Freelance Surface Pattern Designer Jobs in Michigan

Why join us?

At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We're turning today's impossible into tomorrow's standard - from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features. Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.

The Role

As a Staff Product Manager for GM's next-generation in-vehicle experience (IVX), you will play a dual role:

First, you will act as a platform product leader for core elements of the shared in-vehicle experience - helping define the product direction, requirements, and evolution of system-level UI capabilities used across vehicle programs.

Second, you willrepresentthe end-to-end in-vehicle experience in partnership with vehicle programs, ensuring the hardware and digital experience come together as one integrated product customers canimmediatelyunderstand, trust, and value.

The role is accountable not only for defining shared platform capabilities, but also for ensuring those capabilities come together within vehicle programs as a cohesive customer product across hardware, software, and cabin experience.

This is not a pure portfolio strategy role, and it is not a narrowfeaturePM role. It is a senior individual contributor role for a product manager who canoperateat the platform level while also working across real vehicle programs to ensure the full experience is coherent, intentional, and executable.

You will report to the Director of Product Management and work closely with Design, Engineering, Program Management, and vehicle teams across GM.

WhatYou'llDo

Platform Product Leadership - Core System UI & Shared Experience Foundations

• Own and shape product direction for key shared elements of GM's in-vehicle experience platform.

• Define and evolve product requirements for core system UI capabilities, interaction patterns, and cross-surface experiences that span multiple displays and input modalities.

• Partner closely with platform PM, design, and engineering counterparts to ensure shared foundations are scalable, usable, and flexible enough to support multiple vehicle programs and brand expressions.

• Help drive clarity on what should be standardized at the platform level versus where intentional variation is required by vehicle, segment, or brand.

• Contribute to the long-term experience architecture for the digital cockpit, including how information, controls, system behaviors, and customer touchpoints work together across the vehicle.

Vehicle Program Integration - Cohesive End-to-End Experience

• Represent the in-vehicle experience in partnership with vehicle programs to ensure the hardware and digital product come together cohesively.

• Work across vehicle programs and segments to translate shared platform capabilities into complete customer experiences that feel integrated across screens, controls, cabin architecture, and key moments of use.

• Ensure product decisions account for the full customer experience, not just what appears on screen - including the relationship between display layout, physical controls, cabin context, and driver or passenger expectations.

• Partner with vehicle teams toidentifywhere program-specific needs should inform platform evolution, and where platform consistency should be preserved.

• Connect platform strategy to a compelling vehicle experience.

Execution & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as aproductDRI across your scope, driving alignment and execution with Design, Engineering, Program Management, and vehicle stakeholders.

• Represent product decisions in leadership reviews, design reviews, and cross-functional working sessions.

• Work within GM's vehicle development cadence, aligning product requirements, experience decisions, design maturity, and software milestones with program timing.

• Identifyand manage risks acrossplatform, software, hardware, and vehicle dependencies.

• Balance tradeoffs across customer value, brand expression, technical feasibility, regulatory requirements, and delivery timing.

Customer Insight & Product Strategy

• Use customer research, market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and product intuition to shape the in-vehicle experience strategy.

• Help define what great looks like for future in-vehicle experiences across areas such as personalization, voice interaction, driver-assistanceUX, system intelligence, and display experiences.

• Represent the voice of the customer in cross-functional forums while grounding decisions in real constraints and platform realities.

• When data is incomplete, define learning plans through research, experiments, and instrumentation to improve decision quality over time.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

Core Product Management

• 7-10+ years of product management experience leading large-scale, complex software or connected products such as consumer electronics, mobile OS, smart TV, IoT, automotive HMI, or wearable platforms.

• Proven ability to own a product domain end to end, from vision and strategy through execution, launch, and iteration.

• Experienceoperatingacross the full PM stack: product vision, roadmap, requirements, prioritization, decision-making, and delivery.

• Strong judgment in balancing near-term execution with long-termplatformand product strategy.

Platform & Multi-Surface Experience

• 4-6+ years working on platform-level or multi-surface products spanning multiple displays, form factors, device types, or interaction surfaces.

• Strong understanding of how system UI frameworks, interaction models, and design systems enable consistent experiences across diverse hardware.

• Comfort withhardware-softwareintegration tradeoffs, including display constraints,renderingperformance, input modalities such as touch, voice, and physical controls, and responsive or adaptive layout challenges.

• Experience helping define system behaviors, information architecture, content hierarchy, notifications, or shared UX patterns at scale.

End-to-End Experience Integration

• Demonstrated ability to connect platform capabilities to complete customer experiences rather thanoptimizingonly isolated features.

• Experience working across software, hardware, design, and delivery teams to bring integrated products tomarket.

• Ability to evaluate product decisions in context - considering the relationship between interface behavior, physical environment, customer expectations, and business intent.

• Track recordof bringing clarity to ambiguous product spaces and aligning multiple stakeholdersarounda cohesive direction.

Execution & Delivery

• 5-7+ years leading cross-functional delivery across engineering, design, program management, and operations in complex environments.

• Track recordshipping multi-surface or multi-product experiences from concept through launch and post-launch iteration.

• Ability to navigate cross-team dependencies and drive alignment acrossplatform, software, and product stakeholders.

• Skilled at resolving ambiguity through structured problem framing, crisp requirements, and clear tradeoff discussions.

Customer Focus & Communication

• 4-6+ yearsleveragingcustomer research, market analysis, and competitive intelligence to inform product strategy and prioritization.

• Demonstrated ability to synthesize qualitative and quantitative insights into clear product direction and toestablishmeasurementwhere it does not yet exist.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to craft clear, persuasive narratives for executive and cross-functional audiences.

• A hands-on, high-accountability mindset with a strong instinct to collaborate deeply and raise the bar for product quality and PM craft.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience in automotive, consumer electronics, mobile OS, smart home, TV, or connected device ecosystems.

• Familiarity with Android-based system platforms such as AOSP or Android Automotive OS, or similar embedded OS environments.

• Experience with premium or design-led products where quality, craft, and brand expression matter.

• Background in driverassistancesystems, autonomous driving UX, personalization, or intelligent system experiences.

• MBA or advanced technical degree such as Computer Science, Engineering, or HCI.

• Demonstrated ability to influence product practices beyond your immediate scope through mentoring, shared standards, or cross-team leadership.