Senior Automotive Embedded Software Developer – Embedded C / ECU
ALTEN Technology USA · Detroit
We’re ALTEN Technology USA, an engineering company helping clients bring groundbreaking ideas to life—from advancing space exploration and life-saving medical devices to building autonomous electric vehicles. With 3,000+ experts across North America, we partner with leading companies in aerospace, medical devices, robotics, automotive, commercial vehicles, EVs, rail, and more.
As part of the global ALTEN Group—57,000+ engineers in 30 countries—we deliver across the entire product development cycle, from consulting to full project outsourcing.
When you join ALTEN Technology USA, you’ll collaborate on some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges, supported by mentorship, career growth opportunities, and comprehensive benefits. We take pride in fostering a culture where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow.
Job Overview
We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Automotive Embedded Software Developer with strong hands-on expertise in Embedded C programming and automotive ECU/controller development. The ideal candidate will have experience owning the complete automotive software development V-cycle, from requirements analysis and software architecture through coding, code reviews, unit testing, integration, verification, validation, and production release.
The role focuses on developing embedded software for automotive electronic control units and mechatronic systems, including applications such as airbag systems, Battery Management Systems (BMS), Body Control Modules (BCM), seating controllers, actuator control, and motor control systems.
The successful candidate must demonstrate strong technical ownership across the software development lifecycle, including requirements engineering, software design, implementation, debugging, testing, and release. Experience providing technical guidance, conducting code reviews, and mentoring other developers is also expected.
This is a hands-on development position for an engineer who can independently drive embedded software development activities while collaborating with systems, hardware, validation, and customer engineering teams.
Work Arrangement: Full-time, onsite
Key Responsibilities
Requirements Analysis and Software Architecture
- Analyze and interpret customer, system, and software requirements for automotive ECU/controller applications.
- Develop software architecture, software requirements, detailed design specifications, and interface documentation.
- Maintain requirements traceability throughout the software development lifecycle.
- Translate system-level requirements into implementable software requirements and design solutions.
- Participate in software architecture reviews, design reviews, and technical discussions.
- Identify technical risks, dependencies, and design constraints early in the development process.
Embedded Software Development
- Design, develop, and maintain automotive embedded software using Embedded C.
- Implement low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, middleware, and application-layer software.
- Develop software for automotive ECUs, controllers, sensors, actuators, and motor control applications.
- Write efficient, reliable, and maintainable code that meets performance, memory, and real-time requirements.
- Perform debugging, root-cause analysis, and software optimization at the source-code and controller level.
- Follow established automotive coding standards, software design practices, and development guidelines.
Full V-Cycle Software Development
- Own and contribute to the complete automotive embedded software development V-cycle, from requirements definition through software release.
- Develop and review software architecture and detailed design in alignment with system requirements.
- Perform coding, static analysis, code reviews, and unit-level verification.
- Support software integration, hardware-software integration, and system-level verification activities.
- Develop and execute unit tests and support integration, qualification, and validation testing.
- Analyze test failures, identify software defects, and implement corrective actions.
- Maintain traceability between requirements, design, implementation, and verification results.
- Support software baselining, configuration management, build processes, and production releases.
Automotive ECU and Controller Development
- Develop embedded software for automotive electronic control units and controller-based systems.
- Work with communication protocols such as CAN and LIN.
- Collaborate with hardware and systems teams to understand controller interfaces, peripheral drivers, and system behavior.
- Support software development for applications such as airbag controllers, BMS, BCM, seating systems, actuator control, and motor control.
- Ensure software meets functional, performance, reliability, and quality requirements.
Technical Leadership and Mentoring
- Provide technical guidance to software developers and support design and implementation decisions.
- Conduct code reviews and promote coding quality, software reuse, and maintainability.
- Mentor junior engineers on Embedded C, software architecture, debugging, and development processes.
- Communicate technical issues, risks, progress, and solutions to cross-functional teams and customers.
- Take ownership of technical deliverables and drive issue resolution independently.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Production Support
- Collaborate with Systems, Hardware, Mechanical, Validation, Manufacturing, and Quality teams.
- Participate in technical reviews, customer discussions, and program milestone meetings.
- Support software releases, production launches, and issue resolution during product development.
- Ensure deliverables meet program timing, quality, and customer requirements.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- 10+ years of hands-on automotive embedded software development experience.
- Strong and demonstrable Embedded C programming expertise.
- Direct experience developing software for automotive ECUs or embedded controllers.
- Proven experience across the complete software development V-cycle, from requirements analysis and architecture through coding, reviews, testing, and release.
- Experience developing low-level drivers, middleware, and application-layer software.
- Strong understanding of software architecture, detailed design, and requirements traceability.
- Experience with CAN and LIN automotive communication protocols.
- Experience with unit testing, software integration, debugging, and root-cause analysis.
- Experience with software build, release, and configuration management processes.
- Experience participating in code reviews and mentoring or providing technical guidance to other engineers.
- Experience supporting automotive OEM or Tier 1 supplier development programs.
- Strong problem-solving, communication, and technical documentation skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with automotive controller applications such as Airbag ECU, BMS, BCM, Seat ECU, actuator control, or motor control.
- Experience with Codebeamer, IBM DOORS, or Polarion.
- Experience with IAR Embedded Workbench or similar embedded development environments.
- Knowledge of RTOS and real-time embedded systems.
- Familiarity with ISO 26262 Functional Safety, Automotive SPICE (ASPICE), and automotive software development processes.
- Knowledge of APQP and automotive product development methodologies.
- Experience with hardware-software interfaces and mechatronic systems.
- Experience working with Tier 1 automotive suppliers and supporting OEM customer programs.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a hands-on automotive embedded software developer who combines strong Embedded C programming skills with ECU/controller development experience and ownership of the full software development lifecycle.
Candidates should demonstrate practical experience in requirements analysis, architecture, detailed design, coding, code reviews, debugging, verification, and release, along with the ability to guide other developers.
Candidates primarily focused on validation, testing, integration, infotainment, audio, navigation, or mobile application development are not the target profile unless they also have substantial hands-on Embedded C development and full V-cycle ownership experience.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy.
Please beware of job seeker scams and see this important notice on our careers page for more information about our recruiting process.
Compliance Notice: Alten USA is a federal contractor subject to the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) and Executive Order 11246. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
Drug Screening Requirement: As a federal contractor, Alten USA maintains a drug-free workplace. All candidates selected for employment will be required to successfully complete a pre-employment drug screening as a condition of hire.
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