Principal System Safety Engineer

Anduril; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Costa Mesa, CA, seeks a Principal System Safety Engineer to act as a company-wide technical authority on system safety. You will set safety philosophy, acceptance posture, and analytical standards across divisions and advise leadership on critical safety decisions.

You will engage early in programs, assess safety across lifecycles, and help programs prepare for government safety certification while expanding expert resources for the enterprise.

Qualifications

• 15 years of industry experience in system safety engineering.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace or Systems Engineering or equivalent.
• Direct experience with government safety review boards and safety certification processes.
• Deep experience with safety-critical hardware and software in defense/aerospace.
• Expert knowledge of MIL-STD-882E and related safety policy documents.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a company-wide System Safety authority across divisions.
• Conduct independent end-to-end safety assessments for programs.
• Deploy as senior technical resource across portfolio programs.
• Prepare programs for formal government safety certification.
• Shape enterprise risk posture with analytical models and risk philosophy.
• Pioneer analysis approaches for autonomous/AI systems where standards fall short.
• Negotiate safety criteria with customers and regulatory entities.
• Drive safety philosophy and requirements practice enterprise-wide.
• Mentor senior engineers and represent Anduril in industry forums.

Skills

15 years of system safety experience

Safety-critical systems

MIL-STD-882E expertise

Education

B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace/Systems Engineering

Tools

MIL-STD-882E

JSSSEH

Job description

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century's most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril's family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Anduril's Reliability & System Safety Engineering organization is hiring Principal System Safety Engineers to operate across the entire company. This role is not scoped to a single program or product line. Domains include Air Dominance & Strike, Maritime, Ground Systems, Space, Counter-UAS, and Autonomy/Lattice. The Reliability & System Safety Engineering team works with our broader Engineering team to ensure our products are safe and meet all mission performance, environmental, and customer requirements. We develop cutting-edge System Safety processes and methods to secure scalable, long-term business success.

As a Principal System Safety Engineer at Anduril, you are a company-wide technical authority on system safety. You set the safety philosophy, risk acceptance posture, and analytical standards that apply across every division, and you are the person leadership turns to when a safety question is consequential, contested, or without precedent.

This role exists to make sure Anduril does not build systems it cannot certify, field, or defend. You will provide independent safety assessments of programs at any point in their lifecycle, carrying the same rigor a government weapon system safety review board would apply. You will engage programs early, before architecture is locked, so design decisions that are difficult to undo are caught while they are still cheap to change. And you will serve as a senior resource the company can deploy wherever deep system safety judgment is needed most.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Serve as a company-wide System Safety technical authority across all Anduril divisions, setting direction that spans Air Dominance & Strike, Maritime, Ground Systems, Space, Counter-UAS, and Autonomy/Lattice rather than a single program or product line
• Conduct independent, end-to-end safety assessments of any program at any lifecycle phase
• Deploy as a senior technical resource to programs across the portfolio, standing up a credible System Safety approach quickly and leaving behind a baseline the program team can sustain
• Prepare programs and their engineering teams for formal government safety certification
• Shape Anduril's enterprise technical risk posture by introducing the analytical models, hazard framing, and risk acceptance philosophy that leadership uses to make fielding, test, and investment decisions
• Pioneer analysis and verification approaches for emerging technology, including autonomous and AI/ML-enabled systems, where MIL-STD-882E and existing frameworks do not provide sufficient coverage
• Negotiate safety acceptance criteria, alternate means of compliance, and tailored standards with customers, service safety centers, and regulatory authorities on behalf of the company
• Drive System Safety philosophy, planning standards, and requirements practice across the enterprise, and influence customer and regulatory requirements for novel systems
• Grow Senior and Staff System Safety engineers into recognized experts and create the frameworks, mental models, and training for engineers across the company
• Represent Anduril externally as a thought leader in industry working groups, standards bodies, and customer safety forums

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 15 years of industry experience as a System Safety Engineer or equivalent engineering background
• B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline
• Direct experience with government safety review boards such as the Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB), Nonnuclear Munitions Safety Board (NNMSB), and Software System Safety Technical Review Panel (SSSTRP) including building the safety case, presenting it, and achieving board approval
• Deep experience with safety-critical hardware and software systems in the defense or aerospace industry, with a preference for Weapon Systems, Aircraft, UAS, Maritime, Space, Munitions and Energetics, or Rotorcraft
• Expert-level knowledge of MIL-STD-882E, including the judgment to tailor it credibly, and working familiarity with service-level system safety policy and the Joint Software Systems Safety Engineering Handbook (JSSSEH)
• Expert background in safety analysis techniques including FTA, FHA, SCFTA,