Functional Safety Engineer

Certus AI; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Certus AI is a remote-friendly company in the United States seeking a senior Functional Safety Specialist. You will work with a design-partner safety lead, review hazards and traces, and define the evidence packets required for regulatory-ready safety documentation.

Engineers, designers, and safety leads collaborate to tighten every packet for sign-off. You will ensure compliance with ISO 26262, DO-178C, or IEC 61508, and write or review the safety case or evidence behind one.

Qualifications

• Experience applying ISO 26262, DO-178C, or IEC 61508.
• Experience in safety evidence packets and hazard analyses.
• Ability to explain gaps to hardware/software engineers without a lecture.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with safety lead on subsystems changes and assess hazards.
• Review drafted hazards, requirements, and traces; identify gaps.
• Maintain the safety packet linked to the revision in Jama/DOORS/Certus systems.
• Advise the team on the checks the product should run next.

Skills

Functional safety expertise

Hazard analysis

Safety case writing

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Jama

IBM DOORS

Polarion

Job description

Remote, United States (or overlap with US hours) · Full-time · Functional safety

About Certus

Certus is the Living OS for physical AI. We build AI-native operations for robotics, autonomy, and industrial hardware: safety evidence first, then supply chain and finance on the same record. Models propose, code verifies, and engineers review and sign. Certus can live inside Jama and IBM DOORS, and it can live outside them. Teams do not have to switch. We stand that workflow up with design partners. Certus is in NVIDIA Inception.

About the role

You are the functional safety seat. You sit with a design-partner safety lead, read a real change, and say what the evidence packet has to contain. You review what the models draft, you mark what a safety lead would reject, and you write that back into the product so the next packet is tighter. Certus does not certify the product. Engineers at the customer still review and sign.

What you'll do

• Sit with a design-partner safety lead on one subsystem change.
• Review drafted hazards, requirements, and traces, and mark what is missing.
• Keep the packet tied to the revision under review, in Jama or IBM DOORS or in Certus.
• Tell the founding team which checks the product should run next.
• Help the team get from a draft to a packet a safety lead can sign, in about a week.

What we're looking for

• You have practiced functional safety on ISO 26262, DO-178C, or IEC 61508.
• You have written or reviewed a HARA, a safety case, or the evidence packet behind one.
• You can explain a gap to a hardware or software engineer without a lecture.
• You are comfortable saying what you will not sign.
• You are US-based, or you can overlap US hours. Founders are in Portland, New York, and Seattle.

Nice to have

• You have used Jama, Polarion, or IBM DOORS.
• Work in robotics, autonomy, automotive, aerospace, or industrial hardware.
• You have worked next to a software team that ships the tool you use.

How we work

You are in the customer conversation and in the packet. When a draft is wrong, you mark it and you write down the check the product should run next. Certus does not certify products.

• 30 minutes with a founder: your safety work, and why this seat.
• 1 hour on a real packet: what you would reject, and what you would ask the product to check.
• 2 days working in the office with the founding team.