Safety Case Lead

Avride • Austin, TX

8d • Onsite

About The Position

Our team owns the safety assurance argument for our autonomous vehicles — the structured case that says, with evidence, that our vehicles are safe to operate in their intended environment. We translate the work of engineering, safety, and operations teams into a coherent argument assessed against UL 4600 and aligned standards, and we carry that argument through the phase gates that govern how far we deploy: from operator-supervised driving toward fully driverless operation. Our output is what a third-party assessor reviews and what leadership relies on to make deployment-readiness decisions across the locations where we operate.

We are looking for a Safety Case Lead who will own the structure, content, and maturity of our safety case. You will architect the top-level safety argument, decompose it into claims and the evidence required to support them, and drive those claims from first draft to assessor-approved. The work is part systems thinking — building an argument that holds together across vehicle safety, operational, cybersecurity, and organizational dimensions — and part disciplined execution: tracking hundreds of claims and evidence items to a defensible state, on a schedule set by real phase-gate assessments. You will be the person who can stand in front of a third-party assessor and defend why the argument is sufficient, and the person who knows exactly where the gaps are before they do. This role is foundational; much of the safety case work depends on it being owned.

Requirements

• 8+ years in systems, functional safety, or safety assurance engineering, including direct ownership of or substantial contribution to a safety case or assurance argument for a safety-critical system.
• Working knowledge of UL 4600 and/or functional safety standards (ISO 26262, ISO 21448/SOTIF, or aerospace equivalents such as ARP4754A and DO-178C).
• Familiarity with Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) or other structured assurance argumentation.
• Strong systems thinking — the ability to decompose a top-level safety claim into the specific evidence that would convince a skeptic.
• Experience with requirements or ALM tooling (Jama, YouTrack, DOORS, or similar) and an instinct for traceability.
• Clear technical writing for claims, criteria, and assessment-facing documentation, and the ability to coordinate across engineering, product, and operations.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Candidates are required to be authorized to work in the U.S.
• The employer is not offering relocation sponsorship, and remote work options are not available.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AV, robotics, aerospace, or another safety-critical autonomous system.
• Aerospace or aviation safety background — DO-178C, ARP4754A, MIL-STD-882, or System Safety Assessment (SSA) work, where the safety-case discipline originates.
• Experience presenting to or negotiating with third-party assessors, certification bodies, or regulators.
• Background in a functional safety role (functional safety manager, safety engineer, or similar).
• Hazard analysis and risk assessment experience (HARA, STPA, FHA, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with emerging AI assurance standards (ISO 8800) and how they intersect with a traditional safety case.

Responsibilities

• Own the top-level safety case: the goal that vehicles are safe to operate, decomposed into pillars, claims, claim criteria, and supporting evidence.
• Architect the argument against UL 4600 or ISO 5083 and aligned standards (ISO 26262, ISO 21448/SOTIF, ISO 8800, AVSC best practices), mapping claims to the clauses they satisfy.
• Define what evidence each claim requires, and drive claims through the pipeline from identified to approved.
• Coordinate evidence production across engineering, safety, and operations pillars; resolve cross-pillar dependencies and surface epistemic defeaters before an assessor does.
• Prepare for and shepherd third-party safety case assessments at each phase gate (Vehicle operator to Driverless Operation).
• Own safety case traceability and tooling in Jama and YouTrack or other approved tools; keep evidence owned, current, controlled, and approved.
• Define and report metrics for safety case maturity and gate readiness to engineering and leadership.

Benefits

• Avride is an equal opportunity employer and committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities to ensure they have equal access to employment opportunities.
• Avride complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with the application or hiring process, or to perform the essential functions of a job, please email [email protected].

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior