Safety-Critical Verification Engineer

SAIF Autonomy; Witney; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

SPARK Ada training

Job summary

SAIF Autonomy is seeking engineers to design, verify and certify embedded safety-critical software for autonomous platforms in regulated environments. You will contribute to verification strategies, test frameworks and certification artefacts across safety-critical flight and mission systems.

Ideal candidates have strong V&V experience, embedded real-time software knowledge and familiarity with DO-178C objectives, traceability and documentation for certification efforts.

Qualifications

• Strong background in safety-critical verification and validation.
• Experience with automated testing, fuzzing, Monte Carlo simulation or fault injection.
• Experience working in regulated engineering environments.
• Understanding of software lifecycle and verification processes.
• Experience generating certification evidence and compliance documentation.
• Knowledge of embedded and real-time software.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute verification strategies for safety-critical software and systems.
• Develop test frameworks, verification plans and certification evidence.
• Support software verification activities aligned with DO-178C objectives.
• Perform requirements-based verification and validation.
• Support certification artefact generation and traceability.
• Conduct integration, system and qualification testing.
• Work closely with software engineers to ensure safety objectives are met.
• Support maturation of SAIF’s assurance framework and verification capability.
• Demonstrate leadership in achieving SAIF’s certification objectives.

Skills

Safety-critical verification

Automated testing

Regulated environments

Requirements-based testing

Embedded systems

Real-time software

Certification evidence

Traceability

Tools

SPARK Ada

Job description

Founded to solve one of the biggest barriers to autonomous system adoption - trust and assurance - SAIF Autonomy is building the assurance layer for next-generation autonomous systems.

SAIF’s mission is to enable the safe deployment of autonomous systems by providing an independent assurance capability across the entire autonomy stack. As AI and advanced autonomy become increasingly embedded within safety and mission-critical systems, existing assurance approaches often struggle to provide the levels of determinism, certification and regulatory confidence required for widespread deployment.

SAIF is developing a platform that delivers runtime assurance, safety monitoring and certified autonomy capabilities across both mission systems and flight-critical control systems. The company’s technology is designed to support highly regulated environments where safety, reliability and certification are paramount.

Working alongside major aerospace, defence and autonomy organisations, SAIF is pioneering safeguards for “Embodied AI” and trusted autonomy, helping operators deploy advanced autonomous capabilities with confidence while aligning with rigorous aviation and safety standards including DO-178C at the highest assurance levels (DAL A / DAL B).

As demand accelerates across autonomous aviation, drones, defence systems and next-generation autonomous vehicles, SAIF is scaling rapidly and investing heavily in its engineering capability.

The Role

As part of a highly specialised engineering team, you will contribute to the design, development, verification and certification of embedded safety-critical systems that provide assurance and runtime safety functions across autonomous platforms.

The platform is being developed providing mathematically verifiable software foundations suitable for the highest levels of safety assurance. Successful candidates will work across:

• Safety-critical embedded software development
• Runtime assurance architectures
• Autonomous flight safety systems
• Mission assurance and control systems
• Verification and validation activities
• Certification-focused software engineering
• Safety monitoring and fail-safe architectures
• Airworthiness and autonomy assurance frameworks

The engineering team is focused on delivering solutions that support highly regulated autonomous operations, including SORA-based operating environments and future certified autonomous aviation systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute verification strategies for safety-critical software and systems.
• Develop test frameworks, verification plans and certification evidence.
• Support software verification activities aligned with DO-178C objectives.
• Perform requirements-based verification and validation.
• Support certification artefact generation and traceability.
• Conduct integration, system and qualification testing.
• Work closely with software engineers to ensure compliance with safety objectives.
• Support the maturation of SAIF’s assurance framework and verification capability.
• Demonstrate leadership in achieving SAIF’s certification objectives.

Must-Have Experience

• Strong background in safety-critical verification and validation.
• Understanding of advanced software verification and testing methodologies, such as automated testing, fuzz testing, Monte Carlo simulation, fault injection, or other techniques used to validate the robustness and safety of complex embedded systems.
• Experience working within regulated engineering environments.
• Understanding of software lifecycle and verification processes.
• Experience with requirements-based testing and traceability.
• Knowledge of embedded systems and real-time software.
• Experience generating certification evidence and compliance documentation.

Desirable Experience

• DO-178C verification experience.
• Automotive (ISO26262 / IEC65108).
• DAL-A or DAL-B programme experience.
• Aerospace, defence or autonomous systems background.
• Formal verification or static analysis experience.
• Real-time verification tooling for safety-critical projects including SIL, HIL, SIH.
• Verification of flight control or mission-critical systems.
• Knowledge of SORA, airworthiness or aviation certification frameworks.
• Experience supporting autonomous aircraft, UAV or UAS programmes.

Why Join SAIF?

• Help solve one of the biggest challenges in autonomous systems: trust and safety.
• Work on technology that will underpin the future of certified autonomous flight.
• Join an ambitious company already engaged with major aerospace and defence organisations.
• Build next-generation assurance capabilities for autonomous and AI-enabled systems.
• Work with cutting-edge technologies including SPARK Ada (training provided), formal methods and runtime assurance architectures.
• Be part of a company scaling rapidly within one of the fastest-growing sectors in aerospace and autonomy.