Senior Functional Safety Engineer, Industrial Robotics

Dexterity, Inc.; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Job summary

Dexterity, Inc. in Redwood City, CA, seeks a Lead Functional Safety Engineer to own the safety lifecycle for industrial robots, autonomous systems, and motion architectures, supporting compliant deployments in NA, EU, and JP markets.

You will develop the safety plan, perform risk analyses, specify protective measures, and collaborate with engineering teams and customers to ensure rigorous verification, validation, and certification across global operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or a related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of functional safety experience in robotics, autonomous systems, industrial automation, or related safety‑critical machinery domains.
• Hands‑on experience with servo drives, inverters, motor controls, encoders, brakes, safety PLCs, safety I/O, and safety‑rated networks.
• Demonstrated ownership of the complete safety lifecycle: hazard and risk analysis → safety requirements → PLr/SIL determination → architecture → implementation → verification → validation.
• Ability to evaluate manipulator and mobile‑platform/drivetrain hazards, including stopping distance, stored energy, braking, unintended motion, and loss of control.
• Experience with Structured Text, Ladder Logic, and/or Function Block Diagram, along with PLCs, microcontrollers, and safety‑related embedded systems.
• Functional safety certification such as TÜV Functional Safety Engineer, CFSE, CFSP, or CMSE preferred.

Responsibilities

• Create and maintain a Functional Safety Management Plan.
• Develop and maintain QMS integration for safety activities, reviews, approvals, deviations, corrective actions, and audits.
• Perform machinery risk assessments per ISO 12100; identify hazards, define safe states and safety functions, and determine required PLr or SIL.
• Support compliance and certification activities with certification bodies, test laboratories, and external assessors.
• Interpret regulations and standards and advise engineering teams on practical application.
• Develop and review safety architectures for E‑stop, Safe Torque Off, and protective sensing.
• Apply ISO 13849-1/-2 and IEC 62061 including redundancy, diagnostics, and PFH calculations.
• Analyze failure modes including motor/inverter faults, encoder loss, brake failures, and unsafe conditions.
• Define safety interfaces among safety PLCs, controllers, drives, motors, brakes, encoders, scanners, and I/O.
• Apply safety‑rated protocols such as PROFIsafe, CIP Safety, EtherCAT/FSoE with PROFINET and EtherNet/IP interfaces.
• Perform FMEA/FTA/DFMEA and safety‑case analyses and translate results into traceable requirements.
• Plan verification and validation activities covering stopping performance, sensor faults, and safe state achievement.
• Support safety‑related PLC/embedded implementation and customer SOPs, with scalable training.
• Engage in customer meetings to defend FuSa decisions and guide system guardrails.

Skills

Independent ownership

Cross-functional communication

Safety-critical mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or related engineering discipline

Tools

Structured Text

Ladder Logic

Function Block Diagram

Safety PLCs

Encoders

Job description

Dexterity, Inc. in Redwood City, CA, seeks a Lead Functional Safety Engineer to own the safety lifecycle for industrial robots, autonomous systems, and motion architectures, supporting compliant deployments in NA, EU, and JP markets.

You will develop the safety plan, perform risk analyses, specify protective measures, and collaborate with engineering teams and customers to ensure rigorous verification, validation, and certification across global operations.