Sr. Functional Safety Engineer

System Safety; Palo Alto, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity RSUs

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is seeking an experienced hardware safety engineer to design and implement safety requirements for ECUs and hardware subsystems. You will work with cross‑functional teams to apply functional safety methods and derive safety concepts that balance reliability and performance.

The role emphasizes developing verification strategies, conducting FMEDA/FTA analyses, and documenting safety activities across sub-systems to meet regulatory standards.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of relevant experience with functional safety design in automotive, industrial or aerospace.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent.
• Experience with ISO 26262:2018 Part 5 and Part 11 or IEC 61508 Parts 1–3.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams including hardware, software, mechanical, manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Design and implementation of technical safety requirements at the hardware level.
• Work with cross functional teams and hardware design engineers to implement hardware safety requirements.
• Work with various functional safety analysis methods (FTA, FMEDA) supporting hardware architectural design.
• Apply essential experience in functional safety to derive Safety requirements, technical safety concepts, FMEDA (Failure Mode Effects & Diagnostic Analysis), FTA (Fault Tree Analysis), DFA (Dependent Failure Analysis) and PMHF to meet functional safety requirements.
• Develop verification and validation methods to support testing of hardware safety requirements.
• Write test procedures and support testing of hardware sub‑systems.
• Document all relevant safety requirements, analysis, architecture implementation, verification, and validation events for each sub‑system.

Skills

Functional safety design

Electrical engineering

Safety analysis

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

FMEDA

FTA

DFA

IEC 61508

Job description

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

Join a motivating team of experts developing Electric Vehicle technology through innovative zonal architecture development. As a key contributor, you'll play a vital role in designing and implementing Electronic Control Units (ECUs) that balance safety & performance. Your expertise will be instrumental in ensuring the development of robust, fail‑safe hardware systems that set new industry standards for reliability and performance.

Responsibilities

• Design and implementation of technical safety requirements at the hardware level.
• Work with cross functional teams and hardware design engineers to implement hardware safety requirements.
• Work with various functional safety analysis methods (FTA, FMEDA) supporting hardware architectural design.
• Apply essential experience in functional safety to derive Safety requirements, technical safety concepts, FMEDA (Failure Mode Effects & Diagnostic Analysis), FTA (Fault Tree Analysis), DFA (Dependent Failure Analysis) and PMHF (Probability Metric for Hardware Failure) to meet functional safety requirements.
• Support the Reliability organization in deriving FIT rates for hardware components.
• Develop verification and validation methods to support testing of hardware safety requirements.
• Write test procedures and support testing of hardware sub‑systems.
• Document all relevant safety requirements, analysis, architecture implementation, verification, and validation events for each sub‑system.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent engineering degree.
• Have 3-5+ years of relevant experience with functional safety design in automotive, industrial or aerospace.
• Develop Systems based on ISO 26262:2018 Part 5 and ISO 26262:2018 Part 11 or IEC 61508 Part 1, 2 & 3.
• Handling advanced electronics design and analyzing advanced electrical circuits.
• Use of deductive and inductive failure analysis tools including FTA and FMEDA.
• Handling advanced electronics design and analyzing advanced electrical circuits.
• Working within a cross‑functional teams‑hardware, software, mechanical, manufacturing, and proven record of working on multiple projects involving safety engineering.
• Applying knowledge of advanced electrical systems and tools to meet functional safety requirements.
• Driving functional safety design processes across the organization to meet regulatory requirements.

Total Rewards

We build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full‑time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.

Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.

In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full‑time employees — including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.

Equal Opportunity

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at [e-mail].

Candidate Data Privacy

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies” may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) record keeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

If you provide a mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use that number to contact you via SMS text message for recruitment‑related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.

Please see our Candidate Data Privacy Notice (English) and Candidate Data Privacy Notice (Serbian) for more information.

--

Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.