Senior Safety Architect for Physical AI Robotics

thirdwaveautomation; Union City (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Staff Safety Engineer to serve as the principal technical authority on system safety and compliance for a bleeding-edge Physical AI robotics platform. You will own end-to-end certification, collaborate with Product and Engineering, and guide EHS programs while enabling rapid, safe deployment.

This role reports directly to the CEO with broad autonomy to refine existing frameworks.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in safety engineering for robotics/autonomous systems.
• Strong working knowledge of OSHA and core autonomy standards.
• Ability to reason about standards and propose novel compliant architectures.
• Proficiency with AI tools to enhance research and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the safety architecture for the robotics platform.
• Lead end-to-end certification processes (IEC/ISO standards).
• Represent the company on standards committees and with OEM partners.
• Oversee EHS programs and ensure training and protection for staff.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Field Operations to embed safety.

Skills

Safety engineering

Regulatory knowledge

AI fluency

First-principles mindset

Diplomacy & gravitas

Job description

Third Wave Automation is seeking a Staff Safety Engineer to serve as the principal technical authority on system safety and compliance for a bleeding-edge Physical AI robotics platform. You will own end-to-end certification, collaborate with Product and Engineering, and guide EHS programs while enabling rapid, safe deployment.

This role reports directly to the CEO with broad autonomy to refine existing frameworks.