Staff Software Engineer - Automation Tools

General Motors•Austin, TX

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

GM is looking to hire a skilled and motivated Automation Tools Engineer to join our team and help shape the future of digital vehicle experiences. In this role, the engineer will play a critical part in designing and developing robust automation tools and platforms that empower our quality engineering and development teams to deliver high-performance, reliable, and innovative automotive software. As an Automation Tools Engineer, you will be responsible for translating complex technical and user requirements into scalable software solutions. The engineer's work will span software architecture, development, and validation—including unit testing, integration testing, and automation framework implementation. This engineer will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to enhance testing capabilities, streamline workflows, and drive the adoption of automation across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or master's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
8+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with a strong emphasis on building and scaling automation tools and frameworks.
Minimum 7 years of experience in an automotive or consumer electronics embedded product development organization
Proven expertise in designing, developing, and maintaining complex automation systems and infrastructure across large-scale, distributed environments.
Deep understanding of coding standards, software architecture principles, and secure development practices.
Hands-on experience with API design and development, including RESTful and event-driven architectures.
Proficient in object-oriented programming (OOP) using languages such as Python, Java, and JavaScript, with full-stack development experience across frontend and backend systems.
Strong working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and automation tooling (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI), with the ability to design and optimize end-to-end delivery workflows.
Deep expertise in static code analysis and linting tools such as Pylint, PEP8, and Ruff, with a strong focus on enforcing coding standards, identifying potential bugs, and improving code quality and maintainability across large codebases.
Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes; familiarity with deploying and managing workloads in cloud-native environments is a plus.
Demonstrated ability to solve complex, ambiguous problems through analytical thinking and strong system design skills.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills; able to collaborate effectively across engineering, product, and operations teams, and influence technical direction across teams.
Experience with software-to-device communication protocols (e.g., MQTT, BLE, USB, serial) and integration with embedded or edge systems is highly desirable.
Track record of mentoring engineers, leading technical initiatives, and driving cross-team alignment on automation and tooling strategies.

Nice To Haves

10+ years of experience in Quality Engineering, with a strong emphasis on building scalable automation solutions.
In-depth knowledge of Linux operating systems, including proficiency with command-line tools and shell scripting for system-level tasks and automation.
Extensive hands-on experience with automation testing tools, frameworks, and methodologies, with a focus on improving test coverage, reliability, and execution speed.
Proficient in scripting and programming languages such as Python, Bash, or similar, used for automation, tool development, and integration.
Strong understanding of CI/CD practices and tooling (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI), with the ability to integrate test automation into modern DevOps workflows.
Familiarity with containerization and orchestration technologies, including Docker and Kubernetes, and their application in automated test environments and deployments.
Exceptional analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a track record of diagnosing complex issues in distributed systems or test environments.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across engineering, QA, and DevOps teams.
Demonstrated success in leading technical initiatives and delivering robust software projects using a wide range of tools, languages, and frameworks across the software development lifecycle.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain automation tools and frameworks to support continuous integration, testing, and deployment of applications and security components.
Implement scalable automation solutions to streamline software development, security testing, and infrastructure operations.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather automation requirements and integrate tools into development and SDLC workflows.
Build custom scripts and tools for security validation, compliance checks, and vulnerability scanning within automated pipelines.
Monitor and optimize automation performance, identify bottlenecks, and enhance reliability and maintainability of automation systems.
Contribute to toolchain selection and integration, evaluating open-source and commercial tools for suitability and scalability.
Maintain detailed documentation of tools, automation workflows, and technical standards to ensure maintainability and team knowledge sharing.
Support the onboarding and mentoring of engineers in using automation tools effectively, and advocate for best practices in automation engineering
Work as technical mentor to deliver the training and guidance required to develop a highly capable tools team
Provide technical representation for the tools organization in cross-functional project teams
Support program and project management activities including estimation, planning, tracking, performance metric development and status reporting.
Own and drive key initiatives across team and organization