Staff Hardware Engineer- UWB/BLE Digital Key

GM • Mountain View, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Digital Key enables customers to use their phones and other devices to securely access and start their vehicles. These experiences rely on advanced Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near-Field Communication (NFC) technologies that must perform reliably in challenging automotive environments alongside Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and GNSS systems. As a Staff Hardware Engineer- UWB/BLE Digital Key Hardware , you will help architect, design, and validate the Wireless hardware that makes secure, precise Digital Key experiences possible for millions of vehicles and customers worldwide. You will work at the intersection of hardware, RF systems, security, and vehicle access, and you will collaborate with teams across GM and with leading silicon and module vendors. You will be a Staff Wireless Hardware Engineer focused on UWB and BLE subsystems used for Digital Key, including UWB/BLE anchors and Digital Key controllers. You will split your time between system-level architecture and requirements and hands-on lab work, including bring-up, RF measurements, coexistence testing, and debug. You will partner closely with Vehicle Access and Digital Key, Connectivity, Cybersecurity, Antenna, Validation, Manufacturing, and suppliers to deliver robust solutions that can be reused across programs and platforms.

Requirements

• 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.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience delivering Digital Key or similar access systems that leverage UWB, BLE, and NFC in automotive or consumer products.
• Familiarity with CCC Digital Key specifications and broader industry trends in digital vehicle access and secure ranging, including standards such as IEEE 802.15.4z and draft 802.15.4ab for UWB ranging and NFC standards like ISO/IEC 14443 , ISO/IEC 15693 , and ISO/IEC 18092 (or equivalent regional variants).
• Awareness of cybersecurity and privacy considerations for UWB, BLE and NFC systems used for secure vehicle access.
• Experience with antenna design and placement for UWB, BLE and NFC in vehicle contexts, including roof mounted modules and door or trunk areas.
• Proficiency with RF test equipment and at least one scripting language such as Python for test automation and data analysis.
• Contributions to patents, standards, or technical publications in UWB, NBA, NFC, or short-range wireless hardware design.

Responsibilities

• 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.
• Short Range Coexistence Leadership 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.
• CCC Digital Key, Security, and System Alignment 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.
• Execution, Documentation, and Mentorship 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.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees