Sr Sound Designer

Description
Work Arrangement: This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Sunnyvale, CA, Austin, TX, or Warren, MI three times per week, at minimum, or other frequency dictated by the business.
The Role
We are seeking a highly creative and technically skilled Sound/ Audio Designer to join our team at General Motors. This role will focus on developing and integrating innovative sound experiences across our portfolio of vehicles and brands. You will balance user needs, technical constraints, and product objectives to solve problems effectively, creating world-class multimodal user experiences. You will also participate in design-related forums and meetings, contributing to Global Brand Strategy boards for all GM Brands. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in sound creation and production, coupled with expertise in classical music, music theory, or musical history. Join us in shaping the future of sound and audio experiences in vehicles at General Motors!
What You'll Do

• Develop an advanced sound strategy for the GM portfolio, collaborating with leadership to convert brand identities into musical language and frequency.
• Collaborate with Advanced Design, UX/UI teams, and the Noise & Vibration (N&V) center to create a comprehensive Sound Journey Map for vehicle audio. Integrate audio considerations into all areas of vehicle design and development.
• Design AI-based conversational and multimodal experiences, advocating for usability and user-centered design principles. Leverage usability testing, various research methodologies, and user stories to contribute to requirements.
• Utilize expertise in sound creation/production tools (Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Matlab) to craft compelling audio experiences for all GM brands.
• Promote conversation design best practice standards, reusable interactional patterns, and processes. Document design requirements, including sample dialogs, conversational flow diagrams, prototypes, and multimodal flows to communicate convey voice and haptic interactions and design ideas that leverage AI.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders to understand priorities, collaborate on actions to implement product and service solutions, and ensure a connected end-to-end user experience.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications):

• 5+ years of experience creating conversational design or automotive audio experiences.
• Formal education in classical music, music theory, musical history, or commensurate work experience.
• Proficient in common design tools (e.g.Figma, VoiceFlow, ProtoPie, etc).
• Proven experience in sound design and production, with a portfolio demonstrating expertise, craft, aesthetics, research, and depth of thought.
• Demonstrated experience with creating interactive prototypes for multimodal experiences (voice, sound, visuals, touch, chat, etc).
• Previous experience designing for Generative or Agentive AI-powered experiences (prompt engineering/prompt chaining). Basic understanding of machine learning & natural language processing (NLP) fundamentals.
• Skilled in creative problem-solving, effective communication, and maintaining meticulous attention to detail while working independently in a dynamic production environment.

What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Advanced understanding of Conversational AI Technologies, foundational elements of Conversation Design and LLMs.
• Proven demonstration of excellence in storytelling to executive audiences and cross-functional stakeholder groups. Ability to communicate technical concepts verbally and in writing to non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated subject matter expertise in research and testing for conversational experiences.
• A portfolio that showcases subject matter expertise and ability to flexible support sound design, user experience design, and multimodal experiences.

Sponsorship: GM DOES NOT PROVIDE IMMIGRATION-RELATED SPONSORSHIP FOR THIS ROLE. DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS ROLE IF YOU WILL NEED GM IMMIGRATION SPONSORSHIP (e.g., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT, etc.) NOW OR IN THE FUTURE.
About GM
Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.
Why Join Us
We believe we all must make a choice every day - individually and collectively - to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.
Total Rewards | Benefits Overview
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Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)
General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.
All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws.
We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.
Accommodations
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