Safety Management System Jobs in Texas (NOW HIRING)

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 systemlevel safety governance, SMS operation, and safety assurance oversight. It does not own itemlevel functional safety engineering activities or daytoday operational incident response.

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 decisionmaking 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 decisionmaking
• 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 Vmodel and system lifecycle
• Define SMSlevel safety acceptance criteria and evidence expectations for lifecycle milestones and release gates]
• Monitor safety performance through leading and lagging safety indicators
• Define and govern systemlevel safety risk assessment methodologies, acceptance criteria, and evidence expectations across the system lifecycle
• Support safety incident processes, particularly postincident 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

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 Engineering (Automotive, Systems, Software, Electrical, or related field)

• Formal Safety Management System (SMS) certifications are not required for this role.

Skills:

• Analytical, systems-thinking mindset with strong attention to detail
• Clear and confident communicator across technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to work effectively in cross-functional and fast-paced development environments
• Proactive, pragmatic, and committed to continuous safety improvement

Work Flexibility:

• Travel is estimated to be 20-25%, as needed within U.S. and overseas, mainly Germany

Specialized Skills:

Required

Desired

• Strong knowledge of automotive and autonomous driving safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262, ISO 21448, UL 4600)
• Ability to interpret, tailor, and apply these standards within a Safety Management System for autonomous vehicle development and deployment
• Understanding of autonomous driving architectures, perception, planning, control, and ODD concepts
• Ability to review and assess safety cases against defined Safety Management System acceptance criteria using structured safety evidence
• Familiarity with regional ADS regulations and guidance (UNECE, NHTSA, local AV permitting frameworks)

• Exposure to fleet operations, incident response, and real-world safety monitoring
• Safety Management System Experience
  Demonstrated experience defining, operating, or governing an organizational Safety Management System (SMS) for a safetycritical, softwareintensive system (e.g., autonomous driving, aviation, rail, nuclear), including safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.

• Working knowledge of perception, prediction, planning, and control stacks
• Familiarity with AI/ML failure modes (e.g., dataset bias, corner cases, overfitting, distribution shift)
• Experience with simulation-based safety validation and scenario generation
• Familiarity with SIL, HIL, and vehicle-in-the-loop testing approaches
• Experience with safety analyses including HARA, FMEA, FTA, and scenario-based safety assessment
• Experience structuring and maintaining safety cases
• Familiarity with evidence-based safety arguments for complex, learning-enabled systems
• Experience defining or governing organizational Safety Management Systems for complex, software-intensive systems
• Experience interacting with regulators, assessors, or certification bodies in ADS contexts

• Participation in industry working groups, standards committees, or safety consortia
• Experience applying these standards within an organizational Safety Management System and safety governance framework]
• Ability to review and assess safety cases against defined Safety Management System acceptance criteria using structured safety evidence
• Experience participating in or supporting safety governance boards, management safety reviews, or executive safety acceptance decisions