ECU Lead Architect - Automotive Platforms

Location: Auburn Hills, MI

Job Type: Full-Time

We are seeking an experienced ECU Lead Architect to serve as the technical authority for the end-to-end definition, integration, and governance of complex automotive Electronic Control Units (ECUs), including High Performance Computers (HPCs), Zonal Control Units (ZCUs), Domain Controllers, and other next-generation vehicle computing platforms
.

The ECU Lead Architect will translate vehicle and system-level requirements into a cohesive ECU architecture spanning hardware, software, functional safety, cybersecurity, networking, diagnostics, and performance
.

This role will work closely with cross-functional engineering teams, program leadership, and suppliers to ensure architectural consistency, technical feasibility, requirements traceability, and successful product delivery.

• Analyze and consolidate functional, safety, cybersecurity, performance, regulatory, and non-functional requirements allocated to the ECU.
• Establish and maintain the ECU technical baseline and ensure bidirectional traceability across requirements, architecture, implementation, verification, and release deliverables.
• Define, maintain, and govern ECU hardware, software, safety, cybersecurity, communication, diagnostics, and deployment architectures
  .
• Define ECU resource allocation strategies covering processors, memory, communication networks, power management, I/O, and system resources.
• Own the ECU pinout architecture and ensure consistency across hardware, software, sensors, actuators, network connectivity, and vehicle integration requirements.
• Allocate functional, safety, cybersecurity, performance, and non-functional requirements between hardware and software domains.
• Derive and maintain hardware/software functional requirements, safety requirements, and cybersecurity requirements.
• Define and manage hardware/software interfaces, communication interfaces, signal ownership, and ECU state-management concepts such as power modes, startup, shutdown, and wake-up.
• Develop architectural solutions supporting ISO 26262 Functional Safety and ISO/SAE 21434 Cybersecurity Engineering requirements.
• Provide technical leadership and support for FMEA activities, including Hardware FMEA, Software FMEA, and safety mechanism analysis.
• Define ECU-level verification strategies, performance targets, startup-time requirements, timing requirements, resource-utilization targets, and component test strategies.
• Own the collection, maintenance, and configuration management of sensor, actuator, and external device datasheets.
• Lead architecture reviews, technical reviews, design reviews, trade-off studies, and technical risk assessments across engineering disciplines.
• Ensure architecture and technical deliverables remain aligned with program quality and industrialization milestones, including APQP, PPAP, PCIEE
  , and product development governance.
• Provide engineering leadership with visibility into architecture maturity, technical risks, open issues, dependencies, and mitigation plans.
• Serve as the primary technical interface between internal engineering teams, vehicle/system teams, and external suppliers.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Embedded Systems, Software Engineering
  , or a related technical discipline.
• Significant experience in automotive ECU, system, hardware, or software architecture for complex embedded systems.
• Demonstrated experience delivering High Performance Computers (HPCs), Zonal Controllers, Domain Controllers
  , or other safety-critical automotive computing platforms.
• Strong understanding of modern vehicle E/E architectures, Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) concepts, centralized computing, and zonal architectures
  .
• Deep knowledge of embedded hardware platforms, microcontrollers, SoCs, multicore architectures, operating systems, and middleware.
• Strong knowledge of AUTOSAR Classic and/or AUTOSAR Adaptive
  , automotive diagnostics, networking, and service-oriented architectures.
• Experience with requirements engineering, requirements allocation, architecture modeling, system decomposition, and traceability.
• Strong understanding of ISO 26262 Functional Safety and ISO/SAE 21434 Cybersecurity Engineering
  .
• Experience with FMEA, safety analysis, architectural trade-off studies, and technical risk assessments.
• Strong knowledge of automotive communication technologies, including:
• CAN / CAN-FD
• LIN
• Automotive Ethernet
• SOME/IP
• DoIP
• Familiarity with ASPICE, APQP, PPAP, PCIEE
  , and automotive product development processes.
• Experience with requirements and lifecycle management tools such as DOORS NG, Polarion, Jama, Jira, Git
  , or equivalent tools.
• Strong technical leadership, problem-solving, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work effectively across hardware, software, systems, safety, cybersecurity, validation, manufacturing, and supplier organizations.

• Experience with…