Role Summary

The Module Leader - Vehicle Electronics is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on system-level investigation, ECU integration, embedded systems triage, and vehicle electronics validation. The role owns the technical diagnosis of complex vehicle electrical/electronic issues across ECUs, sensors, communication networks, and embedded software interfaces. The emphasis is on depth of investigation, structured fault isolation, signal-level analysis, validation evidence, and robust closure of system integration issues across bench, HIL, and vehicle environments.

Role Focus / Positioning

Primary Technical Focus	Expected Outcomes
System investigation & triage	Rapid fault isolation, evidence-based root cause direction, and clear issue containment/next-step recommendations.
ECU integration & embedded system interfaces	Stable integration across hardware, software, diagnostics, calibration, and network communication layers.
Vehicle architecture & signal behaviour	Validated understanding of ECU interactions, signal routing, communication matrices, sensor inputs, and feature-level dependencies.
Validation, HIL & vehicle debugging	Repeatable defect reproduction, test evidence, regression closure, and high-quality technical sign-off inputs.

Dimension of Function

• Lead system-level triage for complex vehicle electronics concerns across ECU, sensor, network, and embedded software boundaries.
• Own technical investigation plans, fault trees, diagnostic hypotheses, evidence capture, and issue closure logic.
• Integrate ECUs and electronic subsystems into vehicle platforms, ensuring interface compatibility, signal integrity, timing, diagnostics, and functional behaviour.
• Analyse vehicle architecture, communication networks, wiring/sensor interfaces, and ECU-to-ECU dependencies to identify root cause paths.
• Coordinate with feature owners, software, hardware, diagnostics, calibration, validation, HIL, and supplier engineering teams to drive technical resolution.
• Provide technical leadership for validation readiness, defect reproduction, test coverage, and sign-off evidence rather than project-management ownership.

Key Contacts

• Vehicle Electronics / EE Architecture Leads and System Architects
• ECU Owners, Embedded Software Engineers, Hardware Engineers and Diagnostics Engineers
• Feature Owners, Calibration Engineers, Network / Communication Matrix Owners
• Validation, HIL, Bench Test and Vehicle Test Teams
• OEM Engineering Teams, Tier-1 Suppliers and Manufacturing / Service Diagnostics Teams
• Functional Safety, Cybersecurity and Compliance Stakeholders as required for issue impact assessment

Areas of Responsibility

1. System-Level Investigation & Technical Triage

• Lead structured investigation of vehicle electronics issues from symptom definition through fault isolation, evidence review, root cause direction and technical closure.
• Create fault trees, triage logic, test hypotheses and data capture plans for intermittent, cross-domain, or integration-related issues.
• Analyse DTCs, freeze-frame data, network traces, logs, sensor readings, oscilloscope captures and test evidence to determine probable failure mechanisms.
• Drive technical triage forums focused on defect reproduction, signal paths, ECU behaviour, embedded software interaction, and validation gaps.

2. ECU Integration & Embedded Systems

• Lead ECU integration across hardware, embedded software, diagnostics, calibration, communication networks and vehicle feature interfaces.
• Review ECU requirements, interface specifications, signal lists, software configuration, calibration dependencies and integration assumptions.
• Support embedded controller debugging including boot-up behaviour, flashing, diagnostics sessions, state machines, timing issues, error handling and reset conditions.
• Work with suppliers and internal engineering teams to resolve ECU-level integration issues and ensure robust release maturity.

3. Vehicle Architecture, Networks & Signal Analysis

• Interpret vehicle EE architecture, network topology, gateway interactions, wiring/sensor interfaces and ECU-to-ECU communication dependencies.
• Perform signal analysis across CAN, CAN-FD, LIN, Ethernet and other relevant vehicle networks using trace tools and communication matrices.
• Validate signal availability, timing, scaling, timeout behaviour, plausibility checks, diagnostic responses and feature-level dependencies.
• Identify interface mismatches, missing signals, incorrect parameterisation, network timing concerns and system integration failure modes.

4. Sensor, Electronics Debugging & Diagnostics

• Debug sensor/electronics issues including input conditioning, power/ground integrity, wiring behaviour, actuator feedback, tolerance conditions and environmental sensitivity.
• Use schematics, pinouts, wiring diagrams, ECU I/O maps, diagnostic routines and measurement plans to support root cause analysis.
• Support diagnostics development and validation including UDS services, DTC logic, DID routines, fault monitoring, service procedures and end-of-line considerations.
• Collaborate with hardware and software teams to distinguish electrical faults, embedded software defects, calibration issues and system interaction concerns.

5. Validation, HIL, Bench & Vehicle Testing

• Define and review validation approaches for ECU integration, feature-level behaviour, diagnostics, network communication and system robustness.
• Use HIL, bench rigs, breakout boxes and vehicle testing to reproduce concerns, capture evidence, confirm fixes and support regression closure.
• Review test cases, coverage gaps, HIL model assumptions, stimulus/response behaviour, acceptance criteria and validation reports.
• Ensure technical sign-off is supported by objective evidence, traceability to requirements and clear closure rationale.

6. Technical Governance & Issue Closure

• Maintain clear technical issue records including symptom, impact, reproduction steps, evidence, fault hypothesis, owner, containment, resolution and validation status.
• Escalate technical blockers with concise engineering rationale, evidence packs, risk statements and recommended next actions.
• Support FMEA, FMEDA, functional safety impact assessment and cybersecurity impact review where system behaviour or diagnostic coverage is affected.
• Promote reusable investigation templates, lessons learned and diagnostic knowledge to improve future triage efficiency.

Tools & Technical Environment

• Network and diagnostics: Vector CANoe, CANalyzer, CANape or equivalent; UDS diagnostics; CAN, CAN-FD, LIN and Automotive Ethernet analysis.
• HIL / bench: dSPACE ControlDesk, ETAS, NI or equivalent HIL/bench platforms; breakout boxes, measurement equipment and vehicle test instrumentation.
• Embedded and calibration: flashing tools, bootloader/diagnostic sessions, calibration data review, INCA or equivalent measurement/calibration environment.
• Data analysis and automation: Python, CAPL, MATLAB/Simulink or equivalent scripting for trace processing, evidence extraction and repeatable investigation workflows.
• Engineering artefacts: system requirements, ECU specifications, communication matrices, signal lists, wiring diagrams, schematics, DTC definitions and validation reports.

Knowledge / Experience

Education

• Degree in Electrical, Electronics, Embedded Systems, Automotive Engineering, Computer Engineering or equivalent practical experience.

Experience

• Strong hands-on experience in automotive electronics, ECU integration, embedded systems debugging and system-level issue triage.
• Practical experience with vehicle architecture, ECU communication, signal analysis, diagnostics and sensor/electronics fault investigation.
• Experience using HIL, bench and vehicle environments to reproduce defects, validate fixes and generate technical sign-off evidence.
• Working knowledge of automotive communication protocols, diagnostics, embedded controller behaviour and feature-level system integration.
• Experience working with OEM engineering teams, Tier-1 suppliers, software, hardware, validation and diagnostics teams to resolve technical issues.
• Awareness of ISO 26262, ISO 21434, ASPICE and OEM engineering standards as they apply to ECU integration, validation and issue closure.

Core Competencies

Competency	What Good Looks Like
Technical depth	Able to move from high-level symptom to signal, ECU, embedded software, sensor or interface-level root cause direction.
Triage discipline	Uses structured hypotheses, evidence packs, fault trees and repeatable test methods to avoid assumption-led conclusions.
Systems thinking	Understands cross-ECU dependencies, feature interactions, timing, diagnostics, network behaviour and vehicle architecture impact.
Hands-on validation mindset	Comfortable in HIL, bench and vehicle environments, with strong focus on reproduction, measurement and evidence.
Communication	Explains complex technical issues clearly to engineering, supplier and leadership audiences with concise next-step recommendations.

Role Success Measures

• Complex system issues are triaged with clear evidence, root cause direction, ownership and closure path.
• ECU integration concerns are resolved with minimal recurrence through robust validation and regression evidence.
• Signal, network, diagnostics and sensor behaviours are verified against requirements and architecture expectations.
• HIL/bench/vehicle test evidence is complete, traceable and suitable for technical sign-off decisions.
• Technical discussions are focused on engineering facts, data and decision quality rather than broad project-management tracking.