Senior Systems Engineer, Autonomy Verification and Validation (Safety & Fail Operational)

Zoox is on an ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous mobility solution for cities and deploy such a robotaxi solution safely. As a Senior Systems Engineer, Autonomy Verification & Validation at Zoox, you will have the opportunity to work closely with cross-functional teams to analyze and measure our system's performance and safety.

You will lead the creation of cutting-edge V&V methodologies, develop processes, write comprehensive validation plans, and execute tests and simulations to ensure the safety of the autonomous driving software. Your real-world and virtual tests will capture the full end-to-end performance, from advanced AI systems through the custom vehicle platform.

In this role, you will::
• Define strategies and methodologies to verify and validate the software stack and fail-operational architectures with robust test coverage.
• Work cross-functionally to develop detailed simulation and structured test plans and procedures to validate autonomous features and safety requirements, ensuring the system can handle nominal and edge-case "fail-operational" scenarios.
• Contribute to the evolution of the Zoox safety case by providing technical evidence and validation data ahead of every major development milestone.
• Lead the technical and logistical planning of tests.
• Design test programs to achieve high coverage of requirements and scenarios, drawing on simulation and analysis where possible.
• Maintain rigorous end-to-end traceability between requirements, test cases, and results to produce a closed-loop safety case.
• Perform sophisticated test data analysis and define automated data extraction tools to streamline reporting and ensure high-fidelity performance metrics.

Qualifications:
• B.S. or higher degree in Automotive Engineering, Aerospace, Robotics, Electrical, Mechanical, or Systems Engineering.
• 7+ years of system test engineering experience in the autonomous vehicle, robotics, or aerospace industry.
• Strong analytical skills with hands-on experience in complex hardware-software integration.
• Experience with requirement and test traceability tools such as Polarion, Jama, DOORS, or TestRails.
• Deep understanding of the V-model and the application of verification and validation to safety-critical systems.
• Ability to grapple with ambiguity and lead cross-functional initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency with probability, statistics, and risk assessment methodology.

Bonus Qualifications:
• Experience developing integration and test plans for fail-operational architectures or safety-critical robotic systems.
• Hands-on experience with industry safety standards such as ISO 26262 or ISO 21448 (SOTIF).
• Experience with test scripting and data analysis languages (Python and SQL preferred).
• Familiarity with programming languages such as C or C++.