Senior Operational Safety Data Engineer
Zoox
Data Science
Foster City, CA, USA
Posted on Aug 15, 2025
The Senior Operational Safety Engineer/Operational Safety Engineering Manager will be responsible for leading day-to-day activities related to Zoox’s processes to manage operational safety risks. In doing so, you will work closely with Software (Planner, Perception, Firmware), Operations, Vehicle Engineering, Safety Design, Hardware, and Legal teams to ensure a rigorous, disciplined, risk-based approach.
This position will require the ability to build strong relationships and build stakeholder consensus in working towards novel safety solutions (operational, engineering, etc.) to mitigate risk. A successful candidate will be able to navigate ambiguity and drive consensus with a pragmatic and balanced view across inputs from stakeholders. This candidate should also be able to support an on-call incident management process, and contribute to the Safety Management System, Safety Planning, Compliance and Policy activities.
In this role, you will:
- Lead and manage discussions around potential safety concerns that are raised to the Operational Safety Team, driving toward decisive next steps.
- Partner with the Safety Learnings Engineer and others cross-functionally to develop and implement pragmatic requirements or solutions. Work closely with the Safety TPM to ensure safety learnings are fully implemented.
- Continuously look to improve existing Operational and Field Safety processes, including communications, escalation, and resolution.
- Be part of the on-call incident management process and support other operational safety initiatives.
- Assist with formal reviews of the Operational Safety program with executive leadership and present data findings and areas of improvement.
Qualifications
- BS degree in Engineering, Computer Science or related field with at least 8 years of experience working with safety-critical systems, or a combination of experience and education
- Demonstrated expertise in safety risk management (qualitative and quantitative) to inform decision making
- Strong communication skills (written and verbal), ability to multitask and manage discussions with different viewpoints
- Motivated self-starter with a track record of leading safety initiatives/process development, gaining stakeholder consensus, and always looking to improve on the status quo
- Ability to manage incidents on-call with poise and professionalism
Bonus Qualifications
- Working experience in transportation safety, the automotive industry or the autonomous driving technology industry
- Technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: AI (planning, prediction, perception, etc.), ADAS development, or software safety-critical systems
- Familiarity with applicable industry safety standards such as MIL-STD-882, ISO 26262, ISO 21448 PAS, etc.
- Have experience on technical standards committees