Autonomous Vehicle Test Engineer

Job Description

Position summary

• GM Level: 6A

• Proposed job-family alignment: Test and Validation Engineering

• Primary work location: GM Desert Proving Ground, Yuma, Arizona

• Travel: Approximately 10% as needed for training, team alignment, vehicle support, or other GM testing activities

• Career track: Individual contributor

General Motors is developing advanced driving-assistance and autonomous-vehicle capabilities that require safe, repeatable, and scalable validation. The AV Test Engineer will be the onsite technical lead for a focused closed-course testing operation at GM’s Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona.

This role will own day-to-day technical execution for a small assigned fleet of approximately two to three autonomous test vehicles. The engineer will plan and execute closed-course regression, feature, behavior, calibration, and other structured testing; coordinate limited operations personnel supporting the work; and ensure the vehicles, test setup, track activities, data, and results are ready to support engineering and program decisions.

Yuma is intentionally a lean operating environment. There will not be dedicated technicians or additional engineers permanently onsite to provide routine support. The successful candidate must be a self-starter who can operate independently, recognize and resolve common vehicle and AV-system issues, and know when to stop testing or escalate to remote engineering, Service Operations, Fleet Reliability Engineering, Vehicle Integration, or other partners. The role requires comfort moving between test planning, driving and observing closed-course scenarios, vehicle health checks, troubleshooting, data handling, and clear technical communication.

The position is especially important during the winter testing season, when Yuma provides a weather-resilient location to maintain closed-course testing capacity when conditions or schedule constraints limit testing elsewhere. The engineer will help make the local fleet and facility a dependable, repeatable testing capability rather than a temporary campaign location.

What you’ll do

Lead onsite closed-course testing

• Serve as the onsite technical lead for all assigned AV closed-course testing activities at Yuma, translating approved test requests and engineering objectives into executable plans, procedures, schedules, and resource requirements.

• Plan and execute repeatable software regression, feature and behavior validation, structured scenario, calibration, fault-response, and targeted data-collection tests.

• Coordinate daily test sequencing, track reservations, vehicle assignments, operating windows, safety reviews, and test readiness with remote AV Test Engineering and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Direct and brief limited operations personnel supporting test execution, including task assignments, vehicle preparation, track setup, lead-vehicle or target support, run sequencing, communications, and post-run closeout.

• Provide clear technical direction during test execution while maintaining the distinction between engineering ownership and operations execution responsibilities.

• Make timely onsite decisions about whether a test is ready to proceed, should be modified, should be repeated, or must be stopped and escalated based on vehicle condition, system behavior, track conditions, weather, data quality, or safety risk.

• Support extended or non-standard testing schedules when required by release timing, track availability, seasonal priorities, or campaign needs, consistent with site and safety requirements.

Own the assigned Yuma test fleet

• Act as the primary technical owner for approximately two to three assigned AV test vehicles, maintaining awareness of their configuration, software and calibration state, physical condition, instrumentation, data-recording readiness, and current availability.

• Perform or coordinate daily vehicle checkouts, pre-drive readiness checks, post-drive inspections, charging or fueling coordination, sensor and camera cleanliness checks, hard-drive or data-media handling, and other activities required to keep vehicles test-ready.

• Manage vehicle configuration and test preparation activities, including approved software or branch deployments, calibration updates, route or map selection, logging configuration, test tools, and required test assets.

• Maintain accurate vehicle status, mileage or test-hour records, configuration information, test history, open issues, and return-to-service decisions for the local fleet.

• Identify vehicle downtime risks early and develop practical containment, recovery, and escalation plans to protect testing availability.

• Coordinate parts, materials, shipping, facility resources, charging support, and remote technical assistance when onsite needs exceed available capability.

• Build and maintain a winter-readiness plan for the Yuma fleet, including vehicle availability, spare equipment, data-storage capacity, charging or fueling needs, test assets, operating procedures, and contingency plans.

Troubleshoot vehicle and AV-system issues

• Perform first-line technical triage for issues involving the AV software stack, vehicle compute, sensors, localization, calibration, connectivity, data recording, host-vehicle systems, vehicle networks, power or charging, and test infrastructure.

• Use vehicle symptoms, operator observations, system status, logs, drive data, diagnostic tools, and repeatable experiments to isolate likely causes and determine the next action.

• Reproduce issues when safe and practical, capture accurate timelines and evidence, and create actionable issue reports for remote engineering or support teams.

• Distinguish between issues that can be safely contained or corrected onsite and issues requiring vehicle removal from service, engineering review, formal change control, or additional safety assessment.

• Partner with Troubleforce, Service Operations, Fleet Reliability Engineering, Vehicle Integration, AV software and hardware teams, and other remote experts to drive issues toward resolution.

• Support controlled fault-injection or non-nominal testing when requested, ensuring that test intent, expected system response, safety controls, and data-labeling requirements are understood before execution.

• Develop practical troubleshooting guides, recovery procedures, checklists, and escalation paths that reduce dependence on ad hoc support and improve repeatability for future Yuma personnel.

Deliver high-quality test results and data

• Execute test procedures consistently and capture complete run information, including vehicle, software, calibration, map, track, scenario, operator, weather, and timing details.

• Evaluate AV behavior and system response against defined test objectives and acceptance criteria, distinguishing objective evidence from anecdotal observations.

• Capture and communicate pass, fail, blocked, incomplete, and inconclusive outcomes with enough context for engineering teams to act without repeating avoidable setup work.

• Ensure drive links, logs, hard drives or data media, notes, screenshots, issue references, and other required evidence are transferred or uploaded through approved workflows.

• Review test data for completeness, corruption, missing signals, unexpected configuration changes, or other conditions that could limit its usefulness.

• Publish concise test summaries and status updates to the appropriate engineering and operations forums, and maintain traceability in tools such as Jira, Confluence, Xray, Slack, and approved data or fleet-management systems.

• Provide timely feedback to remote software, systems, simulation, safety, and program teams so that test results support release decisions, feature refinement, and issue prioritization.

Establish a dependable Yuma operating model

• Help stand up and continuously improve the permanent Yuma closed-course testing capability, including roles, standard work, readiness gates, communications, operating rhythms, and handoffs with the broader AV Test Engineering and AV Operations organizations.

• Maintain a repeatable intake-to-execution workflow for local test requests, including request clarification, prioritization, planning, execution, results reporting, and issue follow-up.

• Create and maintain onsite documentation for vehicle checkout, test preparation, track use, safety controls, data handling, troubleshooting, emergency response, and end-of-day closeout.

• Coordinate with DPG Site Operations, Safety, Infrastructure, Mapping, security, and other facility partners to ensure the local operation meets site requirements and has the resources needed to execute safely.

• Track local performance indicators such as vehicle availability, test hours, completed runs, blocked runs, downtime, repeat failures, data-upload timeliness, issue aging, and test-request cycle time.

• Identify opportunities to increase usable testing hours, reduce avoidable setup and reset time, improve vehicle utilization, and shift repeatable work to appropriately trained operations personnel.

• Capture lessons learned from winter testing and other campaigns and convert them into improved test plans, asset requirements, procedures, and recommendations for future scaling.

Maintain a Safety First culture

• Follow all GM, DPG, AV Operations, AV Test Engineering, and applicable safety procedures and work controls.

• Verify that required personnel, training, vehicle qualifications, test equipment, track conditions, emergency support, communications, and approved procedures are in place before testing begins.

• Stop work and escalate when vehicle condition, system behavior, weather, track conditions, personnel readiness, facility conditions, or test setup creates unacceptable risk.

• Maintain the requirement that testing is conducted with appropriate onsite personnel and never rely on unsupported lone-person operations or unapproved after-hours activity.

• Support incident, near-miss, and abnormal-event documentation with accurate facts, timelines, evidence, and follow-up actions.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, automotive, systems, computer, robotics, aerospace engineering, computer science, or a related technical discipline.

• At least 3 years of relevant experience in autonomous vehicles, automotive engineering, robotics, aerospace, vehicle testing, systems integration, test engineering, or a related technical operations environment.

• Experience planning and executing vehicle, robotics, or other complex electro-mechanical system tests in a laboratory, proving-ground, field, or comparable operational environment.

• Experience troubleshooting software-enabled hardware systems using diagnostic information, logs, measurements, observations, and structured problem-solving methods.

• Ability to read and apply test procedures, requirements, acceptance criteria, operating instructions, and safety controls.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently, establish priorities, take initiative, and maintain ownership in an environment with limited onsite support.

• Ability to provide clear technical direction to operators, coordinators, contractors, or other support personnel during test execution without formal people-management responsibility.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including concise technical reporting, issue escalation, and remote collaboration across time zones and functions.

• Ability to work outdoors and in a proving-ground environment with exposure to heat, cold, dust, wind, sun, noise, vehicle traffic, and changing work conditions.

• Ability to perform hands-on vehicle readiness and troubleshooting activities, including inspecting vehicles, connecting or handling test equipment and data media, and moving through vehicle and track environments as required.

• Ability to work onsite at GM Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, and travel approximately 10% as needed.

• Valid driver’s license and ability to meet applicable GM driver-training, vehicle-qualification, site-access, and safety requirements for closed-course vehicle testing.

Preferred qualifications

• Direct experience testing autonomous vehicles, advanced driver-assistance systems, mobile robots, or other safety-critical autonomous systems.

• Experience with closed-course test execution, proving-ground operations, scripted scenario testing, release regression, feature validation, calibration support, or structured data collection.

• Experience owning a small test fleet or vehicle asset set, including vehicle readiness, configuration management, downtime recovery, maintenance coordination, and return-to-service decisions.

• Working knowledge of software-defined vehicle concepts, SDV 2.0 architecture, vehicle compute, electronic control units, over-the-air or branch-based software deployment, vehicle configuration, and software/hardware change management.

• Experience with automotive diagnostics, CAN or Ethernet-based vehicle networks, sensors, localization, calibration, time synchronization, data recording, connectivity, or AV system health monitoring.

• Familiarity with AV and vehicle tools such as Xray, INCA, Vehicle Spy, Notelogger, SC3 Debug App, Jumpstart, Launchpad, Starfleet, HAT, Drives, Webviz, Netradyne, Grafana, Looker, or comparable tools.

• Experience using Linux, command-line tools, Python, SQL, spreadsheets, or other methods to inspect logs, automate repetitive analysis, or improve test and fleet reporting.

• Experience directing small operational teams or contractors in a safety-critical, field, laboratory, proving-ground, or shift-based environment.

• Experience working at GM Desert Proving Ground, Yuma Proving Ground, Milford Proving Ground, or another proving ground with limited onsite technical support.

• Familiarity with formal issue-management, root-cause, change-control, safety-case, or corrective-action processes.

• Experience testing in variable weather, winter conditions, desert conditions, or other environments where facility and vehicle readiness directly affect test capacity.

Compensation: The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.   

• The salary range for this role is $135,420 to $165,000. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.  
• Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance. 
• 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.  

Benefits:  

• 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.  

Relocation: This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.  

Onsite: This role is based hybrid from Yuma, AZ. You are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum. 

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