Autonomous Vehicle Safety Case Technical Program Manager

General Motors•Sunnyvale, CA

2d•$160,200 - $290,700•Remote

About The Position

The Safety Assurance for Effective Autonomous Driving Software (SAFE-ADS) department is part of GM’s Global Product Safety, System, and Certification (GPSSC) organization. SAFE-ADS serves as a central body for automated driving system (ADS) safety assurance, bringing together technical expertise from across the company to support the safe development, testing, launch, and continuous improvement of advanced driving capabilities. GM is seeking an Autonomous Vehicle Safety Case Technical Program Manager to lead the integrated execution of complex, cross-functional safety cases for ADS. This senior/staff individual contributor will bring structure, momentum, and transparency to the workstreams that support GM’s ADS safety case and safety assurance strategy. The role will coordinate technical and operational work across safety case management, safety and risk management systems, operational safety and human factors, aggregate safety and rules-of-the-road metrics, counterfactual simulation, and related system-safety interfaces. The successful candidate will connect strategy to execution: translating safety objectives into actionable plans, aligning claims and sufficiency criteria with evidence and assessments, managing dependencies and risks, and driving decisions to closure across engineering, validation, operations, legal, public policy, and product teams. This role is ideal for an experienced program leader who is comfortable operating in a technically complex, safety-critical environment; can synthesize diverse inputs into a coherent execution plan; and is motivated by the challenge of enabling the safe, measurable, and scalable deployment of ADS technology.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, systems engineering, robotics, safety engineering, mathematics, or a related technical field.
7+ years of experience leading complex technical programs in autonomous vehicles, ADAS, software-intensive systems, systems engineering, product safety, safety assurance, or another safety-critical domain.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional programs with multiple workstreams, stakeholders, dependencies, and enterprise-level visibility.
Strong program management capabilities, including integrated planning, milestone management, dependency tracking, risk management, governance, issue resolution, and executive communication.
Experience translating ambiguous technical or safety objectives into structured execution plans, measurable outcomes, and clear ownership.
Experience developing, supporting, assessing, or managing safety cases, assurance cases, safety arguments, or equivalent evidence-based safety programs.
Working knowledge of safety assurance concepts and practices, including requirements traceability, evidence management, hazard or risk management, change control, and assessment processes.
Ability to understand and connect technical work across software, AI/ML, systems engineering, validation, simulation, human factors, operations, and product safety.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor information for technical, operational, and executive audiences.
Ability to influence without authority, build alignment across functions, work through ambiguity, and drive action to closure.
Passion for autonomous vehicle technology and safe deployment of advanced driving capabilities.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in engineering, computer science, robotics, systems engineering, safety management, mathematics, or a related field.
Experience with autonomous vehicle or ADAS safety assurance, safety case management, safety management systems, or product launch readiness.
Experience with Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) or another structured argumentation framework.
Familiarity with functional safety, SOTIF, AI/ML safety, operational safety, human factors, rules-of-the-road compliance, or safety performance metrics.
Experience working in a fast-paced engineering organization with frequent software releases, evolving system scope, and complex technical dependencies.
Experience working with independent assessors, standards bodies, regulators, industry consortia, or external technical partners.
Program or project management certification.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain integrated program plans covering safety case workstreams, milestones, dependencies, resource needs, risks, decisions, and deliverables.
Establish operating rhythms, governance forums, status reporting, action tracking, decision logs, and escalation paths that enable effective cross-functional execution.
Align safety case claims with ADS product, engineering, validation, operational, and launch milestones.
Translate evolving safety strategies and program objectives into clear workstream charters, measurable outcomes, delivery plans, and ownership models.
Identify schedule, scope, technical, evidence, resource, and cross-functional dependency risks; drive mitigation plans and escalate issues when needed.
Create clear, concise communications for technical teams, senior leaders, and cross-functional decision forums.
Coordinate the development, assessment, maintenance, and continuous improvement of ADS safety cases across product-launch contexts.
Drive alignment among safety claims, sufficiency criteria, evidence plans, assessment activities, and program milestones.
Establish and maintain traceability between safety strategies, claims, requirements, evidence, assessments, decisions, and changes in system scope or operating conditions.
Coordinate technical inputs from AI/ML, autonomy, systems engineering, functional safety, SOTIF, cybersecurity, software validation, simulation, human factors, operations, and product safety teams.
Track evidence readiness, assessment status, substantiation gaps, deviations, and corrective actions; ensure gaps are closed, actively managed, or supported by documented rationale.
Support impact assessments when the ADS, operational design domain, platform, release, feature behavior, or deployment plan changes.
Improve the processes, tools, and information flows used to manage the safety case and safety assurance lifecycle.
Establish scalable methods for planning, prioritization, reporting, evidence management, and change control across SAFE-ADS.
Use program data and operational feedback to identify systemic issues, improve process health, and increase predictability of safety assurance delivery.
Promote early and frequent collaboration between safety assurance teams and the engineering and operations organizations developing and deploying ADS capabilities.
Help mature GM’s safety assurance practices as ADS technology, operating scope, evidence methods, and industry expectations evolve.