# Lead Test Engineer AV Safety Assurance

**Company:** [Avride](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/avride)
**Location:** Austin, TX
**Role:** QA Engineering
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** Safety Assurance, Verification, Validation, Hazard Analysis, Stpa, Fmea, Hazop, Safety Case, SQL, Python, Iso 21448, Ul 4600, Iso 26262, Autonomous Vehicles, LLMs
**Posted:** 2026-09-04

> Leads safety testing and evidence practices for autonomous-vehicle QA, including gates, acceptance criteria, reporting, hazard-to-test traceability, and release decisions. Requires 7+ years in testing, verification, or validation and experience in a safety-critical domain.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Own safety gates for QA, including safety-relevant finding classification, escalation, merge and release criteria, and closure tracking.
- Define acceptance criteria and thresholds for collisions, near misses, right-of-way, hard braking, and other safety measures.
- Establish standardized safety-report formats that compare runs, identify uncovered areas, and support release decisions.
- Coach QA staff through calibration sessions, report reviews, and criteria training.
- Represent testing evidence and remaining unknowns in engineering, safety, and operations release reviews.
- Connect hazard-analysis outputs, including STPA, FMEA, and HAZOP, to scenario coverage, test results, and safety-case evidence.
- Translate the safety framework into testable requirements and collaborate on tooling that makes requirements measurable.
- Track standards and regulations governing driverless operation in Texas and elsewhere.

## Requirements
- 7+ years of experience in testing, verification, or validation.
- Experience owning a durable testing gate, review process, or reporting standard.
- Experience in a safety-critical domain where incorrect decisions have physical consequences, such as autonomous vehicles, aviation, medical devices, rail, industrial automation, or defense.
- Hazard-driven thinking and ability to work directly with hazard-analysis outputs.
- Ability to assess and communicate residual risk, limitations, and unknowns.
- Ability to influence engineers and QA colleagues without direct authority.
- Strong data-verification habits, including investigating underlying data when metrics appear incorrect.
- Fluent use of large language models for reviewing standards, logs, and results and drafting documentation.
- Excellent written English.

## Nice to Have
- Knowledge of ISO 21448 (SOTIF), ISO/TS 5083, UL 4600, ISO 26262, ISO 34501–34505, DO-178C, IEC 62304, ISO 14971, EN 50716, or IEC 61508.
- Experience with autonomous vehicles, ADAS, or systems without a human fallback.
- Contributions to a safety case, Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment, or regulatory submission.
- Experience defining on-road testing safety protocols and safety-driver procedures.
- Experience hiring engineers.
- Hands-on SQL and Python experience for analyzing test results.

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