Senior Safety Management System (SMS) Lead - Autonomous Driving

Senior Safety Management System (SMS) Lead - Autonomous Driving

The Safety Management System Senior Engineer for Autonomous Driving is responsible for defining, governing, and continuously improving the organization's Safety Management System (SMS) as an organizational safety framework for autonomous vehicle systems in compliance with applicable regulations and industry standards and alongside the global MOIA organization. The role ensures that safety risks related to automated driving functions are systematically identified, assessed, mitigated, and monitored throughout the system lifecycle through formal SMS processes including safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.

The SMS Senior Engineer works closely with system, software, hardware, validation, and operations teams to govern how safety is demonstrated and accepted across design, development, testing, and deployment. This position supports regulatory engagement, safety assurance activities, and the demonstration of safety readiness for autonomous vehicle operation. This role is focused on system-level safety governance, SMS operation, and safety assurance oversight.

It does not own item-level functional safety engineering activities or day-to-day operational incident response.

Possible Tasks within this Role:

• Safety Management System Development & Governance (40%)
• Develop, implement, and maintain the Safety Management System for autonomous driving programs
• Own the definition and operation of SMS governance structures, including safety roles, responsibilities, escalation paths, and safety decision-making forums
• Ensure SMS alignment with automotive and autonomous driving safety standards and guidance (e.g., ISO 26262, ISO 21448 / SOTIF, ISO 24089, UL 4600, UNECE ADS guidance) as inputs to the SMS, not as standalone compliance activities.
• Define SMS processes covering safety policy, roles and responsibilities, escalation, and decision-making
• Define and maintain safety policy, safety objectives, and safety performance indicators (SPIs)
• Define governance, processes, and acceptance criteria for safety case development, review, and approval within the Safety Management System
• Maintain SMS documentation, safety plans, and safety cases at program and system level

• Safety Culture & Cross-Functional Collaboration (25%)
• Promote a strong safety culture within autonomous driving development and operations teams
• Provide guidance and training on SMS processes, safety risk management, and reporting
• Collaborate closely with systems engineering, software, AI/ML, validation, quality, and operations teams
• Support management decision-making with clear safety risk assessments and recommendations

• Safety Assurance & Lifecycle Integration (15%)
• Integrate safety assurance activities across the V-model and system lifecycle
• Define SMS-level safety acceptance criteria and evidence expectations for lifecycle milestones and release gates
• Monitor safety performance through leading and lagging safety indicators
• Define and govern system-level safety risk assessment methodologies, acceptance criteria, and evidence expectations across the system lifecycle
• Support safety incident processes, particularly post-incident analyses from an SMS learning and systemic risk perspective
• Ensure that system safety cases and VSSA are developed, reviewed, and maintained in alignment with Safety Management System requirements
• Review systemic corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs) arising from operational incidents, audits, and assessments for effectiveness at the system and organizational level

• Change Management, Release & Operational Safety (10%)
• Support safety impact assessments for system changes, software updates, and feature releases
• Ensure safety considerations are addressed for continuous integration, continuous deployment, and OTA updates
• Contribute to operational safety processes including monitoring, incident response, and field feedback
• Support definition and execution of safety readiness reviews prior to testing or deployment

• Regulatory, Audit & External Interface (10%)
• Support regulatory submissions, safety assessments, and audits related to autonomous driving systems
• Contribute to safety cases and documentation supporting approvals, permits, or exemptions
• Act as an interface with regulators, certification bodies, and external assessors on safety matters
• Track evolving global ADS regulations and translate them into internal SMS requirements

Qualification requirements:

• Years of Relevant
  
  Experience:
  
  7+ years of experience in safety engineering or safety management for automotive or autonomous systems
• Hands-on experience working in safety-critical, software-intensive system development environments
• Proven cross-functional and global collaboration experience.
• Education:
  
  Required:
  
  Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Automotive, Systems, Software, Electrical, or related field), or equivalent technical experience in safety-critical system development or safety assurance
• Desired:
  Master's degree in…