Senior Safety Management System (SMS) Risk Integration Specialist
About this role
The day-to-day work for the Senior Safety Management System (SMS) Risk Integration Specialist involves advancing how Waymo manages and tracks safety risk across its technology, operations, and organization. This role is central to the Safety Risk Management function of the SMS, focusing on integrating technical risk management expertise with cross-functional leadership. The specialist will partner with various teams to assess current risk management practices against safety regulations, resolve workflow inefficiencies, and define the requirements for tools that track hazards and mitigations from identification to verified risk reduction.
Key responsibilities include designing scalable processes, defining requirements for enterprise risk tooling, and establishing traceability mechanisms for risk treatments. Furthermore, this role involves leading the analysis of regulatory impacts, harmonizing cross-functional risk workflows, and creating visibility for executive leadership. This position exists to ensure that safety considerations are systematically embedded throughout the design and development of autonomous driving technology while maintaining compliance with external standards.
Candidates who thrive in this role possess a combination of technical risk management acumen and strong cross-functional leadership capabilities. Individuals who excel at translating complex safety data into actionable processes and clear executive summaries would be well-suited for this opportunity. Success in this role requires the ability to synthesize diverse risk inputs into cohesive frameworks and drive alignment across technical and operational groups.
What you will do
- Design, develop, and implement scalable, repeatable processes and frameworks that synthesize information into a unified view of Automated Driving System safety risk.
- Define business requirements, data taxonomies, and workflow specifications for enterprise safety risk tooling and collaborate with tooling teams on building and iterating these solutions.
- Establish end-to-end traceability mechanisms to track risk treatments and mitigations across distributed safety methodologies from initial identification through post-deployment verification.
- Evaluate the impact of domestic and international regulations and standards on Waymo’s Safety Risk Management practices, identifying compliance gaps and developing corrective roadmaps.
- Partner closely with teams to diagnose process inefficiencies and pain points, bringing stakeholders together to agree on practical solutions.
- Develop risk reporting dashboards, safety performance indicators, and executive summaries to provide leadership with a holistic risk picture and support audit readiness.
What you need
- A Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Physical Sciences, or a related scientific or analytic discipline is required.
- Minimum of five years of experience in System Safety, Functional Safety, or Safety Risk Management within safety-critical industries like autonomous vehicles or automotive.
- Strong working knowledge of traditional hazard analysis and risk assessment methodologies, such as FMEA/DFMEA, FTA, HAZOP, Event Tree Analysis, and Bowtie analysis.
- Demonstrated experience translating complex safety or risk management workflows into clear business requirements, data models, and functional specifications.
- Proven ability to conduct process and compliance gap analyses across distributed technical teams and synthesize disparate risk inputs into cohesive frameworks.
- Strong analytical and communication skills necessary for distilling multifaceted technical, operational, and organizational risk data into clear insights for senior leadership.
Nice to have
- An advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Engineering, Systems Safety, Computer Science, or a related scientific or analytic field.
- Hands-on familiarity with automotive, transportation, or aviation Safety Management System frameworks.
- Experience leveraging mode
Benefits
- $168,000 — $207,000 USD
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the work schedule like?
This role follows a hybrid work schedule.
What is the compensation range for this role?
The salary for this position is listed between $168,000 and $207,000 USD.
What methodologies are used for risk analysis?
The role requires a strong working knowledge of traditional hazard analysis and risk assessment methodologies, including FMEA/DFMEA, FTA, HAZOP, Event Tree Analysis, and Bowtie analysis.
What kind of team structure is involved?
The specialist will partner with teams across Waymo and report to the Safety Management System Lead.