System Safety Engineer

Jobtailor; Ann Arbor (MI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking an experienced Safety Engineer to lead ISO 26262 compliance efforts for automotive safety-critical systems. You will drive safety requirement allocations, interfaces, and state machines, ensuring robust acceptance criteria across ECUs.

You will collaborate with V&V, Safety Architecture, and Systems Engineering to design verification strategies (unit/integration/system/HIL), define KPIs, and maintain traceability for the Safety Case.

Qualifications

• Proven experience with ISO 26262 (Parts 3-6) and familiarity with SOTIF (ISO 21448).
• Hands-on collaboration with V&V including HIL/vehicle test design and KPI definition.
• Embedded software fundamentals (C/C++ reading proficiency, Python for analysis) and automotive interfaces.
• Excellent cross-functional communication, influence, and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Allocate safety requirements for components with interfaces, state machines, and acceptance criteria.
• Define safety mechanisms (diagnostics, redundancy, watchdogs) and verify effectiveness.
• Partner with V&V to design safety verification strategies for unit/integration/system/HIL/vehicle tests.

Skills

ISO 26262 Compliance

Safety Verification Strategies

Embedded Software Fundamentals

Cross-Functional Communication

Safety Case Development

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/EE/ME

Tools

CAN

SOME/IP

Job description

• Allocate safety requirements (system → software component) with clear interfaces, state machines, timing/resource budgets, and acceptance criteria.
• Define and guide implementation of safety mechanisms (e.g., diagnostics, redundancy, watchdogs, plausibility checks, safety envelope monitors, degraded modes/safe states) and ensure their effectiveness is verified.
• Partner with V&V to design safety verification strategies (unit/integration/system/HIL/vehicle), derive objective pass/fail criteria and safety KPIs, and ensure evidence completeness for the Safety Case.
• Contribute evidence and risk assessments to the Safety Case and present rationale/evidence to internal/external stakeholders and auditors.
• Lead/participate in analyses (FMEA/FMEDA, FTA, interface hazard reviews, resource/timing analyses) and feed findings into design updates and confirmation measures.
• Collaborate tightly with Safety Architecture (for HARA/goal setting/ASIL decomposition), Systems Engineering (for architecture cohesion and ICDs), ML Safety (for data/ODD/monitoring strategies), and Cybersecurity (for safety-security co-engineering).
• Drive change impact analysis for CRs, deviations, and waivers to preserve safety intent and traceability across releases.
• Conduct focused reviews on requirements, designs, and test plans to close gaps quickly.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS, EE, ME or related discipline.
• 3+ years in safety-critical automotive or aerospace systems in a production environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of technical safety concepts and requirement allocations that went to production ECUs.
• Deep, practical experience with ISO 26262 (esp. Parts 3-6) and familiarity with SOTIF (ISO 21448).
• Hands-on collaboration with V&V, including HIL/vehicle test design, coverage tactics, and KPI definition.
• Working knowledge of embedded software fundamentals (C/C++ reading proficiency, Python for analysis/prototyping), and common automotive interfaces (CAN, SOME/IP)
• Excellent cross-functional communication, influence, and documentation skills.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in safety-critical automotive or aerospace systems, with a strong focus on ISO 26262 compliance and safety verification strategies. Proficient in collaborating across functions to ensure effective safety mechanisms and thorough documentation for safety cases.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• ISO 26262 Compliance
• Safety Verification Strategies
• Embedded Software Fundamentals
• Cross-Functional Communication
• Safety Case Development

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Safety Requirement Allocation
• FMEA/FMEDA Analysis
• HIL Testing
• C/C++ Proficiency
• Python for Analysis
• Automotive Interfaces (CAN, SOME/IP)
• Safety Mechanism Implementation
• Risk Assessment
• Acceptance Criteria Definition
• Change Impact Analysis

Soft Skills

• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Influence
• Documentation Skills

Industry Keywords

• Safety-Critical Systems
• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Safety Architecture
• ASIL Decomposition
• SOTIF (ISO 21448)
• Diagnostics
• Redundancy
• Watchdogs
• Plausibility Checks