Lead System Safety Engineer – Defense UAVs

AeroVironment, Inc.; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 134,000 - 204,000; Full time

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks a Senior Staff Safety Engineer to lead system safety activities for unmanned systems in defense and commercial contexts. You will derive safety requirements, perform analyses, and mentor junior engineers while ensuring MIL-STD-882E compliance and hazard mitigation.

You will drive safety deliverables, collaborate across engineering teams, and present findings at reviews, advancing safety processes across programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science/Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace, Mechanical Engineering, or related field; or equivalent
• 8+ years of safety/weapon system safety experience and DoD clearance eligibility
• Ability to obtain U.S. DoD Secret security clearance; travel up to 15%

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the System Safety Program in accordance with MIL-STD-882E, including plans, analyses, tracking, and reporting.
• Plan and perform system safety analyses (PHA, FHA, SHA, SSHA) and other safety assessments as needed.
• Perform FMECA and related analyses to support hazard mitigation.
• Derive, allocate, and track safety requirements down to subsystems, software, and interfaces.
• Develop and maintain system safety documents (SSMP/SSPP, SAR, Hazard Log, HMMP).
• Collaborate with design teams to implement mitigations and verify effectiveness.
• Integrate safety into system architecture, CONOPS, and mission threads.
• Support test planning/execution to verify safety requirements and hazard closures.

Skills

System safety analyses

MIL-STD-882

Hazard analyses (PHA/FHA/SHA/SSHA)

FMECA

Requirements derivation

Technical communication

Mentoring juniors

Education

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Jama

Cameo

Job description

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks a Senior Staff Safety Engineer to lead system safety activities for unmanned systems in defense and commercial contexts. You will derive safety requirements, perform analyses, and mentor junior engineers while ensuring MIL-STD-882E compliance and hazard mitigation.

You will drive safety deliverables, collaborate across engineering teams, and present findings at reviews, advancing safety processes across programs.