Senior Virtual Cloud Engineer

Brief Role Description

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 <20 miles from work location.

Compensation Data

Silicon Valley area salary range: $165,000 - $195,000 annually. This represents the anticipated compensation range for this position at the time of posting. Compensation will be determined based on several factors including, but not limited to, candidate qualifications, skills, experience, education, certifications, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, eligible employees may participate in incentive compensation programs and receive a comprehensive benefits package.

In addition to base pay, this position may be eligible for additional compensation, including bonus, where applicable. Eligible employees may also receive a comprehensive benefits package, which may include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement savings plans, paid time off, employee assistance programs, and other benefits, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements.

Competencies