Software Engineer Lead - Middleware Android AOSP; Kotlin; Embedded SW Development

Overview

Worldwide, the Volkswagen Group has a long tradition of dramatic innovations. The Volkswagen Group, headquartered 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.

This role combines high‑level technical leadership with hands‑on software architecture for automotive middleware. The Lead Software Engineer – Middleware will design, develop, and maintain communication middleware across embedded systems, integrate with AUTOSAR platforms, lead performance tuning, and oversee team management, budgeting, and cross‑domain collaboration.

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable and robust communication middleware for distributed embedded systems.
• Collaborate with systems engineers and application developers to define middleware interfaces and APIs.
• Lead middleware performance profiling, debugging, and tuning.
• Contribute to the development of communication frameworks that support inter‑process and inter‑device data exchange.
• Guide the integration of middleware into OS‑level services (e.g., Linux, real‑time operating systems).
• Oversee the development and product launch of functions and ECUs, coordinating with product, design, and contract manufacturers.
• Contribute to the hardware specification and design of electronic control units for automotive systems.
• Design and optimize communication stacks (e.g., SOME/IP, DDS, MQTT, gRPC, CAN, LIN, Ethernet AVB/TSN).
• Develop and maintain APIs and SDKs for internal and third‑party application integration.
• Lead the integration of middleware with AUTOSAR (Classic and Adaptive) platforms.
• Ensure compliance with ISO 26262, ASPICE, and cybersecurity standards (ISO/SAE 21434).
• Implement diagnostics and logging frameworks (UDS, DoIP, DLT).
• Drive performance benchmarking, memory optimisation, and latency reduction strategies.
• Collaborate with Dev Ops teams to enable CI/CD pipelines for embedded software using tools such as Jenkins, Yocto, Docker, and Bit Bake.
• Work with internal customers to understand and specify application requirements and deliverables.
• Work with component or chipset suppliers to select and support hardware and solutions.

• Strategically organize personnel around Embedded Software and Hardware core competencies.
• Coordinate the team and mentor junior engineers.
• Provide research, design, and engineering skill development opportunities for group members.
• Manage internal/external project budget and resources for the projects.

• Act as interface between VWAG Engineering teams and development partners for middleware development topics.
• Lead or participate in VWAG Engineering and development partner meetings, workshops and decision rounds related to middleware topics; bring escalation topics to VWAG management for timely attention and propose technical solutions.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to internal knowledge‑sharing initiatives.
• Represent middleware engineering in cross‑domain feature integration (e.g., infotainment, ADAS, telematics, V2X).
• Coordinate with cybersecurity teams to implement secure boot, secure communication, and key management protocols.

At the Innovation & Engineering Center California (IECC), we represent the Volkswagen Group in applied research and development. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, we create bold new ideas for the Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche brands. We’re a team of engineers, designers, scientists, and psychologists looking to develop innovations for future generations of cars and to transfer technologies from many industries and research institutions into the automotive domain.

The Software Engineer Lead – Middleware will be part of a core engineering team leading new product developments for VW Group. Responsibilities include design of embedded…