Director of Safety Engineering, Robotics & Autonomous Systems

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Safety Strategy & Leadership
• Define and own Field AI’s product safety vision, strategy, and roadmap
• Establish company-wide safety principles, policies, and governance for robotic systems
• Act as the executive point of contact for product safety decisions and risk acceptance
• Balance innovation speed with rigorous, risk-based safety practices
• Provide technical leadership on system-level safety for autonomous robotic platforms
• Guide safety approaches for:
• Autonomous navigation, perception, and planning
• Human–robot interaction in field environments
• Fault tolerance, degraded modes, and fail-safe behaviors
• Oversee safety treatment of AI/ML-driven components, including uncertainty and edge cases
• Review and approve safety architectures, concepts, and safety cases
• Partner with leaders across:
• Autonomy, perception, software, hardware, and systems engineering
• Field operations, deployment, and customer programs
• Influence product architecture and roadmap decisions through a safety lens
• Provide clear, actionable guidance to executives on safety risks, tradeoffs, and mitigations
• Own Field AI’s approach to safety standards, regulatory alignment, and compliance
• Guide interpretation and application of relevant standards (e.g., ISO 12100, IEC 61508, ISO 13849, ISO 10218)
• Lead engagements with customers, partners, regulators, and third-party assessors
• Ensure safety arguments are credible, defensible, and scalable across products
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-impact product safety team
• Define roles, responsibilities, and career growth paths for safety engineers
• Establish scalable safety processes that integrate naturally with engineering workflows
• Champion a strong safety culture without slowing execution
• Provide executive oversight for:
• Field deployment risk assessmentsIncident response, investigations, and corrective actions
• Define thresholds for risk acceptance and deployment readiness
• Ensure lessons learned from the field are systematically fed back into product design

Job requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Systems Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, or Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of experience in robotics, autonomous systems, product safety, or functional safety
• Proven experience leading system-level safety for complex electromechanical and software-driven products
• Track record of influencing architecture and product decisions at a senior level
• Deep understanding of real-world robotics deployment risks
• Strategic thinker with strong technical judgment
• Able to make and defend difficult safety decisions under uncertainty
• Credible with both executives and hands-on engineers
• Pragmatic, risk-based, and outcome-focused
• Passionate about deploying safe autonomy in the real world