Safety Lead

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Program Management: Recruit, mentor, and manage a multidisciplinary systems and safety engineering team.
• Safety Case Leadership: Author, evolve, and defend the end-to-end safety case framework (leveraging UL 4600, ISO 26262, and ISO 21448 / SOTIF) to support commercial deployment, public road operations, and regulatory…
• AI & Machine Learning Safety Strategy: Define and implement safety and verification methodologies tailored for advanced AI and ML-based autonomy models (e.g., perception, prediction, planning) using ISO/PAS 8800.
• Systems Safety Architecture & Requirements: Define system-level safety requirements, hazard mitigations, functional safety concepts, and fail-operational/degradation paths across hardware, compute, and software stacks.
• Comprehensive Risk Management: Oversee formal risk identification methodologies—including Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA), FMEA, FTA, and System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)—ensuring risk traceability…
• Safety Governance & Operational Oversight: Direct daily safety program operations, chair safety review boards, establish incident response protocols, define system release gate criteria, and continuously monitor…
• Engineering & V&V Integration: Partner with hardware, software, and V&V teams to validate safety arguments through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, closed-course testing, and high-fidelity simulation.
• Regulatory & External Representation: Lead technical engagement with regulatory agencies (NHTSA, California DMV, DOT), standard committees, and third-party auditors.

Job requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in systems safety engineering for safety-critical domains (autonomous vehicles, automotive, or aerospace).
• 4+ years of direct engineering management experience leading teams, managing budget/resources, and directing day-to-day engineering operations.
• Proven experience acting as a primary interface to customers or external stakeholders, translating complex safety concepts, risk frameworks, and safety programs into clear executive communications.
• Proven ability to operate, adapt, and drive technical outcomes in a fast-paced frontier technology environment.
• Demonstrated track record building, delivering, and defending an end-to-end safety case for deployed autonomous or robotic systems.
• Deep mastery of functional safety standards: ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), and UL 4600.
• Practical experience applying AI/ML safety frameworks (specifically ISO/PAS 8800) to probabilistic systems.