Autonomous Vehicles

Senior Systems & Safety Engineer – Hardware

Santa Clara, CAHybridFull TimeSenior$160,000–$240,000 /yrPosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

Hardware Safety Engineering
Electrical Architecture
Systems Engineering
Automotive
Aerospace
ISO 26262
ISO 16750
SAE J1455
FMVSS
FMEDA

Nice to have

High-compute AV platforms
Heavy-duty commercial vehicle
Medium-duty commercial vehicle
Platform integration
Thermal analysis
Structural analysis

Role summary

Gatik, a leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, seeks a Senior Systems & Safety Engineer – Hardware for its Santa Clara, CA office. This role focuses on the safety architecture, reliability engineering, and functional safety compliance of Gatik's autonomous vehicle hardware, including compute, sensors, power, and networking. Responsibilities include conducting safety analyses (FMEDA, PMHF), evaluating automotive-grade components, defining hardware requirements, designing fault injection tests, and generating safety documentation. The ideal candidate has 6+ years of experience in hardware safety engineering within the automotive or aerospace sectors, with deep knowledge of relevant standards (ISO 26262, ISO 16750) and automotive communication protocols. Preferred qualifications include experience with AV platforms, commercial vehicle integration, and environmental stress analysis.

Who we are

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.

About the role

Gatik’s autonomous medium-duty trucks and tractor-trailers operate in rigorous commercial environments requiring ultra-reliable, fail-operational hardware. The Senior Systems & Safety Engineer – Hardware will lead the safety architecture, reliability engineering, and functional safety compliance for Gatik’s AV compute, sensor suite (LiDAR, Radar, Cameras, IMUs), power distribution units, and networking backbones. You will ensure Gatik’s hardware stack withstands severe thermal, vibration, and component failure conditions without compromising safe autonomous operation.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA office!

What you'll do

Key Responsibilities

Functional Safety: Conduct hardware functional safety activities including FMEDA (Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis), PMHF (Probabilistic Metric for random Hardware Failures), and Single Point Fault Metrics (SPFM).

Component Safety & Vendor Management: Evaluate, select, and qualify automotive-grade (AEC-Q100/200, ASIL-rated) compute, sensor, and power hardware from Tier-1 suppliers.

Hardware Requirements: Define hardware requirements for compliance and system safety.

Fault Injection & Diagnostics: Design test methodologies for hardware fault injection to validate hardware diagnostic coverage.

Safety Case Evidence: Generate hardware safety manuals, FMEDA reports, and hardware verification documentation required for safety sign-off.

Minimum Qualifications

Education: B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, or Automotive Engineering.

Experience: 6+ years in hardware safety engineering, electrical architecture, or systems engineering in automotive (Tier-1/OEM) or aerospace industries.

Standards Expertise: Deep working knowledge of ISO 26262 (Hardware level development), ISO 16750, SAE J1455, and FMVSS.

Technical Mastery:

Proven experience conducting FMEDA, FTA, and worst-case circuit analysis for safety-critical hardware.

Expert knowledge of Automotive Ethernet, CAN-FD, LIN, PCIe, and high-speed deserializer (GMSL/FPD-Link) topologies.

Experience with high-power DC-DC converters, smart power distribution modules (ePDMs), and battery management systems (BMS).

Preferred Qualifications

Direct experience designing or safety-certifying high-compute AV platforms.

Experience with heavy/medium-duty commercial vehicle platform integration.

Thermal and structural safety analysis experience under extreme environmental conditions.

Salary Range - $160,000- $240,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.

We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.

Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

Forbes: Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs

Tech Brew: Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry

Business Wire: Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework

Auto Futures: Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS

Automotive News: Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning

Forbes: Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services

Bloomberg: Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes

Reuters: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.E-Verify Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Gatik participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program

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