Vehicle Controls Systems Engineer

Vehicle Controls Systems Engineer

Location: Foster City, CA 94404 (Onsite)
Contract: 12 Months (with potential extension or conversion)
Pay Rate: $68.20/hour (W2 only)
Industry: Automotive Technology / Autonomous Mobility

Note: No C2C (Corp-to-Corp) or 1099. No visa sponsorship. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States for the duration of the assignment.

Job Description

We are seeking a Fleet Support Engineer specializing in Vehicle Motion Control and Safety Controllers to support the reliability, performance, and uptime of advanced autonomous vehicle systems.

In this role, you will focus on safety-critical electronic control units (ECUs), including primary and backup motion-control systems, redundant controller architectures, and vehicle safe-stop functionality.

You will serve as a key technical resource for troubleshooting complex hardware, firmware, and communication issues, performing root cause analysis, and supporting vehicle system reliability. Working closely with engineering and fleet operations teams, you will help ensure that critical vehicle control systems function reliably, including during primary computing failures and backup controller transitions.

This is an excellent opportunity for an engineer with hands-on experience in embedded systems, automotive electronics, real-time controls, and safety-critical architectures.

Transferable experience with other hardware products in the Aerospace, Heavy Machine Manufacturing, Medical Devices, and other industries is also accepted.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical support for escalations involving primary and backup vehicle motion-control units, including controller faults, communication failures, unresponsive ECUs, and failed resets.
• Perform root cause analysis of hardware, firmware, and controller-related issues, implementing both immediate corrective actions and long-term solutions.
• Troubleshoot dual-processor motion-control architectures, backup controller takeover mechanisms, fail-operational behavior, and safe-stop (minimal-risk maneuver) functionality.
• Diagnose CAN network issues, CAN-to-Ethernet gateway communication, and bus errors affecting vehicle control systems.
• Troubleshoot command and feedback communication between primary computing systems, motion controllers, and downstream ECUs, including body, thermal, powertrain, and chassis controllers.
• Perform controller bring-up, component replacement verification, functional testing, and firmware alignment following repairs.
• Develop and maintain technical troubleshooting guides, diagnostic procedures, and documentation to support field technicians.
• Analyze fleet telemetry and large datasets to identify recurring system failures, recognize trends, and recommend preventive measures.
• Collaborate with engineering and operations teams to improve vehicle reliability and operational readiness.
• Provide occasional night and weekend support with advance notice and travel to other operational locations as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• At least 4 years of relevant experience in automotive, transportation, aerospace, autonomous vehicles, or other embedded control system environments.
• At least 3 years of experience in embedded firmware validation, controller testing, or related embedded systems engineering.
• Hands-on experience with embedded vehicle controllers, electronic control units (ECUs), and real-time control systems.
• Strong understanding of safety-critical architectures, including fail-safe/fail-operational systems, redundant controllers, state machines, and controller takeover logic.
• Experience troubleshooting CAN networks and automotive communication protocols, including CAN-to-Ethernet gateways and Unified Diagnostic Services (UDS).
• Familiarity with diagnostic tools such as Vector CANalyzer, CANoe, PCAN, or equivalent tools.
• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, wiring harness diagrams, and state machine diagrams.
• Experience with controller firmware validation, functional testing, and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) or Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) testing.
• Familiarity with Linux and Python for troubleshooting, scripting, and fleet-level data analysis.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and cross-functional communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting autonomous vehicle platforms or other safety-critical transportation systems.
• Experience developing test plans based on firmware requirements, system specifications, or state machines.
• Knowledge of physical sensor and actuator interfaces, controller arbitration, and redundant control strategies.
• Experience providing remote technical support for vehicle systems and field operations.
• Ability to investigate complex technical issues across multiple vehicle subsystems, from high-level system behavior down to individual components.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work onsite in Foster City, CA.
• Flexibility to provide occasional night and weekend support with advance notice.
• Willingness to travel occasionally to support operational needs.
• Possession of a valid driver's license and ability to meet applicable driving and Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) requirements.
• Successful completion of applicable background and driving record screenings, consistent with applicable laws.