Senior Systems & Safety Engineer – Autonomy

Who we are

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation. 

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations. 

About the role

Gatik’s commercial middle-mile operations require uncompromising system safety across the entire autonomous driving stack. As a Senior Systems & Safety Engineer for Autonomy, you will own the functional safety lifecycle (ISO 26262) and overall system safety concepts for Gatik’s software architecture—spanning perception, localization, mapping, planning, controls, and fault management. You will architect high-availability, fail-operational mechanisms, define system-level safety targets, and ensure every autonomy release satisfies Gatik’s driverless safety case.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA  office!

What you'll do

Key Responsibilities

• System Safety Concept Development: Define and maintain the Functional Safety Concept (FSC) and Technical Safety Concept (TSC) for Gatik’s Level 4 autonomous system in accordance with ISO 26262 (up to ASIL D).
• Hazard Analysis & Risk Assessment (HARA): Lead system-level HARAs, STPA (System-Theoretic Process Analysis), FMEAs, and FTAs (Fault Tree Analysis) across autonomy modules.
• Requirements Breakdown & Traceability: Derive safety requirements from vehicle-level goals down to software components, allocating requirements to middleware, stack algorithms, and diagnostic monitors in systems like Jama/Jira.
• Minimum Risk Maneuver (MRM) Architecture: Architect fail-operational, fail-aware, and fail-safe fallback strategies, including degraded modes, trajectory fallback, and pull-over behaviors.
• Safety Metrics & SPIs: Define and monitor Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) and safety metrics to continuously assess stack maturity and release readiness.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Autonomy Software, Middleware, Infrastructure, and Systems teams to embed functional safety into daily agile development processes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Robotics, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or Aerospace Engineering.
• Experience: 6+ years in functional safety or systems engineering for autonomous vehicles, robotics, or safety-critical aerospace/automotive platforms.
• Standards Mastery: Deep expertise in ISO 26262, UL 4600, and ISO 21448.
• Technical Rigor:
• Demonstrated mastery of safety analysis techniques: HARA, STPA, FMEA, FTA, and Reliability Block Diagrams.
• Strong programming proficiency in C++ and Python for reading codebases, analyzing logs, and writing architectural scripts.
• Experience defining architecture for deterministic, real-time autonomous systems.
• Tooling: Experience with safety and requirements management software (Jama, DOORS, Enterprise Architect, or code-based tracing tools).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience shipping Level 4 driverless commercial operations (trucking or passenger AVs).
• Experience with middleware safety (ROS2 safety layers, Adaptive AUTOSAR, or custom IPC frameworks).
• Expertise in safety arguments using Goal Structuring Notation (GSN).

Salary Range - $160,000- $240,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.

We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy.  By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.

Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

• Forbes: Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs
• Tech Brew: Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry
• Business Wire: Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework
• Auto Futures: Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS
• Automotive News: Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning
• Forbes: Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services
• Bloomberg: Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes
• Reuters: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

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