Product Safety Engineer

Sterling Engineering; Buffalo Grove (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

PTO

Paid holidays

401(k) retirement plan

Life insurance

Additional employee perks

Job summary

Sterling Engineering seeks an experienced Product Safety Engineer to support safety, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance for transportation products. You will identify hazards, evaluate risks, and influence design decisions from concept through verification, ensuring robust safety controls.

You will apply DFMEA, hazard analysis, fault tree analysis, and other methodologies, collaborating with Engineering, Quality, suppliers, and labs to drive safe designs and compliant documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, systems engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of engineering experience in product safety, regulatory compliance, or related area.
• Experience identifying and evaluating hazards in engineered products or systems.
• Hands-on experience with DFMEA, hazard analysis, fault tree analysis, functional safety, or similar tools.
• Experience driving design changes or safety-related corrective actions.
• Ability to evaluate technical information and make risk-based decisions.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate designs and systems for potential safety hazards and risks.
• Lead and participate in structured product safety and risk assessments.
• Apply DFMEA, hazard analysis, FTA, and similar methodologies.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to identify safety concerns early.
• Recommend design changes, controls, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Investigate field issues, warranty claims, and test failures related to safety.
• Determine severity and likelihood of risks and appropriate corrective actions.
• Interpret and apply safety regulations, standards, and customer requirements.
• Develop verification strategies and review safety testing results.
• Review documentation and compliance evidence.
• Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, suppliers, customers, and labs.
• Maintain defensible product safety documentation.
• Support compliance with FMVSS, CMVSS, ADA, FTA, and APTA as applicable.

Skills

DFMEA

Hazard Analysis

Fault Tree Analysis

Functional Safety

Risk Assessment

Cross-functional Teamwork

Documentation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Product Safety Engineer to support the safety, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance of complex transportation products. This role is ideal for an engineer who has worked with safety-critical or highly regulated products and has hands-on experience identifying hazards, evaluating product risks, influencing engineering design decisions, and developing appropriate safety controls.

Employment Type

Full-Time, Direct Hire

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Life insurance
• Additional employee perks

What You’ll Do

• Evaluate product designs and systems for potential safety hazards and risks.
• Lead and participate in structured product safety and risk assessments.
• Use tools such as DFMEA, hazard analysis, fault tree analysis, risk assessments, functional safety analysis, and similar methodologies.
• Partner with engineering teams to identify safety concerns early in the product development process.
• Recommend design changes, controls, and other risk mitigation strategies.
• Investigate field issues, customer concerns, warranty claims, test failures, and other potential product safety concerns.
• Evaluate the severity and likelihood of product risks and help determine appropriate corrective actions.
• Interpret and apply applicable product safety regulations, standards, and customer requirements.
• Develop verification strategies and review safety and compliance testing.
• Review technical documentation, test results, and supporting compliance evidence.
• Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Quality, suppliers, customers, and outside testing laboratories.
• Maintain clear and defensible product safety and regulatory documentation.
• Support compliance with transportation regulations and standards, including FMVSS, CMVSS, ADA, FTA, and APTA requirements as applicable.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 7+ years of engineering experience within product safety, systems engineering, regulatory compliance, product validation, or a related field.
• Experience identifying and evaluating hazards associated with engineered products or systems.
• Hands-on experience with structured risk assessment methodologies such as DFMEA, hazard analysis, fault tree analysis, functional safety, or similar tools.
• Experience working with engineering teams to drive design changes or other safety-related corrective actions.
• Ability to evaluate technical information and make sound risk-based decisions.
• Experience investigating field, customer, warranty, testing, or product performance issues is highly desirable.
• Experience interpreting and applying technical standards, regulations, or customer requirements.
• Strong technical documentation and communication skills.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.