Systems Safety and Certification Engineer

Grid Aero•San Leandro, CA

1d•$150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Grid.aero is building the next generation of autonomous aviation systems for defense and commercial applications. Led by experienced aerospace and technology operators and backed by leading venture investors, we solve hard operational problems at the intersection of autonomy, resilient logistics, and scalable air mobility. We move quickly, operate with urgency, and build systems designed for real-world deployment where small teams own meaningful problems end-to-end. Above all, we look for exceptional builders with deep internal drive, massive throughput, hopeless optimism, and a relentless growth mindset. The people who thrive at Grid operate with urgency, learn quickly, adapt fast, and are energized by hard problems with no obvious answers. We value individuals who continuously push themselves and the team around them to improve. This is an opportunity to work on products with national and global impact alongside a collaborative team that values technical excellence, execution, and mission focus. We are seeking a System Safety and Certification Engineer to lead safety and airworthiness for our autonomous aircraft. You will define the safety approach, run the analyses, and own the path to airworthiness and flight approval, and certification. You will reason from the failure modes up, look for designs that are both safe and simple, and push back on complexity that does not buy safety.

Requirements

First-principles thinker who finds the simplest path to the goal and thrives in a fast-paced environment
5+ years of experience in system safety, reliability, or airworthiness for aircraft
Experience with hazard analysis and risk assessment, including FHA, FMEA, CCA, and fault tree analysis
Familiarity with ARP4761, ARP4754, or MIL-HDBK-516 required
Ability to explain safety tradeoffs clearly to engineers, leadership, and regulators
Due to U.S. export control laws, candidates must be U.S. persons (U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents).

Nice To Haves

Experience with military airworthiness or uncrewed aircraft preferred

Responsibilities

Lead system safety activities, including hazard analysis and system safety assessments
Set safety and reliability targets and drive the design changes that meet them
Identify applicable airworthiness criteria and own the certification plan
Work with government airworthiness authorities to secure flight approvals
Run reliability and maintainability analyses and feed the results back into the design
Assign design assurance levels for hardware and software with the engineering leads