Staff Functional Safety Engineer

System Safety; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs equity

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies seeks a Staff Functional Safety Engineer to own propulsion, dynamics, and chassis safety across programs. You will define safety architecture, ASIL decomposition, and analysis methods, while guiding Tier 1 suppliers and cross‑domain teams to ensure ISO 26262 rigor and robust safety cases.

You will mentor senior engineers, establish reusable safety concepts, and advance AI‑assisted workflows to accelerate safety analysis while preserving rigor.

Qualifications

• ISO 26262 expertise (Parts 3, 4, 6, 9) applied at OEM or Tier 1 with production concepts.
• Deep experience in vehicle dynamics, propulsion and chassis systems.
• Proven technical leadership with mentoring and cross‑functional alignment.

Responsibilities

• Own the functional safety architecture across multiple vehicle programs and define safe concept patterns.
• Lead high‑complexity safety analyses: HARA, FTA, FMEA, and DFA with dependent/common‑cause analysis.
• Set budgets for FTTI/FDTI/FRTI and resolve conflicts between availability and fault reaction.
• Define requirements strategy, traceability, and quality measures in the requirements tool.
• Own safety validation strategy: fault insertion, HIL, vehicle‑level coverage, and acceptance criteria.
• Review supplier safety cases and DIAs; mentor engineers and drive methodology adoption.

Skills

Functional safety

ISO 26262

System safety

Mentoring

Cross-functional

Education

Electrical/Electronic engineering

Tools

CAN/LIN/Ethernet/FlexRay

HIL

DVP&R

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

As a Staff Functional Safety Engineer within the Propulsion and Dynamics domain, you will own the functional safety strategy for propulsion, dynamics and chassis features across multiple vehicle programs. You will define how it is applied across the domain, setting the safety architecture patterns, decomposition strategies, and analysis methods that other engineers build against.

You will act as the technical authority for these features functional safety across Rivian, VW, Audi, Porsche, and Scout programs: arbitrating architecture trade-offs between fail-operational redundancy and cost/complexity, resolving cross-domain safety conflicts, and representing the organization's technical position with Tier 1 suppliers, internal executives, and external assessors. You will lead the hardest technical deep dives, common-cause and dependent failure analysis across redundant channels, FTTI budget allocation across detection and reaction paths, and ASIL decomposition arguments that must survive independent scrutiny.

Beyond individual programs, you will raise the capability of the whole team: mentoring senior and mid-level safety engineers, establishing reusable safety concept templates and analysis standards, driving adoption of AI-assisted workflows that accelerate safety analysis without eroding ISO 26262 rigor, and owning the technical credibility of the safety case at Start of Production sign-off.

Responsibilities

• Own the functional safety architecture across multiple vehicle programs — define the safety concept patterns, redundancy strategies, and ASIL decomposition approaches that senior engineers implement against.
• Lead the highest-complexity safety analyses: system and software HARA, FTA, FMEA, and DFA, with particular ownership of dependent/common-cause failure analysis across redundant channels, power supplies, and communication paths.
• Set and defend FTTI/FDTI/FRTI budgets and safe-state definitions; adjudicate when availability requirements conflict with fault-reaction requirements.
• Define the domain's requirements strategy, FSR/TSR/SWSR structure, traceability model, and quality bar in the requirements tool, rather than only authoring within it.
• Own the safety validation strategy for the domain: fault insertion campaigns, HIL and vehicle-level coverage, release qualification criteria, and the evidence chain that closes each safety goal.
• Serve as the technical counterpart to Tier 1 suppliers and external assessors; review and challenge supplier safety cases, DIAs, and analysis deliverables.
• Drive cross-domain safety alignment with propulsion, ADAS, E/E architecture, and software platform teams, resolving interface-level safety conflicts and freedom-from-interference arguments.
• Mentor senior and mid-level functional safety engineers; run technical reviews, calibrate analysis quality across the team, and grow the domain's bench strength.
• Establish and evolve team-level methodology — analysis templates, review checklists, tooling, and AI-assisted workflows that increase throughput while preserving ISO 26262 review discipline.
• Own the chassis safety case and traceability evidence through Start of Production sign-off, and represent it to program leadership.

Qualifications

• Degree in Electrical/Electronic, Mechatronics, or similar engineering discipline.
• 10+ years in the automotive industry (or equivalent) as a systems and/or functional safety engineer, including demonstrated IC-level safety concept development.
• Deep, hands‑on ISO 26262 expertise (Parts 3, 4, 6, 9) applied at an OEM or Tier 1, with a track record of concepts that reached production.
• Proven experience with vehicle dynamics, propulsion and chassis systems.
• Demonstrated technical leadership without direct authority — mentoring engineers, driving methodology adoption, and aligning cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Experience defending safety arguments to external assessors, certification bodies, or OEM customers.
• Strong V&V grounding: fault injection, HIL, DVP&R development, requirements coverage analysis, CAN/LIN/Ethernet/FlexRay.
• Bonus: experience leveraging AI‑assisted tools to accelerate safety analysis while maintaining ISO 26262 rigor and review discipline.

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.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your mobile telephone number as part of your application or during the recruitment process, and may 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.