Senior Functional Safety Engineer

Role overview A senior functional safety engineer is needed to define, analyze, validate, and continuously improve safety for a Level 4 autonomous trucking platform. The position bridges deep technical safety analysis with the practical demands of real-world freight operations, spanning autonomy software, vehicle hardware, fleet operations, and infrastructure systems. It is a high-impact individual contributor role that combines rigorous standards-based engineering with the pace and ambiguity of a startup environment.

Responsibilities - Lead system safety analysis across the full autonomous stack, covering perception, planning, prediction, localization, compute, sensors, communications, vehicle controls, fallback behavior, and operational processes - Develop and maintain safety artifacts such as hazard analyses, functional safety concepts, technical safety requirements, safety cases, risk assessments, fault trees, FMEAs, STPA studies, ODD assessments, and validation evidence - Translate hazards and operational risks into clear, testable requirements for engineering, validation, operations, and fleet teams, and ensure traceability from hazards through implementation to test coverage - Act as a functional safety lead working with tiered suppliers, distributed safety development partners, and integrators to coordinate safety case work products across the supply chain - Define and refine the Operational Design Domain, including routes, environmental constraints, traffic conditions, vehicle behavior boundaries, fallback strategies, and minimum-risk maneuvers - Evaluate the safety impact of new autonomy features, software releases, hardware changes, sensor configurations, procedures, and route expansions, and drive safety reviews for on-road testing, driverless readiness, commercial launch, and incident response - Define verification and validation strategies for safety-critical requirements across simulation, closed-course testing, structured road testing, shadow mode, and operational deployment - Contribute to safety governance, launch readiness criteria, change management, release approvals, and operational safety metrics

Requirements - Bachelor's degree in systems, electrical, mechanical, robotics, computer science, aerospace, automotive engineering, or a related technical field - 7+ years of experience in systems safety, functional safety, autonomous vehicles, robotics, aerospace, automotive, heavy vehicles, safety-critical software, or complex cyber-physical systems - Hands-on experience producing hazard analyses, safety cases, FMEA, fault trees, STPA, ODD definitions, or equivalent safety artifacts for safety-critical products - Working knowledge of ISO 26262 or comparable functional safety standards applied to autonomous or automated systems - Ability to operate in a fast-moving startup setting, balancing safety rigor, execution speed, and real-world deployment constraints

Nice to have - Background in autonomous trucks, commercial vehicles, AV operations, fleet operations, or on-road testing programs - Experience supporting driverless launch readiness, route readiness, ODD expansion, or commercial autonomous deployment - Familiarity with FMCSA, DOT, or other commercial vehicle safety regulations and heavy-duty vehicle systems - Proficiency with requirements and traceability tools such as JAMA, Polarion, DOORS, Confluence, or JIRA - Scripting ability in Python or SQL for log analysis, simulation results, disengagements, and safety metrics - Exposure to cybersecurity risk assessment, ISO 21434, UN ECE R155, or incident and emergency response planning - Advanced degree in engineering, robotics, or safety engineering