Staff Hardware Engineer - ECU Requirements & Specifications

GM•Warren, MI

About The Position

The Staff Hardware Engineer serves as a technical authority for ECU hardware requirements and specifications within General Motors’ Compute & Connectivity Hardware organization. The role leads development, management, configuration, and continuous improvement of ECU hardware requirements, low-level software definitions, and Component Technical Requirements Specifications (CTRS) across GM’s vehicle portfolio. It supports build-to-spec and build-to-print ECU designs across varied vehicle and electrical architectures, including electrification and electric-vehicle applications. This level-8 individual contributor provides technical leadership without direct people-management responsibility. The engineer leads complex technical projects, sets direction, aligns dependent organizations, resolves system interactions, mentors engineers, and influences decisions through technical rigor and clear communication. The work advances standardized, reusable, traceable requirements and supports downstream verification and validation, sourcing, manufacturing, remanufacturing, and service programming. The role also contributes to modernizing requirements practices through DOORS Next-Gen and other structured tools, automation, and AI. It spans collaboration with hardware, software, vehicle, electrical architecture, diagnostics, safety, sourcing, manufacturing, suppliers, and external engineering organizations. Success involves creating technical clarity across the ECU requirements portfolio, enabling common and traceable CTRSs, improving requirements-to-verification links, and helping teams make timely, well-informed decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or a related engineering discipline.
At least 7 years of engineering experience in product development, technical requirements, specifications, embedded controls, or a related technical discipline.
Demonstrated leadership of complex technical programs or initiatives, including influencing outcomes without direct authority.
Practical experience with structured requirements-management tools such as DOORS, DOORS Next-Gen, Jama, or Polarion.
Ability to manage complex requirements across multiple CTRS use cases while maintaining commonality, reuse, alignment, configuration control, and portfolio traceability.
Strong competency in writing, interpreting, and reviewing ECU hardware technical requirements and translating complex technical content into clear decisions and actionable outcomes.
Strong oral communication, teamwork, and cross-functional collaboration skills, including presenting technical requirements and aligning stakeholders.
Strong understanding of automotive embedded control systems, including ECU hardware, low-level software interfaces, diagnostics, failure modes, and electrical or mechatronic architectures.
Knowledge of microcontrollers, memory technologies, and vehicle serial communications such as Ethernet, CAN, LIN, SENT, and SERDES.
Knowledge of semiconductor physics, structures, fundamentals, models, and failure mechanisms.
Knowledge of GM product-development cycles, automotive product-release processes, and technical specification practices.
Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical content into clear decisions and actions.
Results-driven, proactive approach to solving problems involving complex system interactions.
Ability to provide technical leadership, collaboration, and mentorship across diverse engineering teams.
Demonstrated commitment to safe, reliable, high-quality vehicle systems.

Nice To Haves

At least 10 years of relevant engineering experience in product development, technical requirements, specifications, embedded controls, or related technical disciplines.
Master of Science degree in Engineering or a related field.
Experience developing ECU circuit-level requirements and supporting product development, analysis, validation, or design changes for safety-critical systems.
Deep knowledge of safety-critical embedded controls and experience with an automotive subsystem or another complex safety system.
Experience applying functional-safety standards such as ISO 26262, IEC 61508, IEC 62304, or DO-178C to hardware and low-level software requirements.
Experience with electric-vehicle electrical/electronic architectures, including high-voltage propulsion, battery-management, charging, or control systems.
Experience configuring, adapting, or customizing DOORS or DOORS Next-Gen to support consistent requirements management and deployment.
Experience developing robust, maintainable C-language prototypes for hardware I/O and low-level software implementations.
DFSS Black Belt Certification.
Familiarity with ECU safety analysis methods and tools, including DFMEA, FMEDA, FTA, FIT-rate analysis, or related reliability and failure-analysis techniques.
Experience with automation, artificial intelligence, data-driven analysis, or competitive benchmarking applied to engineering requirements and documentation processes.

Responsibilities

Lead development, maintenance, and configuration management of ECU hardware electrical and functional interface requirements, including interactions with vehicle electronic and mechatronic devices and low-level software.
Establish technical direction for embedded-controller requirements across vehicle and electrical/controller architecture, infrastructure software, low-level software, diagnostics, hardware design, safety, and product design release stakeholders.
Drive standardization of input/output interfaces and promote component commonization and reuse across ECU hardware designs and the CTRS portfolio.
Lead requirements reviews, design-flow execution, change-control activities, and technical approval discussions.
Provide technical leadership for CTRS compilation and build activities supporting product-team sourcing, build-to-print implementation, and post-sourcing design changes.
Establish and improve traceability between internal and external CTRS requirements and downstream verification and validation activities.
Identify requirements and design gaps across GM and external engineering implementations, and drive ECU, sub-component, and circuit-level corrective actions.
Lead or support migration, deployment, and continuous improvement of ECU hardware requirements in DOORS Next-Gen and other structured requirements-management environments.
Support requirements and specifications for ECU manufacturing, remanufacturing, and plant/service programming implementations.
Apply systems thinking to interactions among ECU hardware, low-level software, diagnostics, communications, mechatronics, vehicle systems, and electrical architectures.
Provide technical leadership for semiconductor and microprocessor functional-safety activities, including requirements aligned to safety-manual use cases and safety-critical embedded-control applications.
Contribute to ECU circuit-level requirements and safety-related activities, including interpreting failure modes and integrating safety considerations into technical requirements.
Champion continuous improvement through new technologies, automation, artificial intelligence, competitive benchmarking, and improved requirements-documentation methods.
Lead cross-functional technical forums and complex projects; resolve ambiguity, mediate competing stakeholder needs, and communicate recommendations to technical and leadership audiences.
Mentor engineers and promote technical excellence, accountability, innovation, and disciplined execution across diverse and global teams.