Vehicle Systems Safety

Waymo; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 204,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary annual bonus

Equity incentive plan

Benefits package

Job summary

Waymo is seeking a Functional Safety Engineer for a hybrid role reporting to a Head of Functional Safety. You will support and execute functional safety analyses (HARA) for base vehicle programs and collaborate with Systems Engineering to define safety interfaces for the ADS and vehicle platform.

The ideal candidate has a BS or higher in Engineering or related field and 4+ years in automotive safety, with hands-on experience in HARA, FMEA, and FTA, plus strong cross-functional communication.

Qualifications

• 4+ years automotive experience with OEM and/or Tier 1 in product development and launch.
• 4+ years of functional safety engineering experience in safety-critical systems, applying ISO 26262.
• Experience performing safety analyses (HARA, FMEA, FTA) for complex E/E or automotive systems.
• Safety requirements elicitation, definition, and tracing.
• Solid understanding of vehicle systems architecture, V-model, and hardware/software interfaces.
• Strong collaboration and communication across cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Support and execute functional safety analyses (e.g., HARA) for base vehicle programs to identify hazards, assess safety risks, and define safety goals for vehicle systems.
• Support supplier and OEM safety management activities, including reviewing safety work products, DIA compliance, and audits.
• Collaborate with Systems and HW Engineering to define safety interfaces between the ADS and the base vehicle platform.
• Improve safety engineering processes, guidelines, manuals, and templates.
• Guide regulatory teams through vehicle platform certification efforts.
• Participate in cross-functional design reviews as a safety representative to ensure safety requirements are met throughout development.

Skills

HARA

FMEA

FTA

ISO 26262

Systems engineering

Cross-functional collaboration

ADAS/Autonomy

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/CS/Robotics

Job description

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo's fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

The Waymo Safety team works to promote and help to continuously improve the safety of Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology. Our experts develop safety goals and strategies, and conduct safety engineering analyses to ensure safety is being considered throughout the design and development of our vehicles. The team develops and promotes safety strategies and policies for autonomous vehicles for its work with regulatory authorities, lawmakers, law enforcement and public and non-profit organizations. Our Safety Team also helps advise on compliance with applicable environmental, health, and safety regulations.

In this hybrid role, you will report to a Head of Functional Safety

You will:

• Support and execute functional safety analyses (e.g., HARA) for base vehicle programs to identify hazards, assess safety risks, and identify safety goals for the vehicle systems.
• Support supplier and OEM safety management activities, including reviewing supplier and OEM safety work products, DIA compliance, and participating in supplier and OEM audits.
• Collaborate with Systems Engineering and HW Engineering to define safety interfaces between the ADS and the base vehicle platform.
• Partner with the Safety team members to improve safety engineering processes for the vehicle and system level activities, improve our guidelines, manuals, and templates.
• Guide regulatory teams through their vehicle platform certification efforts.
• Participate in cross-functional design reviews as a safety representative, ensuring safety goals and requirements are met throughout the development lifecycle.

You have:

• BS or higher in Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or an equivalent technical field.
• 4+ years automotive experience with OEM and or Tier 1 with respect to product development and launch.
• 4+ years of functional safety engineering experience in safety-critical systems, with practical application of the ISO 26262 standard.
• Experience performing safety analyses (HARA, FMEA, FTA) for complex E/E or automotive systems.
• Experience in safety requirements elicitation, definition, and tracing.
• Solid understanding of vehicle systems architecture, systems engineering V-model, and hardware/software interfaces.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with experience working with cross-functional engineering teams.

We prefer:

• Experience with autonomous driving systems (L3/L4) or advanced ADAS.
• Automotive background in product development/design and release engineering.
• Experience in supplier and OEM safety management, including DIA (Development Interface Agreement) definition and tracking.
• Knowledge of advanced safety standards beyond ISO 26262, such as ISO 21448 (SOTIF).
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, safety validation, or system integration testing.
• Background in data-driven safety analysis or statistical risk assessment.

Travel

once per quarter, audit and assessment support as needed. International travel to China/Japan.

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level.

Salary Range

$204,000—$252,000 USD

Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo's discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.