Principal Safety Case Lead

Mission Summary

Motional is developing an autonomous robo-taxi service and intends to align its fleet of autonomous vehicles to ISO 26262, ISO 21448, UL4600 and other emerging ADS standards and best practices to enable safe driverless operation on public roads. The Principal Safety Case Lead will work across multiple functional teams as a strong thought leader to develop a holistic safety case framework and Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) for Motional AVs.

This role will be responsible for the development and maintenance of Motional’s safety case and strengthening Motional’s safety culture. This individual will ensure that a cross-functional team at Motional—including system engineers, safety engineers, system architects, hardware and software engineers, and verification and validation (V&V) engineers—understand and follow Motional’s internal safety processes and generate the work products that are required to build and maintain Motional’s holistic safety case. This individual will interface with Motional’s commercial and vehicle manufacturer partners and will also lead engagements with independent consultants who will be supporting and assessing Motional’s safety case. This role will report directly to the Vice President of Safety and is expected to provide executive level briefings on the development of Motional’s safety case. 

The role requires a broad safety systems view that incorporates diverse aspects (e.g., hardware, software, human factors, regulatory, etc. of complex systems to achieve the safe operation of a driverless robo-taxi fleet.

*This role can be fully remote or hybrid at one of the Motional offices.*

What You'll Be Doing

• Provide project and technical leadership to ensure Motional is aligning with industry standards and best practices and its own internal safety processes
• Lead the development and tailoring of Motional’s safety case
• Collaborate with system engineers, safety engineers, system architects, software and hardware engineers, V&V engineers to drive implementation of and adherence to Motional’s safety case
• Ensure and coordinate alignment with Motional’s Quality Management System (QMS), cybersecurity processes, and Safety Management System (SMS)
• Perform safety case gap analyses & coordinate internal safety case assessments
• Lead engagements with independent consultants who will be supporting the development and assessment of Motional’s safety case
• Provide executive level briefings to internal and external safety case stakeholders

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Safety Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related engineering field
• Prior work experiences related L4 automated vehicle systems
• 7+ years’ experience working in safety critical industries: automotive, aviation, space, security, manufacturing, rail, oil & gas
• Experience writing safety plans & requirements and safety case argumentation 
• 3+ years’ experience incorporating and assessing aspects of industry standards and best practices, such as ISO 26262, ISO 21448 / SOTIF, UL 4600, Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (AVSC) best practices, etc. 
• Experience with an automated vehicle specific Safety Management System (SMS)
• Experience in applying safety thinking to a complex system in a rapidly changing product or technology environment
• Experience leading a team of engineers in a product or project development environment
• Strong mentoring and team building skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Enthusiasm and a desire to work in a very fast-paced environment where innovation and rapid change is the norm

Bonus Points (not required)

• Experience writing software safety requirements (INCOSE), software test plans, software coding guidelines (MISRA), and other software lifecycle documents
• Experience in the development and/or the safety of Machine Learning/AI functions in the context of vehicle sensing, perception, and guidance
• Demonstrated background in the full lifecycle of safety certification processes which may include but not limited to ISO 26262, ISO 21448, UL 4600, ARP-4761/DO-178C, IEC 61508, IEC 62304, MIL-STD-882/AOP-52, EN 50128
• Demonstrated safety experience in vehicle subsystems (e.g. steering, braking), safety critical electronics development, or sensor development
• Experience with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
• Certified Safety Professional, Certified Safety Expert, or other system safety credentials

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but