Safety & Mission Assurance Engineer (remote considered)

Longwall; Long Beach (CA); Remote; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Long Wall Company is seeking a Safety & Mission Assurance Engineer to oversee reliability, safety, configuration compliance, and mission readiness for major programs. This role partners with systems engineering, program management, and quality to embed safety and reliability into fast-paced development, ensuring flight-ready outcomes for internal and government programs.

The SMA Engineer will lead hazard analyses, develop mission assurance processes, and support readiness reviews (TRR/FRR).

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or related field.
• 5+ years in aerospace/defense hardware reliability or safety.
• Experience with readiness reviews and hazard analyses.
• Knowledge of reliability, safety analysis, and risk management for flight systems.
• Ability to evaluate maturity, configuration stability, and readiness for tests.
• Experience with FMEA or fault tree analysis.
• Clear, defensible written and oral communication to technical and government teams.
• Active or recent U.S. security clearance (Secret or higher).

Responsibilities

• Lead reliability and safety evaluations with hazard analyses and mitigation planning.
• Develop and execute mission assurance processes for programs.
• Support system readiness reviews: design, integration, TRR, FRR.
• Provide independent evaluation of maturity, configuration stability, and verification.
• Partner with systems engineering to align requirements and verification plans with mission assurance.
• Coordinate with chief engineering on design changes and safety implications.
• Track program-wide risks and lead risk boards.
• Ensure test plans and configurations meet safety and readiness requirements for government activities.
• Evaluate supplier quality and reliability risks and conduct supplier assessments.
• Learn from past flight attempts and document lessons for future designs.
• Support environmental and manufacturing test activities ensuring configuration stability.
• Maintain independence while coordinating with engineering, manufacturing, program management, quality, and ops.

Skills

Independent work

Written and verbal communication

Organizational discipline

Risk assessment

Hazard analyses

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or related technical discipline

Job description

Long Wall Company was created in 2024 to accelerate missile defense technology for the U.S. and our allies. We specialize in ballistic missile defense and are developing Cyclops, a low-cost, mass-producible interceptor. We also produce containerized launchers and offer low-cost targets for threat replication. The future of global security depends on defensive technology that redefines cost, magazine depth, and distribution to deter and defend against evolving threats. Join us.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Mission-Driven Problem Solvers – The problems in missile defense demand ingenuity. We want engineers who approach challenges with curiosity, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and stay focused on delivering the best solution for the mission.

Total Ownership – We seek engineers who take full responsibility for delivering flight-ready work while recognizing that no one succeeds alone. The best engineers make their teammates better, knowing that complementary skills create force multiplication and drive mission success.

Safety & Mission Assurance Engineer

DESCRIPTION

The Safety & Mission Assurance (SMA) Engineer provides independent oversight of reliability, safety, configuration compliance, and mission readiness for Long Wall’s major programs. This role ensures that every design decision, integration change, and test plan preserves system reliability and safety, aligns with verification requirements, and supports mission success for internal and government programs.

The SMA Specialist partners closely with systems engineering, chief engineering, program management, quality, and integration/test operations to evaluate technical risk, approve readiness criteria, and embed disciplined safety and reliability practices into a fast-paced development environment. They maintain independence while being deeply integrated with engineering and program execution, a core principle of Long Wall’s mission assurance philosophy.

• Lead reliability and safety evaluations, supporting hazard analyses, risk assessments, and mitigation planning.
• Develop, maintain, and execute mission assurance processes for programs, including reliability expectations, configuration compliance checks, and readiness criteria.
• Support system level readiness reviews: design reviews, integration reviews, test readiness reviews (TRR), and flight readiness reviews (FRR).
• Provide independent evaluation of technical maturity, configuration stability, and verification completeness prior to major test campaigns.
• Partner with systems engineering to ensure requirements, verification plans, and architecture support mission assurance and safety expectations.
• Coordinate with chief engineering to evaluate the technical impact of design changes, ensuring reliability and safety implications are understood and documented.
• Track program wide risks through the company risk register; lead risk boards and drive structured risk communication across engineering and program management.
• Validate that test plans, procedures, and configurations meet safety, hazard mitigation, and readiness requirements for government funded activities.
• Evaluate supplier quality and reliability risks; support supplier assessments for hardware impacting programs.
• Learn from previous flight and integration attempts, ensuring technical lessons are documented and incorporated into future designs, processes, and readiness criteria.
• Support environmental and manufacturing test activities by ensuring configuration stability, verification alignment, and risk awareness.
• Maintain independent oversight while integrating closely with engineering, manufacturing, program management, quality, and operations.

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, or complex hardware development focusing on reliability, safety, mission assurance, or test readiness.
• Experience supporting structured readiness reviews, reliability analyses, hazard assessments, or risk management activities.
• Strong understanding of reliability engineering, safety analysis, verification planning, and risk management for flight critical systems.
• Ability to evaluate technical maturity, configuration stability, and readiness for integration, test, and flight.
• Experience contributing to hazard analyses, fault tree analyses, FMEA, or similar structured safety processes.
• Ability to work independently while partnering closely with engineering, test, quality, and program management leadership.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to deliver clear, defensible assessments to engineering teams, leadership, and government customers.
• Strong organizational discipline and ability to maintain clarity across multiple verification flows and risk items.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in fast paced aerospace or defense environments with shifting priorities and rapid development cycles.
• Experience supporting missile, interceptor, launch vehicle, or military system development.
• Familiarity with government customers, test readiness processes, and structured milestone reviews.
• Knowledge of reliability tools, safety analyses, configuration control systems, and mission readiness frameworks.
• Experience working with manufacturing quality, supplier assurance, or environmental test operations.
• Active or recent U.S. security clearance (Secret or above).
• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
• Ability to use a computer for assignments and communicate effectively in person, telepresence, and phone.
• Ability to travel between customer and company sites as required

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information protected under US export control laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and/or the Export Administration Regulations. As such, US person status (including US citizens,U.S.permanent residents,individuals granted U.S. asylum status, or individuals admitted in U.S. refugee status)is a required qualification for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, genetics, or citizenship status (when otherwise legally authorized to work and access export-controlled data) and will not be discriminated against on the basis of such characteristics or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We encourage applicants of all ages.