Senior Engineering Safety Manager

Overview

Motional’s Las Vegas office is located less than 10 miles from the Las Vegas strip at 730 E Pilot Road and is home to one of the largest fleets of self-driving vehicles. The city’s grid system and status as a “smart city” support extensive research and development testing.

The Senior Engineering Safety Manager defines, steers, and ensures robust technical safety cases for our autonomous driving systems while working cross-functionally with safety, engineering, legal, and regulatory teams to ensure our technology is fit for purpose. This role requires a deep understanding of functional safety, systems engineering, and the integration of AI-driven perception and control technologies. The position leverages expertise in safety assurance, functional safety, and regulatory compliance to demonstrate the safety of our autonomous systems.

The Senior Engineering Safety Manager also leads a team of safety engineers that collaborate with cross-functional groups including AI/ML, computer vision, robotics, hardware, and software teams to meet and exceed safety and regulatory requirements.

• Lead and mentor the Safety Engineering team, fostering a culture of technical excellence and safety-first thinking.
• Define the company’s safety engineering strategy, aligning with industry standards, regulatory frameworks, and internal goals.
• Represent safety engineering in executive-level discussions, technical reviews, and customer/regulatory engagements.

• Ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards where applicable.
• Lead safety assessments for AI and computer vision systems, addressing challenges of non-deterministic behavior, perception uncertainty, and machine learning robustness.
• Lead the development of tailored technical safety case elements for autonomous driving systems.
• Define technical safety case strategies, argument structures, and evidence collection methods to demonstrate the safety and reliability of AV technologies.
• Develop safety argumentation frameworks and assurance cases. Collaborate with cross-functional teams—including systems engineering, AI/ML, perception, control, and validation—to integrate safety considerations into system design.

• Partner with AI/ML, perception, robotics, and controls teams to integrate safety considerations into design and testing.
• Collaborate with operations, testing, and deployment teams to ensure safety in real-world trials and fleet operations.
• Work with compliance, legal, and external stakeholders to demonstrate system safety readiness.

• Stay ahead of industry developments in autonomous systems safety, AI safety, and robotics assurance.
• Advocate for novel methods to assure safe behavior of learning-based and adaptive systems.
• Champion tools, processes, and cultural improvements for scalable safety assurance.

• 10+ years of relevant industry experience in technology development / safety-critical systems, and 3+ years in safety engineering for autonomous/robotics systems in a leadership role.
• Proven track record with safety-critical systems in automotive, aerospace, robotics, or autonomous vehicles.
• Deep knowledge of safety standards such as ISO 26262, ISO
  21448 SOTIF, ASIL, UL 4600.
• Knowledge of systems/software engineering standards (INCOSE, ISO
  15288, ASPICE/CMMI).
• Strong background in hazard analysis, system reliability, and safety case development.
• Experience working with AI/ML-based perception or decision-making systems.
• Proficiency in safety analysis tools (e.g., Medini Analyze, Ansys, Fault Tree+, FMEA software).
• Familiarity with autonomous vehicle architectures, including perception, planning, and control systems.
• Experience with real-time embedded systems and software safety.
• Excellent communication skills to convey complex safety arguments to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience with machine learning safety challenges in autonomous vehicles.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.

Yes, team…