ECU Lead Architect

The ECU Lead Architect is responsible for the end-to-end definition, integration, and governance of complex automotive ECUs, including High Performance Computers (HPCs), Zonal Control Units (ZCUs), and Domain Controllers. This role defines and maintains hardware, software, safety, cybersecurity, network, and performance architectures while coordinating across engineering disciplines and supplier teams.

Responsibilities

• Analyze and consolidate functional, safety, cybersecurity, performance, and regulatory requirements.
• Establish and maintain the ECU technical baseline and bidirectional requirements traceability.
• Define and govern ECU hardware, software, safety, cybersecurity, communication, diagnostics, and deployment architectures.
• Define ECU resource allocation for processors, memory, communication networks, power management, and I/O.
• Own ECU pinout architecture and ensure consistency across hardware, software, sensors, actuators, networks, and vehicle integration.
• Allocate functional, safety, cybersecurity, performance, and non-functional requirements between hardware and software.
• Derive and maintain hardware/software functional, safety, and cybersecurity requirements.
• Define hardware/software interfaces, communication interfaces, and signal ownership.
• Define ECU state-management concepts, including power modes, startup/shutdown, wake-up, degraded modes, fault handling, and 12V management.
• Define architectures supporting ISO 26262 Functional Safety and ISO/SAE 21434 Cybersecurity compliance.
• Provide technical support for FMEA, including Hardware FMEA, Software FMEA, and Safety Mechanism Analysis.
• Define ECU-level verification strategies and performance targets.
• Define component and performance test strategies and support verification and validation activities.
• Maintain sensor, actuator, and external device datasheets in coordination with DREs and hardware teams.
• Lead technical, architecture, design, and risk assessment reviews.
• Coordinate technical convergence across Hardware, Software, Safety, Cybersecurity, Network, Validation, Quality, and Vehicle Integration teams.
• Ensure alignment with APQP, PPAP, PCIEE, and product development milestones.
• Provide visibility into architecture maturity, technical risks, open issues, and mitigation plans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Embedded Systems, Software Engineering, or related field.
• Significant experience in automotive ECU, system, hardware, or software architecture.
• Experience with HPC, Zonal Controllers, Domain Controllers, or safety-critical automotive platforms.
• Strong understanding of vehicle E/E architectures, SDV concepts, centralized computing, and zonal architectures.
• Knowledge of embedded hardware platforms, microcontrollers, SoCs, multicore architectures, operating systems, and middleware.
• Strong knowledge of AUTOSAR Classic and/or Adaptive, diagnostics, networking, and service-oriented architectures.
• Experience with requirements engineering, requirements allocation, architecture modeling, and system decomposition.
• Understanding of ISO 26262 and ISO/SAE 21434.
• Experience with FMEA, safety analysis, architectural trade-off studies, and technical risk assessments.
• Strong knowledge of CAN, CAN-FD, LIN, Automotive Ethernet, SOME/IP, and DoIP.
• Familiarity with ASPICE, APQP, PPAP, PCIEE, and automotive product development processes.
• Experience with DOORS NG, Polarion, Jama, Jira, Git, or equivalent tools.
• Strong technical leadership, problem-solving, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Professional proficiency in written and spoken English.