Sensing and Perception System Safety Engineer
Required skills
- fail-operational
- sensing
- perception
- system safety
- ISO 26262
- SOTIF
- ISO 21448
- autonomous vehicles
- robotaxi
- safety critical systems
Nice to have
- AI/LLM tools
- Python
- Databricks
- Polarion
- DOORS
- Jama
Role summary
Zoox is seeking a System Safety Engineer to join their System Design and Mission Assurance team. This role focuses on ensuring the safety, fail-operational design, and reliability of autonomous driving robotaxi systems, specifically for sensing and perception subsystems. Responsibilities include defining safety requirements, leading cross-functional projects, designing safety mechanisms using ISO 26262 and SOTIF standards, analyzing field and simulation data, and leveraging AI/LLM tools. The ideal candidate will have a technical degree and at least 3 years of experience in safety-critical systems within the automotive, ADAS, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, or robotics industries.
Zoox is on an ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous mobility solution for cities and deploy such a robotaxi solution safely and reliably. The System Design and Mission Assurance (SDMA) team plays a foundational role in the company's success, responsible for constructing the safety case and fail-operational design for our autonomous driving robots before public road deployment. We are seeking a System Safety Engineer to perform safety analyses of complex hardware and software systems, specifically Sensing and Perception Systems. You will work across hardware and software domains to develop comprehensive system safety requirements and metrics that ensure safe, fail operational and reliable sensing capabilities for our autonomous vehicle platform.
In this role, you will:
Define safety requirements for sensing (e.g. camera, lidar, radar) and perception (sensor fusion, ML models) subsystems
Lead cross-functional technical projects across Software, Hardware, Operations, Data Science, V&V teams to ensure we have the appropriate data and solutions to support our safety arguments
Collaborate with perception, hardware, software, firmware and other systems engineering teams to design safety mechanisms by leveraging ISO 26262 (e.g HARAs, Functional Safety Concepts, etc.) and SOTIF (ISO 21448) standards
Work with partner teams to develop safe, fail operational, and cost-optimized, next-generation sensing architectures and guide the selection of next-generation sensors
Analyze field and simulation data to root cause issues, identify next steps or validate assumptions
Leverage AI/LLM tools to accelerate analysis and automate repetitive processes, improving team efficiency
Qualifications
BS or MS in a related technical field, such as Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Mechatronics, etc.
Experience as a Design or Systems Engineer for complex or mission-critical systems with high levels of fail-operational redundancy especially in domain of sensing and perception
3+ years of hands-on systems, safety, or related engineering experience with a focus on analysis of safety critical high-integrity systems in Automotive, ADAS, Autonomous vehicles, Aerospace or Robotics industries
Effective communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Bonus Qualifications
Experience with sensing hardware, physics, limitations and tradeoffs especially in safety-critical applications and fail operational systems
Experience in the application of ISO 26262 (Functional Safety) and ISO 21448 (SOTIF) to L2+ ADAS and autonomous vehicles; Experience with hazard analysis, functional decomposition, validation, and verification
Experience with Python and/or Databricks for data mining, analysis and visualization
Strong analytical skills in performance metrics definition and system-level trade-off analysis
Understanding of modern perception stack, ML/AI systems and their requirements, and integration challenges
Experience using requirements management tools such as Polarion (preferred), DOORS or Jama
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AccommodationsIf you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to accommodations@zoox.com or your assigned recruiter.
A Final Note:You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.
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