Principal Engineer - Embedded Software

Job Description Summary

Become part of a winning team and help to deliver the Green Energy transition.

The Principal Embedded Software Engineer is a global technical authority for the Conventional Protection and Control (CPAC) product lines within GE Vernova's Grid Automation Business.

This role is responsible for defining technical standards, acting as a Design Authority for critical decisions, and driving improvements in embedded software quality.

The primary objective is to systematically reduce design-related defects by enhancing architecture, design rigor, review effectiveness, and engineering practices across globally distributed teams.

Job Description

Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership & Governance:

• Define, maintain, and enforce embedded software technical standards, design rules, and best practices.
• Act as Design Authority for critical design decisions and formal technical review signoffs.
• Chair and lead key milestone delivery design reviews.
• Investigate and resolve critical and recurring design-related issues discovered during development or in deployed products.

• Lead system-level embedded software architecture.
• Guide hardware / software partitioning and interface definition.
• Evaluate new technologies and methods to improve software quality and reliability.

• Lead the embedded software quality improvement strategy to reduce design-related defects.
• Drive improvements in architectural robustness, design methodologies, process and documentation, code structure and modularity, and interface definitions and error handling strategies.
• Define and promote effective design review practices focused on early defect detection.
• Champion preventive measures such as checklists, static analysis, and architectural validation.
• Ensure lessons learned from field issues are institutionalised across all product lines.

• Lead investigation and resolution of critical and recurring design-related issues discovered during development or in deployed products.
• Perform deep root-cause analysis across software, hardware, and systems.
• Drive corrective and preventive actions and verify their effectiveness.
• Act as escalation point for complex, cross-site technical issues.

• Bachelor's Degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics) from an accredited college or university
• Extensively demonstrated years of experience in embedded software development in industrial or regulated environments.
• Expert proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems.
• Deep experience with RTOS and/or embedded Linux architectures.
• Demonstrated success in reducing design-related defects through improved architecture and engineering practices.
• Adavanced experience defining and enforcing technical standards and design rules.
• Proven ability to lead technical reviews and act as a Design Authority.
• Advanced debugging and root-cause analysis skills across HW/SW boundaries.
• Excellent communication skills in a global, matrixed organization.

• Experience with functional safety and industrial standards, knowledge on IEC 61850, IEEE 1588 and/or SCADA, networking protocols (IEC 62439-3)
• Familiarity with static analysis and software quality metrics.
• Experience analysing field failure data and driving systemic corrective actions.
• Background in industrial automation, energy, or mission-critical applications.
• Experience working on teams that use the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) development methodology

• Measurable reduction in design-related defects found during development and after deployment.
• Fewer late-stage architectural changes and field escalations.
• Significant, consistent design practices adopted across global teams.
• Improved first-pass success in formal technical reviews.

• Senior individual contributor with enterprise-wide technical influence.
• Acts as Design Authority and quality champion, not a line manager.
• Balances deep technical expertise with governance and continuous improvement leadership.
• Operates across multiple products and global development sites.