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Posted May 5Director, System Safety
at May Mobility
Remote
Responsibilities
- Lead a multi-disciplinary team across systems, test execution, and safety risk and process/SMS
- Drive the Driver-Out (DO) gated deployment plan with strategic ride-hail partners (Lyft, Uber) — internal gating, partner safety onsites, and recommendation packages for go/no-go decisions
- Own the Safety Case Framework for May's L4 systems, including HARA, FTA, FMEA, and runtime-monitor coverage for the MPDM-based decision-making stack, with ML-aware safety analysis
- Build out and operationalize the Safety Management System (SMS): incident risk assessment process, risk register automation, recall response plan, safety gating test suite, and the Product Safety Competency Register.
- Define safety architecture — partner with Autonomy, Validation, and Hardware to ensure safety-by-construction across future releases (scalable runtime monitoring, ODD enforcement, Driver-Anomaly response systems).
- Execute on May's L4 Japan compliance plan — partner with the Systems & Japan Programs Manager and the Japan Regulatory Safety Engineer on partner engagement and bilingual regulator response cadences.
- Co-lead strategic partner safety onsites (e.g., Uber Safety Onsite cadence) with the VP, Safety & Validation; own the technical narrative in OEM, ride-hail, and regulator forums.
- Track record of hiring under ambiguity and onboarding leaders into existing programs.
Requirements
- Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, May develops and deploys autonomous vehicles (AVs) powered by our innovative Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) technology that literally reimagines the way AVs think.
- L4 Safety Case Architecture: Owns the safety case end-to-end — including ML-aware analysis (ISO 21448, ISO 8800). Has personally contributed to an L4 safety case, not only reviewed one.
- AI-Native Safety Mindset : Has built safety arguments for learned components (neural-network planners, transformer-based driving stacks, end-to-end models) where the V-model alone is insufficient.
- Comfortable defining runtime monitors, distributional-shift mitigations, and uncertainty-quantification strategies that anchor a credible safety case for ML-based decision-making.
- Partners naturally with data science and ML engineers to define safety KPIs and guard-rails grounded in evidence.
- Driver-Out / Driverless Deployment Execution: Has been a key contributor to the gating, partner-readiness, and regulator steps required to remove the safety driver from a commercial AV deployment.
- Comfortable owning the technical recommendation behind a go/no-go decision.
- Communication: Demonstrated ability to communicate, present and influence credibly and efficiently at all levels of the organization, including executive and C-level. Qualifications and Experience
- BA/BS degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field; advanced degree preferred. Direct
- Experience working with regulators (NHTSA, FMCSA, FTA, state DMVs, MLIT, or international equivalents) — direct or in close partnership with an executive sponsor.
- Working knowledge of ML-driven decision-making safety standards (ISO 21448 SOTIF, ISO 8800) and traditional functional safety (ISO 26262) preferred. •
- Experience in Automotive, AV, Aerospace, or another safety-critical regulated industry is highly preferred.
- Proven success working in a start-up or small business where there are minimal resources, nothing comes easy, and things don't always work as planned.
- experience at an AV or AI-driving company with an end-to-end learned or ML-heavy autonomy stack. Preferred:
- experience contributing to a published safety assurance framework or runtime-monitoring methodology for learned components.
- Familiarity with the safety-cybersecurity intersection (ISO/SAE 21434, NHTSA Cybersecurity Best Practices) is a plus — May's product cyber and safety functions partner closely.
- Ability to undergo a driving record check. Physical Requirements
- experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway! You may be the perfect candidate for this or another role at May.
Experience
- 8+ years in product or system safety engineering, with 3+ years on L3+ AV or comparable hard-tech safety programs (aviation, rail, robotics).
- 3+ years managing engineers, including at least one stint managing a manager OR leading a team of senior ICs and ready to step up to manager-of-managers. •
Benefits
- Prolonged computer use Travel required? - Moderate: 11%-25% Benefits and Perks
- Comprehensive healthcare suite including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability plans.
- Health Savings and Flexible Spending Healthcare and Dependent Care Accounts available.
- Rich retirement benefits, including an immediately vested employer safe harbor match.
- Generous paid parental leave as well as a phased return to work.
- Flexible vacation policy in addition to paid company holidays.
- Salary Range $165,000 — $250,000 USD
Additional details
- May Mobility is transforming cities through autonomous technology to create a safer, greener, more accessible world.
- Our vehicles do more than just drive themselves - they provide value to communities, bridge public transit gaps and move people where they need to go safely, easily and with a lot more fun.
- We’re building the world’s best autonomy system to reimagine transit by minimizing congestion, expanding access and encouraging better land use in order to foster more green, vibrant and livable spaces.
- Since our founding in 2017, we’ve given more than 500,000 autonomous rides to real people around the globe.
- We’re hiring people who share our passion for building the future, today, solving real-world problems and seeing the impact of their work. Join us. Job Summary
- The Director, System Safety leads May Mobility's day-to-day product safety function — driving the L4 safety case, the Driver-Out (DO) gated deployment plan with strategic ride-hail partners, and the Safety Management System (SMS) build-out.
- Reporting to the VP, Safety & Validation, the role manages a multi-disciplinary team across systems and programs, test execution, and safety risk and process.
- The Director partners with the VP on external regulatory and partner relationships and is the primary internal owner of the safety roadmap.
- This role inherits a mature roadmap and bench, and will execute the next 18 months of L4 commercial expansion across the US and Japan. Essential Responsibilities
- Hire and onboard the open safety roles and develop existing leaders in the org. Skills and Abilities