Staff Systems Engineer - Safety Methodologies

Staff Systems Engineer - Safety Methodologies

San Francisco, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, Remote - US, & Toronto, CAN

Systems Engineering and Safety – Systems Engineering / Full-time / Hybrid

Waabi, founded by AI pioneer Raquel Urtasun, is an AI company building the next generation of self-driving technology. With a world class team and an innovative approach that unleashes the power of AI to "drive" safely in the real world, Waabi is bringing the promise of self-driving closer to commercialization than ever before. Waabi is backed by best-in-class investors across the technology, logistics and the Canadian innovation ecosystem.

With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

At the heart of our mission is an unwavering commitment to safety. We are seeking a passionate and experienced safety or systems engineer to spearhead the development and implementation of critical safety framework methods that underpin our driverless autonomy readiness decisions. This is a unique opportunity to shape how Waabi quantitatively ensures and validates the safety of our autonomous trucking solution, working with our highly realistic simulator, real-world data, and cutting-edge generative AI techniques. You will play a pivotal role in creating the evidence for safe operation and leading efforts in a rapidly evolving and groundbreaking field.

You will…

• Lead the creation, execution, and continuous improvement of our safety framework, including the core concepts for how we document and determine driverless autonomy readiness.
• Collaborate with external partners to collect and analyze real-world truck driving data, enabling the establishment of human performance benchmarks, informing product and societal safety expectations, and supporting robust comparative safety assessments.
• Define comprehensive verification coverage using Waabi’s simulator to verify driving behaviors, and develop quantitative metrics to evaluate system readiness against established safety requirements.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to identify safety gaps, recommend improvements, and ensure traceability between requirements, validation artifacts, and safety case claims.
• Implement tools and methodologies to streamline safety validation processes, bringing creativity and a forward-thinking mindset to continuously evolve the safety framework methods.
• Own the creation of clear and structured safety artifacts, ensuring all readiness decisions are transparent and fully traceable to validation evidence.
• Mentor peers by fostering a culture of technical excellence and driving clear, constructive collaboration between teams.

Qualifications:

• Undergrad required; Masters or PhD within an engineering discipline preferred.
• 7+ years of automotive, robotics or closely related industry experience.
• Experience with building a strong safety case for autonomous vehicles.
• Experience with using simulation and real-world testing to make readiness decisions.
• Experience with relevant safety methods and standards such as STPA, SOTIF (ISO 21448) and/or UL 4600.
• Strong fundamentals in mathematics, engineering and physics.
• Excellent scripting and data analysis skills with tools such as Python, SQL.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts or data in a simple-yet-accurate manner.
• Collaborative team player who works effectively across functional boundaries.
• Passionate about self-driving technologies, solving hard problems, and creating innovative solutions.

Bonus/nice to have:

• Experience in launching a driverless product.
• Experience implementing software systems components.
• Experience building software systems from scratch.
• Experience in machine learning.
• Proficiency with data mining and advanced statistical analysis.

The US yearly salary range for this role is: $180,000 - $225,000 USD in addition to competitive perks & benefits. Waabi (US) Inc.'s yearly salary ranges are determined based on several factors in accordance with the Company's compensation practices. The salary base range is reflective of the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Note: The Company provides additional compensation for employees in this role, including equity incentive awards and an annual performance bonus.

Perks/Benefits:

• Competitive compensation and equity awards.
• Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
• Unlimited Vacation.
• Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
• Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
• Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.
• As we grow, this list continues to evolve!

Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact! Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.