The job, in the employer's words
About the team
Our team owns the safety assurance argument for our autonomous vehicles — the structured case that says, with evidence, that our vehicles are safe to operate in their intended environment. We translate the work of engineering, safety, and operations teams into a coherent argument assessed against UL 4600 and aligned standards, and we carry that argument through the phase gates that govern how far we deploy: from operator-supervised driving toward fully driverless operation. Our output is what a third-party assessor reviews and what leadership relies on to make deployment-readiness decisions across the locations where we operate.
About the role
We are looking for a Safety Case Lead who will own the structure, content, and maturity of our safety case. You will architect the top-level safety argument, decompose it into claims and the evidence required to support them, and drive those claims from first draft to assessor-approved. The work is part systems thinking — building an argument that holds together across vehicle safety, operational, cybersecurity, and organizational dimensions — and part disciplined execution: tracking hundreds of claims and evidence items to a defensible state, on a schedule set by real phase-gate assessments. You will be the person who can stand in front of a third-party assessor and defend why the argument is sufficient, and the person who knows exactly where the gaps are before they do. This role is foundational; much of the safety case work depends on it being owned.
What you'll do
- Own the top-level safety case: the goal that vehicles are safe to operate, decomposed into pillars, claims, claim criteria, and supporting evidence.
- Architect the argument against UL 4600 or ISO 5083 and aligned standards (ISO 26262, ISO 21448/SOTIF, ISO 8800, AVSC best practices), mapping claims to the clauses they satisfy.
- Define what evidence each claim requires, and drive claims through the pipeline from identified to approved.
- Coordinate evidence production across engineering, safety, and operations pillars; resolve cross-pillar dependencies and surface epistemic defeaters before an assessor does.
- Prepare for and shepherd third-party safety case assessments at each phase gate (Vehicle operator to Driverless Operation).
- Own safety case traceability and tooling in Jama and YouTrack or other approved tools; keep evidence owned, current, controlled, and approved.
- Define and report metrics for safety case maturity and gate readiness to engineering and leadership.
What you'll need
- 8+ years in systems, functional safety, or safety assurance engineering, including direct ownership of or substantial contribution to a safety case or assurance argument for a safety-critical system.
- Working knowledge of UL 4600 and/or functional safety standards (ISO 26262, ISO 21448/SOTIF, or aerospace equivalents such as ARP4754A and DO-178C).
- Familiarity with Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) or other structured assurance argumentation.
- Strong systems thinking — the ability to decompose a top-level safety claim into the specific evidence that would convince a skeptic.
- Experience with requirements or ALM tooling (Jama, YouTrack, DOORS, or similar) and an instinct for traceability.
- Clear technical writing for claims, criteria, and assessment-facing documentation, and the ability to coordinate across engineering, product, and operations.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
Nice to have
- Experience with AV, robotics, aerospace, or another safety-critical autonomous system.
- Aerospace or aviation safety background — DO-178C, ARP4754A, MIL-STD-882, or System Safety Assessment (SSA) work, where the safety-case discipline originates.
- Experience presenting to or negotiating with third-party assessors, certification bodies, or regulators.
- Background in a functional safety role (functional safety manager, safety engineer, or similar).
- Hazard analysis and risk assessment experience (HARA, STPA, FHA, or equivalent).
- Familiarity with emerging AI assurance standards (ISO 8800) and how they intersect with a traditional safety case.
#LI-MS1
Candidates are required to be authorized to work in the U.S. The employer is not offering relocation, sponsorship, and remote work options are not available.
Avride is an equal opportunity employer and committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities to ensure they have equal access to employment opportunities. Avride complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with the application or hiring process, or to perform the essential functions of a job, please email jobs@avride.ai.
Requirements mentioned
- Experience with AV, robotics, aerospace, or another safety-critical autonomous system.
- Aerospace or aviation safety background — DO-178C, ARP4754A, MIL-STD-882, or System Safety Assessment (SSA) work, where the safety-case discipline originates.
- Experience presenting to or negotiating with third-party assessors, certification bodies, or regulators.
- Background in a functional safety role (functional safety manager, safety engineer, or similar).
- Hazard analysis and risk assessment experience (HARA, STPA, FHA, or equivalent).
- Familiarity with emerging AI assurance standards (ISO 8800) and how they intersect with a traditional safety case.
- #LI-MS1
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