SAFETY ASSURANCE LEAD

SAFETY ASSURANCE LEAD - PADDINGTON (HYBRID) KEY POINTS • Hybrid role based in Paddington, London, with time at the client's lab in Ealing • Salary up to £80k depending on experience • Senior role owning the safety assurance function end to end • Reporting directly into the CTO within an early stage autonomy business ABOUT THE CLIENT We are supporting a fast growing business operating at the forefront of autonomous vehicles and industrial infrastructure autonomy. The company is building the digital and operational foundation that allows autonomous systems to run in live industrial environments, working with real sites, real vehicles and real constraints rather than lab conditions. THE BENEFITS • Hybrid working with genuine flexibility • Private medical and dental insurance, healthcare cash plan and employer pension matching • The chance to build the safety assurance function from the ground up • Direct influence at a pivotal stage of the company's growth • Collaborative, engineering led culture working alongside ambitious colleagues THE SAFETY ASSURANCE LEAD ROLE As Safety Assurance Lead you will own and coordinate the safety assurance approach across the autonomous vehicle product and customer deployments. This is a genuinely greenfield role, defining the framework rather than inheriting one. You will identify and interpret applicable safety standards, regulatory requirements and certification expectations, and translate them into practical engineering and operational requirements. You will maintain end to end traceability from hazards and safety goals through requirements, design, verification, validation and deployment evidence, working closely with engineering to embed safety into system architecture and with delivery teams to capture deployment specific evidence. You will also lead engagement with external certification bodies and independent assessors such as TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, DEKRA or BSI, and report on assurance status, certification readiness, open risks and compliance gaps to senior leadership. SAFETY ASSURANCE LEAD ESSENTIAL SKILLS • Experience in safety assurance, systems safety, functional safety or product safety, including exposure to autonomous vehicles, robotics or related autonomy systems • Working knowledge of standards such as ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), IEC 61508, ISO 13849, the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the ISO 345xx series • Proven experience leading safety assurance across multidisciplinary teams including engineering, testing, cybersecurity and operations • Strong grasp of the full safety lifecycle, including hazard analysis, risk assessment, requirements management, verification, validation and change control • Track record creating and managing safety cases, safety plans, compliance and traceability matrices, assurance arguments and evidence packs • Experience working with external certification bodies or independent safety assessors is highly desirable • Familiarity with requirements and traceability tools such as DOORS, Jira or Confluence TO BE CONSIDERED Please either apply through this advert or email me directly via . For further information please call me on / . By applying for this role, you give express consent for us to process and submit (subject to required skills) your application to our client in conjunction with this vacancy only. KEY SKILLS Safety Assurance, Functional Safety, Systems Safety, ISO 26262, SOTIF, IEC 61508, ISO 13849, Machinery Directive, Safety Case, Hazard Analysis, Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics, Certification, TÜV, Compliance