills and a track record of leading cross functional technical initiatives across hardware, software, systems, and supplier teams.

Benefits

Comp & perks

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.
Company Vehicle: Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, through which you will be assigned a General Motors vehicle to drive and evaluate. Note: program participants are required to purchase/lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies.

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

UWBBLERF designlink budgetshardware validationPCB layoutcoexistence analysistest plansRF fundamentalsmulti antenna systems

Soft Skills

communication skillstechnical leadershipmentoringcross-functional collaborationproblem framing