Systems Safety and Certification Engineer

Grid Aero; San Leandro (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Grid.aero is seeking a System Safety and Certification Engineer to lead safety and airworthiness for its autonomous aircraft. You will define the safety approach, run analyses, and own the path to airworthiness and flight approval, while challenging complexity that does not add safety.

You will work with a fast-moving team solving hard problems at the intersection of autonomy, defense, and scalable air mobility, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and proven safety through rigorous

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in system safety, reliability, or airworthiness for aircraft.
• Experience with hazard analysis and risk assessment, including FHA, FMEA, CCA, and fault tree analysis.
• Familiarity with ARP4761, ARP4754, or MIL-HDBK-516 required.
• Experience with military airworthiness or uncrewed aircraft preferred.
• Ability to explain safety tradeoffs clearly to engineers, leadership, and regulators.
• Legal Requirement: U.S. persons only due to export control laws.

Responsibilities

• Lead safety activities, including hazard analysis and system safety assessments.
• Set safety and reliability targets and drive design changes to meet them.
• Identify applicable airworthiness criteria and own the certification plan.
• Work with government airworthiness authorities to secure flight approvals.
• Run reliability and maintainability analyses and feed results back into design.
• Assign design assurance levels for hardware and software with engineering leads.

Skills

System safety

Airworthiness

Hazard analysis

Risk assessment

FHA/FMEA/CCA

ARP4761/ARP4754 familiarity

MIL-HDBK-516 familiarity

Regulatory communication

Tools

Hazard analysis tools

FMEA tools

Reliability analysis tools

Job description

Job Title: System Safety and Certification Engineer
Company: Grid.aero

About Grid.aero

Grid.aero is building the next generation of autonomous aviation systems for defense and commercial applications. Led by experienced aerospace and technology operators and backed by leading venture investors, we solve hard operational problems at the intersection of autonomy, resilient logistics, and scalable air mobility. We move quickly, operate with urgency, and build systems designed for real-world deployment where small teams own meaningful problems end-to-end.

Read this, we mean it Above all, we look for exceptional builders with deep internal drive, massive throughput, hopeless optimism, and a relentless growth mindset. The people who thrive at Grid operate with urgency, learn quickly, adapt fast, and are energized by hard problems with no obvious answers. We value individuals who continuously push themselves and the team around them to improve.

This is an opportunity to work on products with national and global impact alongside a collaborative team that values technical excellence, execution, and mission focus.

Role Overview

We are seeking a System Safety and Certification Engineer to lead safety and airworthiness for our autonomous aircraft. You will define the safety approach, run the analyses, and own the path to airworthiness and flight approval, and certification. You will reason from the failure modes up, look for designs that are both safe and simple, and push back on complexity that does not buy safety.

What You'll Do

• Lead system safety activities, including hazard analysis and system safety assessments
• Set safety and reliability targets and drive the design changes that meet them
• Identify applicable airworthiness criteria and own the certification plan
• Work with government airworthiness authorities to secure flight approvals
• Run reliability and maintainability analyses and feed the results back into the design
• Assign design assurance levels for hardware and software with the engineering leads

Key Qualifications

• First-principles thinker who finds the simplest path to the goal and thrives in a fast-paced environment
• 5+ years of experience in system safety, reliability, or airworthiness for aircraft
• Experience with hazard analysis and risk assessment, including FHA, FMEA, CCA, and fault tree analysis
• Familiarity with ARP4761, ARP4754, or MIL-HDBK-516 required
• Experience with military airworthiness or uncrewed aircraft preferred
• Ability to explain safety tradeoffs clearly to engineers, leadership, and regulators
• Legal Requirement: Due to U.S. export control laws, candidates must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents).

Compensation $150k-200k | .1-.5 Equity

Equal Opportunity Employer Grid.aero is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees regardless of race, color, religion, gender, orientation, or status.

Legal Notice:

Grid.aero is committed to complying with U.S. export control laws. Due to the nature of our work, candidates must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).