System Safety Lead (IEC 61508)

Role summary

As a Senior or Principal Systems Engineer specialising in Product Safety, you will help ensure the organization's products are safe, certifiable and fit for operational use throughout the system lifecycle. You will contribute to complex defence and aerospace programmes by identifying, assessing and managing safety risks, providing robust evidence to support engineering decisions, customer acceptance and certification activities.

Working within multidisciplinary Integrated Project Teams (IPTs), you will influence system requirements, design, integration, verification and operational activities, ensuring safety considerations are embedded throughout programme delivery. You will also contribute to the development of Systems Safety engineering capability through mentoring, knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

As part of the Raven programme, you will apply sound engineering judgement to complex Product Safety challenges, supporting the resolution of emerging safety issues and helping to maintain a robust path to certification, acceptance and operational deployment. You will support both ongoing in-service activities for current versions and the development of future versions, including early lifecycle systems engineering activities such as requirements definition, architecture development and design reviews.

Responsibilities

• Deliver Product Safety engineering activities across multiple phases of the system lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain hazard analyses, safety assessments, safety cases and associated evidence.
• Identify, analyse and manage product safety risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies.
• Support certification, qualification and acceptance activities with customers and assurance authorities.
• Work closely with systems, software, hardware and integration teams to ensure safety requirements are effectively implemented.
• Investigate and support resolution of safety incidents, safety arisings and emerging technical issues.
• Ensure traceability between hazards, requirements, mitigations and verification evidence.
• Support design reviews, gate reviews and engineering assurance activities.
• Lead or support safety work packages, planning activities and reporting progress against project objectives.
• Provide peer review, technical guidance and mentoring to engineers within the wider engineering community.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of safety engineering processes, methods and tools.

We really need you to have the following in order to succeed in this role

• Degree in Systems Engineering, Safety Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electronic Engineering or a related STEM discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Experience delivering Product Safety engineering activities within a complex engineering environment.
• Knowledge of multiple phases of the engineering lifecycle and the interaction between safety, systems engineering and design disciplines.
• Experience applying recognised safety analysis techniques such as
• Functional Hazard Assessment (FHA)
• Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
• Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
• Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA/FMECA)
• Hazard Logs and Safety Cases
• Ability to communicate complex technical information to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience producing high-quality technical reports, safety evidence and engineering documentation.
• Ability to work independently whilst collaborating effectively within multidisciplinary teams.

If you have the above skills, the following will really help you stand out

• Experience within the aerospace, defence or other highly regulated sectors.
• Knowledge of standards such as DEF STAN 00-056, MIL-STD-882, ARP4761, IEC 61508 or equivalent industry standards.
• Experience supporting safety certification and customer acceptance activities.
• Experience leading engineering work packages, planning activities and managing technical risks.
• Experience conducting peer reviews and providing technical mentoring.
• Membership of a relevant professional institution and working towards, or holding, Incorporated Engineer (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng) status

An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit