Senior Virtual Cloud Engineer (MUST HAVE Android Cuttlefish and QEMU); automotive experience at Volkswagen Group

Job description

Worldwide, the Volkswagen Group has a long tradition of dramatic innovations. The Volkswagen Group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group comprises twelve brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN. Brief Role Description This is a HYBRID position in Belmont, CA. If you are not local to the Belmont area, you must be open to relocation to be considered. The Senior Virtual Cloud Engineer leads the creation and cloud deployment of a virtual Android Automotive (AAOS) infotainment ECU. The role entails designing a high-fidelity virtual representation of the head-unit software stack and hosting it in the cloud, enabling engineering teams across Volkswagen Group brands and regions to develop against it on demand, without the need for physical hardware. Virtualization and cloud delivery are central to the position: the engineer transforms a physical infotainment ECU into a scalable, globally accessible service and coordinates the brands, suppliers, platform providers, and partners — including the RV Tech (Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies) joint venture — required to deliver this capability. The position forms part of the worldwide connectivity technical team and interfaces with multiple stakeholders across the Volkswagen Group technical organization. The engineer investigates and contributes to the development of new architectures for connected systems targeted to the US market. Role Responsibilities Virtual ECU Architecture — Android Automotive – (35%) • Lead the virtualization strategy for the AAOS infotainment ECU, building configurable virtual devices on Android Cuttlefish and QEMU — together with the supporting stack of crosvm, KVM, virtio, and AVD/Android Emulator — that reproduce the production head-unit software stack and boot sequence. • Define hardware and HAL abstraction, virtio-backed virtual peripherals (display, audio, touch, GNSS, modem), and the timing and determinism controls required to maintain fidelity with physical hardware. • Model the in-vehicle environment on which the infotainment ECU depends — Automotive Ethernet, SOME/IP, and CAN — such that the virtual ECU behaves as it would within the vehicle. Cloud Platform & Global Access – (30%) • Lead the cloud platform that hosts virtual ECUs at scale — containerized and orchestrated with Docker and Kubernetes on AWS or Google Cloud — providing on-demand instances and remote access for distributed teams. • Integrate CI/CD pipelines such that software builds deploy onto cloud-hosted virtual ECUs automatically, and establish observability, artifact management, and capacity planning for the virtual-device fleet. Coordination & Technical Leadership – (20%) • Coordinate across Volkswagen Group brands, Tier 1/2 suppliers, platform providers, and the RV Tech joint venture to align virtual-ECU requirements and adoption, while leading technical discussions and negotiations. • Serve as the team’s principal point of technical reference for ECU virtualization and cloud delivery, mentoring engineers and establishing best practices. Validation Enablement – (15%) • Ensure the virtual platform supports software validation — communication bring-up (SOME/IP, DoIP, UDS), diagnostics, and automated test execution — enabling defects to be identified earlier than on HIL or in-vehicle. Qualification requirements Years of Relevant Experience - REQUIRED • 8–10+ years of software, cloud, or virtualization engineering, with deep hands-on experience building and operating virtual devices on Cuttlefish and QEMU, ideally for infotainment or connectivity functions at a vehicle manufacturer or supplier. Demonstrated experience leading platform efforts and coordinating across teams and partners. Education Required Desired • BS in Engineering • MS and/or PhD in Engineering Specialized Skills Required Desired • Extensive hands-on experience with Android Cuttlefish and QEMU, and the supporting virtualization stack (crosvm, KVM, virtio, AVD/Android Emulator), used to build and operate virtual devices. • A strong background in Android Automotive OS (AAOS) and/or Linux or QNX infotainment software stacks. • Proven cloud engineering at scale, encompassing Docker and Kubernetes, CI/CD, and a major cloud provider (AWS or Google Cloud), together with observability. • A working knowledge of in-vehicle connectivity (Automotive Ethernet/SOME/IP, CAN/CAN-FD, DoIP/UDS) sufficient to virtualize and validate it. • A demonstrated track record of leading technical efforts and coordinating across software, cloud, manufacturing, and supplier teams. • Proficiency in C/C++ and Python, with familiarity in Java. • Excellent communication, coordination, and negotiation skills. • Experience scaling Cuttlefish or QEMU virtual devices across Kubernetes-based farms with observability (OpenTelemetry, ELK/Grafana). • Contributions to AOSP or Cuttlefish, or experience extending QEMU/crosvm device models and ARM/aarch64 system emulation. • Qualcomm VSOC (Virtual System-on-Chip) experience — advantageous but not required. • Security validated within virtual environments (SecOC, TLS/mTLS). • Familiarity with the RV Tech SDV/zonal architecture and Volkswagen Group product requirements. • Familiarity with automotive validation and coverage tooling as a complement to the platform. #LI-CK1 Required General Skills and Work Flexibility Skills: • Analytical and conceptual thinking • Strategic and visionary mindset • Communication skills — interpersonal, presentation, and written • Integration — joining people, processes, and systems • Cross-functional leadership and negotiation Work Flexibility: Physical requirements, travel requirements, work schedule, etc. • Accommodation for working time-zone differences between international locations as needed. • Travel is estimated to be 10%. • Role requires flexibility in daily schedule, including early morning meetings with Europe and afternoons/evenings for the US West Coast or Asia. • Travel is expected regularly to local development teams and partners Compensation Data This position is located in Belmont, CA. The pay range for this location is $159,000 - $286,200. Competencies Act as an owner Be a pioneer Grow personally Live integrity & compliance Perform together Think ahead Volkswagen Group of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, and do not discriminate based on race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, color, gender identity/expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable laws. This role description is a guideline and does not create contractual rights between the Company and any of its applicants. The Company does not enter into any type of employment contract, implied or written, with its applicants regarding job security. This Organization participates in E-Verify. We maintain a drug free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

Requirements

Must-haves

Brief Role Description
This is a HYBRID position in Belmont, CA. If you are not local to the Belmont area, you must be open to relocation to be considered.
Role Responsibilities
Virtual ECU Architecture — Android Automotive – (35%)
Define hardware and HAL abstraction, virtio-backed virtual peripherals (display, audio, touch, GNSS, modem), and the timing and determinism controls required to maintain fidelity with physical hardware.
Model the in-vehicle environment on which the infotainment ECU depends — Automotive Ethernet, SOME/IP, and CAN — such that the virtual ECU behaves as it would within the vehicle.
Cloud Platform & Global Access – (30%)
Lead the cloud platform that hosts virtual ECUs at scale — containerized and orchestrated with Docker and Kubernetes on AWS or Google Cloud — providing on-demand instances and remote access for distributed teams.
Integrate CI/CD pipelines such that software builds deploy onto cloud-hosted virtual ECUs automatically, and establish observability, artifact management, and capacity planning for the virtual-device fleet.
Coordination & Technical Leadership – (20%)
Coordinate across Volkswagen Group brands, Tier 1/2 suppliers, platform providers, and the RV Tech joint venture to align virtual-ECU requirements and adoption, while leading technical discussions and negotiations.
Serve as the team’s principal point of technical reference for ECU virtualization and cloud delivery, mentoring engineers and establishing best practices.

Nice-to-haves

BS in Engineering
MS and/or PhD in Engineering
Specialized Skills
Extensive hands-on experience with Android Cuttlefish and QEMU, and the supporting virtualization stack (crosvm, KVM, virtio, AVD/Android Emulator), used to build and operate virtual devices.
A strong background in Android Automotive OS (AAOS) and/or Linux or QNX infotainment software stacks.
Proven cloud engineering at scale, encompassing Docker and Kubernetes, CI/CD, and a major cloud provider (AWS or Google Cloud), together with observability.
A working knowledge of in-vehicle connectivity (Automotive Ethernet/SOME/IP, CAN/CAN-FD, DoIP/UDS) sufficient to virtualize and validate it.
A demonstrated track record of leading technical efforts and coordinating across software, cloud, manufacturing, and supplier teams.
Proficiency in C/C++ and Python, with familiarity in Java.
Excellent communication, coordination, and negotiation skills.
Experience scaling Cuttlefish or QEMU virtual devices across Kubernetes-based farms with observability (OpenTelemetry, ELK/Grafana).
Contributions to AOSP or Cuttlefish, or experience extending QEMU/crosvm device models and ARM/aarch64 system emulation.

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

dockerkubernetesawsci/cdpythonjava

Platform: successfactors
Effort: medium

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Vision