Staff AV Safety Engineer - Human Factors (GPSSC)

GM•Warren, MI

11d•Remote

About The Position

The Staff AV Safety Engineer, Human Factors, provides technical leadership to ensure human factors concepts are studied, analyzed, and implemented throughout the design, development, validation, deployment, and operation of General Motors’ automated driving systems. The role serves as a technical expert on interactions between automated driving systems, vehicles, and drivers or safety operators, translating assessment of human performance, error, workload, attention, comprehension, trust, misuse, and automation limitations into safety requirements, design guidance, research plans, operational controls, and safety-case evidence. The position works across safety, systems engineering, human factors, design and user experience, product, legal and regulatory teams, and external research organizations. It contributes to GM’s SAFE-ADS department within the Global Product Safety, System, and Certification organization, whose mission is to help deliver trusted automated driving products. The role is remote, though candidates who live within a specified radius of a GM hub may be expected to report there three times per week or at another frequency determined by their manager. Travel is less than 25%. Relocation benefits are available to candidates who qualify under company policy. A company vehicle evaluation program may be available after successful motor vehicle report review; participants generally must purchase or lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years, subject to limited exceptions. The salary range is $160,200–$246,300, with actual pay dependent on relevant factors, including geography. An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company, job-level, and individual performance. GM offers health and wellbeing benefits, retirement savings, paid vacation and holidays, tuition assistance, employee assistance, vehicle discounts, and other programs. GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Factors, Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field.
10+ years of experience applying human factors engineering principles to safety-critical transportation systems, such as automotive, aviation, or marine systems.
Demonstrated experience analyzing human interactions with complex automation systems.
Demonstrated expertise leading or contributing to structured hazard analysis, such as STPA, FTA, or FMECA.
Experience translating human factors findings into safety requirements, design recommendations, operational controls, training guidance, or validation criteria.
Experience planning, reviewing, executing, or interpreting human factors research or human-in-the-loop studies.
Ability to analyze operational events, incidents, near misses, or operator performance to identify human-error causal factors using event data, video, telemetry, or anecdotal evidence.
Strong technical writing, presentation, facilitation, and cross-functional communication skills, including the ability to frame ambiguous problems, provide clear technical rationale, and defend decisions.
Proven ability to build stakeholder trust and confidence and influence broad areas of the organization.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in Human Factors, Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field.
Experience in the automated vehicle industry.
Experience working with research institutions, external vendors, or multidisciplinary academic and engineering teams.
Experience with functional safety, SOTIF, operational safety, safety management systems, safety cases, and other safety standards or frameworks.
Familiarity with requirements tools such as JAMA or DOORS.

Responsibilities

Serve as a recognized human factors safety expert, advance development and best practices, influence AV safety strategy, and turn complex issues into actionable recommendations.
Lead or support cross-functional hazard analyses of features and components, considering driver-automation interaction, operator performance, human error, mode confusion, and loss of situational awareness.
Derive traceable safety requirements, mitigations, validation activities, and operational controls from human factors hazard assessments.
Provide safety technical direction for HMI features and components, including mode management, visual and non-visual alerts, escalations, driver monitoring systems, and driver displays.
Evaluate whether automated-system interactions support appropriate understanding, attention, decision-making, response, and recovery under normal, degraded, and failure-related conditions.
Define research questions and execution strategies independently, select methods and evaluation criteria, and translate study results into safety requirements and best practices.
Integrate research, field and test-vehicle data, incident reviews, operator feedback, and industry evidence into benchmarks, performance thresholds, safety recommendations, and validation needs.
Lead structured human factors analysis of incidents, safety events, operational deviations, and emerging concerns to identify human-error causal factors and improve system design, procedures, training, or other controls.
Provide human factors input to operator training, qualification, fatigue management, and performance-monitoring programs.
Own or contribute to human factors safety-case claims and evidence; identify gaps, assess change impacts, and support closure through reviews, audits, launch-readiness activities, and assurance forums.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision benefit options.
Health Savings Account and 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.
Incentive pay program based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.
Relocation benefits for candidates who qualify under company policy.
Potential eligibility for a company vehicle evaluation program, subject to motor vehicle report review and program requirements.