System Safety Engineer - Onboard SW Safety

About the role

The Waymo Safety team is seeking a Safety Engineer to lead cross-functional efforts in safety analysis, risk assessment, requirement definition, and mitigation strategy development. This role requires strong technical project management skills, proficiency in safety engineering, and experience with systems engineering principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional efforts to perform safety analyses and identify potential hazards and their causes
• Audit safety risks qualitatively and quantitatively
• Support the definition of safety requirements and inform design decisions
• Propose mitigations and support verification strategies
• Participate in software and product design and readiness reviews
• Guide the adoption and adaptation of relevant safety standards and industry best practices
• Evaluate the continued effectiveness of implemented risk control strategies
• Identify new hazards and provide guidance on their mitigation
• Lead in defining, implementing, and improving relevant System Safety processes
• Integrate the System Safety methodology with other methodologies within the Waymo safety framework

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields
• 7+ years of relevant safety engineering work experience, including 5 years of System Safety engineering
• Strong technical project management skills
• Proficiency in selecting and performing appropriate inductive/deductive safety analyses
• Experience with Systems Engineering principles, including defining SMART safety mitigations and collaboration on verification and validation methods
• Experience in risk management and aligning risk-based decisions with stakeholders
• Experience writing code and performing unit tests in C, C++, and Python
• Experience conducting safety analysis and risk assessments on SAE L3+ Perception and Behavior/Planner software

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Electrical/Mechatronics/Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields

Skills

• Expertise in safety engineering and risk management
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

Benefits

Waymo offers a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retail Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (statutory, where applicable); 5 days/event (discretionary)
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year