Sonic Experiences Group Manager

General Motors

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Sonic Experience Group Manager The Sonic Experience Group resides in Human Interface Design under Vehicle OS; this is where GM’s UX brand storytelling becomes real inside the digital cabin. Sound is one of the most emotional and instinctive layers of the vehicle experience. From UI cues to EV/AV exterior sounds to interior ambiance, the Sonic Experience Group defines how GM’s brands are heard and felt. This team ensures every sound inside and outside the vehicle is intentional, recognizable, and aligned with brand character. This role shapes how GM’s brands feel and communicate at an emotional auditory level. The right leader will elevate sonic identity into a defining strength for GM’s digital future. As the Sonic Experience Group Manager, you’ll lead the team responsible for GM’s entire auditory identity. Your team will shape brand-specific chimes, UX feedback cues, haptic tones, interior soundscapes, and exterior EV/AV audio signatures. You’ll define sonic characteristics that differentiate each GM brand, partnering closely with Identity, Motion, Product teams, and engineering to ensure auditory experiences enhance clarity, emotion, and safety. You’ll also support the creation of audio for storytelling, leadership decks, and vision videos. The culture here is experimental, collaborative, and rooted in craft. Designers on this team bring a blend of musicality, technical precision, and product intuition. They care deeply about how sound influences behavior, emotion, and brand perception. We’re looking for a leader who values exploration as much as rigor, who can guide designers through complex sound design challenges, and who understands the strategic role sound plays in a multi-modal identity system. This is not a maintenance or marketing role; it’s a leadership position shaping how GM’s brands express themselves in every interaction a driver sees and feels. The right leader will understand this is a long-term responsibility with a lasting impact on GM’s future.

Requirements

10+ years of professional experience in Sound Design and or UX Design
A portfolio of work that showcases your ability to tell stories through your craft. You must be able to create in addition to leading the team, lead by example.
Self-starter with strong autonomy. You’re comfortable identifying problem areas, tackling them independently, and sharing your findings. You create clarity rather than waiting for it to be provided.
Deep understanding of human interface design best practices. You can iterate quickly, form a clear design point of view, and navigate cross-functional feedback.
You can sell sound, you can craft a narrative, you are highly descriptive to communicate and convey why one sound execution works over another. You are willed to champion a design and can back it up with clear discernible examples, not opinions.
Strong design sensibility, passion for brand, love for cars. You love the process of design but understand the best brand and UX results utilize restraint and balance.
High comfort level with technical complexity. You pick up new terminology quickly and have experience working with engineers, product managers, and other partners to understand requirements and functionality.

Nice To Haves

3+ years of professional experience as a people leader of a team
Examples of global sound executions and how and why they differ
Sound systems, principles and rules established and launched as guidelines
Experience designing content for non-traditional interfaces (e.g., automotive, voice, or wearable devices)

Responsibilities

Build and Curate the Sonic Team Scale, onboard, mentor and grow this team into a trusted team of experts instilling repeatable, achievable and successful practices.
Sound Design You are craftsman of the sonic vocabulary that emotes how GM vehicles sound as digital products and physical machines at rest and in motion.
UX Sound Strategy Articulate, Craft and own the UX sound strategy side by side with your team.
GM Sound Design All UI and system-level vehicle audio.
Brand-Specific Sonic Characteristics Tone, texture, palette, and emotional identity for each brand.
Chimes + UX Audio Alerts, confirmations, error states, actuations, interactions, artificial intelligence, assistance etc.
Exterior Vehicle Sounds Pedestrian alerts, compliance sounds, propulsion signatures.
Pedestrian Sounds Regulatory and brand-aligned audible cues for EVs.
Autonomous Vehicle Sounds Communication, anticipation, navigation feedback.
Interior Cabin Sounds Ambient audio, UI soundscapes, feedback audio, feature audio.
Support for Video Creation Mixes, soundscapes, audio cues, environmental sound design for leadership or storytelling.