Hybrid Staff System Software Integration and Validation Engineer

at Ford Motor Company

• Job title: Staff System Software Integration and Validation Engineer
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Python
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Palo Alto, United States

About the role

• Staff System Software Integration and Validation Engineer ensuring quality and reliability of automotive systems at Ford. Designing, developing, and executing verification and validation activities.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain complex automotive system level test benches to validate automotive systems with a focus on automation.
• Develop comprehensive verification and validation plans for automotive software systems and features.
• Design and execute test cases and test scripts to verify system functionality, performance, and safety.
• Develop and implement automation scripts and tools to enhance testing efficiency and accuracy.
• Integrate hardware and software components to create reliable and scalable test environments.
• Lead debug of any issues encountered working with cross functional teams across the organization on identifying root cause, confirming fixes and providing guidance on how we can protect against future regressions
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including software developers, controls engineers, and systems engineers to define and implement V&V strategies.
• Continuously improve testing processes and tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Prepare and present detailed reports on verification activities and results to stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• 5+ years of experience in the automotive or relevant industry
• Strong understanding of automotive systems, embedded software, and control systems.
• Demonstrated experience with automotive testing instrumentation and tools.
• Proficiency in automotive communication protocols such as CAN, LIN, Ethernet, and FlexRay.
• Working knowledge of IDLs such as DBC, LDF, ARXML, and work with internal IDLs and frameworks.
• Experience with automotive or aerospace HIL test benches, particularly with dSPACE, Vector VT, or similar platforms
• Experience writing and executing automated and manual tests.
• Deep expertise in the EE architecture and integration of complex automotive systems, including interactions across multiple domains (e.g., body, powertrain, chassis, ADAS) and ECUs.
• Proven track record of collaborating with large, cross-functional teams across hardware, software, and systems engineering.
• Deep understanding of software development lifecycle and automotive testing methodologies.
• Experience in system-level debugging and root-cause analysis across software and hardware boundaries.
• Proficiency in understanding wiring and logical schematics, network diagram and harness drawings.
• Ability to define and drive system validation plan from concept to production.
• Familiarity with safety-critical software development and industry standards like ISO 26262.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as C/C++, Python, or MATLAB.
• Experience testing fully electric vehicles.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.