Senior Functional Safety Engineer - Robotics

Company Description

Algorized is a VC-funded Silicon Valley deep-tech company with Swiss roots building edge-AI models that give robots real-time human awareness using existing wireless sensors, enabling safer human-machine co-presence.

We're looking for a Senior Functional Safety Engineer to architect the safety envelope around our people-sensing systems — for stationary and mobile robots across industrial applications — and lead them through PLd/SIL2 certification.

This role sits at the intersection of systems and software engineering: you need the cross-discipline view to own a safety case spanning hardware, software, and the customer's application, plus enough hands-on embedded software depth to implement and validate safety-critical code yourself.

We're equally open to a systems engineer with strong embedded software chops or a software engineer with systems-level safety case experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end safety certification process: gap analysis → certification body selection & management → technical file → type testing → certificate
• Audit vendor hardware safety manuals to confirm certified scope supports Algorized's system safety certification
• Architect the safety envelope for people-sensing software — supervision, plausibility checks, diagnostics, safe-state logic that stays alive independent of the AI subsystem — and its integration path to the customer's machine via safe I/O and fieldbus protocols
• Build and maintain our functional safety management system and software safety lifecycle (coding standards, traceability, tool qualification)
• Produce the quantitative safety case (FMEDA, diagnostic coverage, failure-rate analysis) and full documentation set (requirements specs, architecture docs, V&V plans), including the downstream safety manual for integrator customers
• Define safety goals, concepts, and cases — covering functional failure (PLd/SIL2) and functional insufficiency (SOTIF) — in collaboration with the algorithms, software, and product teams
• Support integration, commissioning, and maintenance of safety systems, including customer-site travel

Minimum Requirements

• 5+ years safety-critical systems or embedded software experience, incl. 2–3 years functional safety
• MSc in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, or related field — or equivalent practical experience
• Direct experience taking a product through an independent certification body (Notified Body, TÜV, UL, exida, or equivalent) from technical file to certificate — owned, not just supported; comfortable representing Algorized to auditors and leadership
• A safety-first architectural instinct — you design for failure, reason in worst-case rather than average behavior, and know how to hold a system in a safe state when something breaks
• Experience with functional safety standards such as IEC 61508, ISO 13849, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), or similar frameworks
• Strong C/C++ and Python, with familiarity with embedded/edge environments (ARM, Linux, RTOS)
• Hands-on experience interfacing software with hardware — I/O, controllers, or fieldbuses — from any safety-critical domain (robotics, industrial automation, aerospace, medical devices, etc.)
• Comfortable with occasional on-site travel for commissioning and audits

Preferred Requirements

• Direct IEC 61496 (ESPE) experience — light curtains, laser scanners, vision, or radar, across any Part
• CFSE/CFSP certification (TÜV, exida, or equivalent)
• Experience managing a certification body relationship directly, not just supplying documentation to someone else running it
• Practical experience with industrial safety fieldbus protocols and safe I/O integration with robot/PLC controllers
• Experience producing safety documentation (FMEA, DC analysis, V&V test plans)
• Working knowledge of MISRA-C, safety-rated MCUs, edge-AI SoCs/GPU platforms, or deeper embedded RTOS experience