Principal Systems Safety Engineer

Job Title : Principal Systems Safety Engineer

Department: Systems

Location: St. Louis, MO (ONSITE)

Schedule: Full-time, 100% in-office

About Us:

We are dedicated to revolutionizing the freight industry by liberating tons of freight from congested highways, reducing carbon emissions, and enhancing transportation efficiency. We are deploying self-propelled battery-electric railcars and vehicles today, with a roadmap toward fully autonomous operations, to transform freight logistics and bring innovation to the rail network. Based in St. Louis, MO, we are committed to promoting industrial revitalization, saving lives, and minimizing the environmental impact of trucking and transportation. We actively foster a work environment for every teammate that's welcoming, respectful, and inclusive, with great opportunities for professional growth. Find your future with us.

Role Overview:

The Company is seeking an experienced Principal Systems Safety Engineer to establish and lead our system safety program. This is the first dedicated safety hire , reporting directly to the Chief Engineer, with a mandate to build our safety-critical engineering practice from an early-stage draft into a production-ready program. You will serve as the technical authority for systems safety and safety-critical software compliance, qualifying our self-propelled battery-electric vehicles for current freight operations while architecting the safety case for our autonomous future. The Company works with both U.S. and EU customers, with the FRA/AAR waiver pathway as our primary near-term regulatory focus and EN 5012x familiarity valuable for European engagements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Establish the Safety Program: Build The Company’s system safety program from an early-stage draft into a production-grade practice, defining processes, standards, documentation, and review cadences.
• Lead System Safety: Serve as the technical authority for systems safety and software reliability, collaborating across hardware, software, controls, and systems engineering teams.
• Safety-Critical Software Compliance: Lead safety review, hazard analysis, and compliance verification of onboard safety-critical software in accordance with rail industry standards.
• Own the Analysis: Drive and execute critical safety and reliability analyses, including Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Hazard Analysis, to identify risks and define mitigation strategies.
• Regulatory Pathway: Lead the FRA/AAR waiver process for our self-propelled vehicles and develop the safety case supporting our progression toward autonomous operations.
• Technology Qualification: Define the processes and test methodologies required to qualify novel battery-electric and autonomous rail technologies for freight operations.
• Design Influence: Proactively influence system and software architecture from the earliest stages, translating safety requirements into actionable designs for hardware and software teams.
• Testing & Validation: Coordinate and execute test plans to validate that integrated system performance satisfies operational safety cases and regulatory expectations.
• Lifecycle Support: Address and resolve safety-critical or software reliability issues related to fielded systems, providing support from concept through deployment.
• Travel: Up to 10%-15% domestic travel for integration testing, demonstrations, and customer site visits.

Why Join Us?

• Build From the Ground Up: Establish the safety program and culture for a company at the forefront of rail innovation – this role shapes how The Company approaches safety for years to come.
• Career Growth: Develop your career with a forward-thinking company dedicated to transforming rail technology.
• Innovation Environment: Contribute to groundbreaking projects that bridge the past and future of rail transport, including the path from self-propelled to autonomous operations.
• Impactful Work: Be a key player in creating solutions that promote a more sustainable and efficient rail network.

About You!

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills/Experience):

• At least a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, or Science.
• 5 or more years of systems engineering experience in a safety-critical, highly-regulated environment (e.g., aerospace, rail, medical devices, defense, or automotive).
• Demonstrated experience performing system-level safety analyses (e.g., FMEA, FTA, Hazard Analysis, and Reliability Predictions).
• Familiarity with safety-critical software architectures, software development lifecycle (SDLC) processes, and software verification tools.
• Willingness to expand into technical areas beyond your area of expertise; ability to develop innovative and novel approaches.
• Open-minded and comfortable working in a teaming environment and as an individual contributor.
• Fluent in both written and verbal English.
• U.S. Person status required (as defined by U.S. export control regulations); details will be addressed in the application. Immigration or work visa sponsorship will not be provided.

Preferred Qualifications (Desired Skills/Experience):

Regulatory & Standards Experience:

• Direct experience qualifying or certifying new systems within the rail transit or freight rail industry, including FRA regulations (49 CFR Parts 200-299) and AAR standards.
• Experience with safety-critical software standards and functional safety compliance (e.g., EN 50128, EN 50126, ISO 26262, or DO-178C).
• Familiarity with EU rail safety frameworks for cross-market system qualification.

Industry Experience:

• Knowledge of freight rail systems, operations, and legacy mechanical/pneumatic configurations.
• Exposure to autonomous vehicle safety cases or driverless operation regulatory pathways.

Process & Collaboration:

• Experience working in Agile environments for both hardware and software development.
• Demonstrated experience working across organizational boundaries and collaborating with multi-disciplinary engineering disciplines.

For more information contact :

Julie Stoer

Executive Search Consultant

Taylor Transportation Search Group

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