Lead Test Engineer AV Safety Assurance

The role

You will own how safety is tested, judged and reported across the QA team. You will manage safety gates, acceptance criteria, and safety reports to provide evidence for release decisions.

What you will do

• Own the safety gates including classification, escalation, and criteria for merges or releases.
• Own the acceptance criteria and decide what is measured at each gate.
• Own the safety report format for the QA team.
• Coach the QA team through calibration sessions and report reviews.
• Act as the safety voice in the release decision process.
• Connect hazard analysis output to scenario sets and results.
• Work with the safety organization to translate frameworks into testable requirements.
• Track standards and regulations governing driverless operation in Texas and beyond.

Required qualifications

• 7+ years in testing, verification or validation, including ownership of a gate, review, or reporting standard.
• Experience where being wrong had physical consequences.
• Hazard-driven thinking.
• Comfort with residual risk.
• Influence without authority.
• A habit of checking the number yourself.
• Fluent use of LLMs as a working tool.
• Excellent written English.

Nice to have

• Working knowledge of standards like ISO 21448, ISO/TS 5083, UL 4600, ISO 26262, ISO 34501–34505, DO-178C, IEC 62304, ISO 14971, EN 50716, or IEC 61508.
• Autonomous vehicles, ADAS, or another domain that operates without a human fallback.
• Direct contribution to a safety case, a Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment, or a regulatory submission.
• Experience defining on-road testing safety protocols and safety-driver procedures.
• Experience hiring engineers.
• Hands-on SQL and Python for digging into results yourself.

About the company

Avride builds autonomous driving technology for vehicles and delivery robots, and tests it on public roads in Austin.