General Motors is hiring thousands as it pushes to bring more than 20 new electric vehicles to U.S. roads by 2023.

The automaker will hire 3,000 engineers, designers and technology specialists between now and the end of the first quarter, and most of those people can work remotely, opening up the talent pool across the nation.

“We have a lot of flexibility on where we can draw talent from,” said Ken Morris, GM’s vice president of autonomous and electric vehicle programs. “We’re going to look for the best talent we can get and work around whatever situations there are to get that talent.”

GM has said it envisions a future of zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion, which it will achieve through electric and autonomous vehicles. To that end, GM considers 18 months the timeline to develop each electric vehicle, meaning to go that fast simultaneously will require more people.

“We’re moving as fast as we can in developing vehicles virtually. You can see how fast we’re bringing the Hummer EV to market,” Morris said, referring to the GMC Hummer electric pickup due out at the end of next year.

GM expects a shift in demand for electric vehicles in the near future and wants to be a leader.

“We’re anticipating there is going to be an inflection point and we want to be ready because it’s a very competitive market,” Morris said. “If we miss that opportunity, it’s tough to catch up.”

Enterprise-wide hiring

For the first time ever, GM will be offering more remote jobs in this wave of hiring, Morris said.

He said recent innovations in virtual development technology made by GM’s engineering team have allowed GM to speed up the product timelines of upcoming EVs while keeping costs low and working remotely.

GM white-collar workers have been working remotely since March 13 because of the coronavirus pandemic and Morris said it has been effective.

“That opens up the hiring possibilities for people intrigued with General Motors because they believe in zero emissions, zero congestion and zero crashes,” Morris said. “They can hire-in while living in Florida if they want to, and stay there. We can get the best people and they can live where they want to live.”