Staff Systems Engineer - Operational Readiness and Field Safety

Accountabilities

• Lead field safety activities by establishing escalation processes, responding to fleet issues, and owning incident response procedures.
• Define and execute operational readiness testing for autonomous vehicle operations and develop the evidence required within the readiness framework.
• Partner with operations and software engineering teams to establish protocols for nominal and off-nominal scenarios, including severe weather, sensor degradation, connectivity failures, and trip interruptions.
• Establish ongoing field safety monitoring processes and help develop leading and lagging safety indicators, metrics, and supporting tools.
• Analyze operational trends and historical field events to identify systemic risks and drive safety improvements across development and operations.
• Support incident response training and operational preparedness programs in collaboration with operations teams.
• Contribute to regulatory engagement and industry discussions concerning autonomous vehicle operational safety and validation methodologies.
• Apply systems engineering practices to requirements, verification and validation, hazard analysis, and operational safety decisions.
• Cook up across technical teams to ensure safety risks, readiness criteria, and deployment considerations are clearly understood and addressed.
• Provide technical leadership on high-stakes engineering decisions, using sound judgment when information is incomplete or evolving.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline; an advanced degree is preferred.
• 7+ years of experience working with safety-critical systems, including development, validation, deployment, or operations.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering principles, including requirements decomposition, verification and validation processes, and hazard analysis methods such as HAZOP, FMEA, FTA, and STPA.
• Familiarity with relevant safety standards, including ISO 26262, ISO 21448/SOTIF, and UL 4600.
• Experience monitoring safety metrics and designing or executing test plans for complex autonomous, robotic, or other safety-critical systems.
• Excellent technical communication skills, with the ability to explain complex safety arguments clearly to engineering, operations, leadership, regulatory, and other stakeholders.
• Strong project management and coordination skills, with the ability to drive initiatives across multiple technical teams.
• Demonstrated ability to make and influence high-stakes engineering decisions in situations involving uncertainty or incomplete information.
• Experience with autonomous vehicle safety validation or deployment is highly desirable.
• Background in trucking, logistics, commercial vehicle operations, or operational safety management systems is a plus.
• Familiarity with autonomous vehicle regulatory frameworks, including FMVSS, SAE standards, and applicable state or provincial requirements, is advantageous.

Benefits

• Salary: $189,000–$242,000 USD annually for U.S. locations.
• Additional compensation may include discretionary equity incentive awards and an annual performance bonus.
• Competitive overall compensation and equity opportunities.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Health and wellness benefits.
• Unlimited vacation.
• Flexible working hours and work-from-home support.
• Daily drinks, snacks, and catered meals when working from an office.
• Regular team-building activities and social events.
• Opportunities to work on cutting-edge autonomous transportation and safety technology.
• A supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace environment.