Open position
Staff Safety Engineer
We are seeking a Staff Safety Engineer to own functional safety across AMP solutions and the on-robot software stack. Standards cover mobile bases and fixed arms separately, and the combination is where the open questions sit.
You will define the safety architecture, and the safety requirements on the software with authority over design decisions that affect the safety case.
You will work with the Compliance Engineer on certification, core robotics on implementation, and solutions on customer site risk assessment.
What you’ll do
- Own the safety architecture for AMP solutions across mobile robots, arms, and mobile manipulators.
- Define the safety requirements the software must meet, including safety-rated stop behavior, speed and separation monitoring, and safe state handling.
- Lead hazard analysis and risk assessment for supported solutions, and maintain the resulting safety case.
- Establish the boundary between safety-rated and non-safety-rated software, and enforce it in architecture reviews.
- Define safety validation strategy and the test evidence required per release, with the Test team.
- Own KUKA's technical position on mobile manipulator safety certification, including the gaps in current standards.
- Review customer site integrations for safety adequacy and produce the required documentation.
- Mentor engineers on safety-relevant design and raise the organization's fluency in functional safety.
Job requirements
Experience
- 8 to 12 or more years of professional engineering experience, with 5 or more years in functional safety for industrial machinery or robotics.
- Demonstrated ownership of a safety case for a product that shipped and was certified.
- Experience with safety-rated control architectures on real hardware.
Education
- Master's degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
- Equivalent advanced industry experience with demonstrated safety engineering leadership may be considered.
Core technical background
- Deep command of ISO 13849, IEC 61508, and IEC 62061, including performance level and SIL determination.
- Strong knowledge of robot and AMR safety standards: ISO 10218, ISO/TS 15066, ISO 3691-4, and ANSI R15.08.
- Experience with safety-rated hardware: safety PLCs, safety-rated laser scanners, dual-channel architectures, and safe motion control.
- Experience specifying and validating speed and separation monitoring and power and force limiting.
- Ability to read and review C++ safety-relevant software and its architecture.
- Experience with hazard analysis methods including HAZOP, FMEA, and fault tree analysis.
Systems mindset
- Ability to construct a defensible safety argument where the standards do not yet cover the configuration.
- Comfortable balancing safety conservatism against throughput and cost, and stating which trade-off was made and why.
- Able to hold a position under commercial pressure.
Technical leadership and collaboration
- Operates as the safety authority across product, robotics, and field engineering.
- Able to explain a safety rationale to customers, auditors, and executives at the right level of detail.
- Clear communicator who can work effectively with remote teams across multiple time zones, including colleagues in Germany.
Nice to have
- Direct experience with mobile manipulator or AMMR safety.
- Experience with ANSI R15.08 certification in practice, including its current limits.
- TUV Functional Safety Engineer certification or equivalent.
- Experience with automotive manufacturing safety requirements.
- Experience with safety validation in simulation.