Senior Safety Process Engineer

At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We’re turning today’s impossible into tomorrow’s standard —from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features.  

Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.  

Remote – This role requires the employee to be onsite at least one week a month. The primary work location may be remote with one week a month in person at the General Motors Global Technical Center in Warren, MI. 

Role Overview   

As a Senior Safety Process Engineer – AMR Design  within the Autonomous Robotics Center (ARC), you will lead development of safety architecture for autonomous mobile robotics products and drive its implementation across the product development lifecycle.  

In this role, you will serve as a senior technical leader for product safety, working closely with software, controls, electrical, product and program engineering teams to ensure safety is designed into the product from concept through validation and certification. You will help define safety strategies, answer complex safety-related technical questions, guide engineering decisions, and build the documentation, processes, and evidence needed to support third-party NRTL certification.  

What You’ll Do  

• Lead the development and maintenance of the product safety architecture for autonomous mobile robot systems, including safety concepts, safety requirements, and key safety assumptions  

• Partner with cross-functional product teams to integrate safety-by-design principles into system architecture, detailed design, interfaces, and implementation decisions across hardware and software  

• Serve as a primary technical resource for safety-related questions from the product team, helping resolve issues related to safety functions, risk reduction measures, standards interpretation, and safe operation of AMRs and robotics  

• Own and drive core safety work products such as hazard analyses, risk assessments, safety requirement specifications, fault analyses, performance level calculations, safety validation strategies, and related technical documentation  

• Lead safety reviews, architecture reviews, and design reviews to identify gaps, assess technical risk, and drive closure of safety-related issues 

• Guide development teams in the implementation of safety requirements and confirm that design intent aligns with applicable safety standards, internal requirements, and certification objectives  

• Prepare documentation packages, evidence sets, and engineering processes required to support third-party certification and compliance activities  

• Support discussions with internal stakeholders to support efficient certification planning, technical discussions, issue resolution, and audit readiness  

• Review safety-related technical content including electrical architectures, wiring diagrams, interface definitions, safety functions, validation results, and change impacts  

• Define and strengthen product safety processes, documentation discipline, traceability practices, and governance mechanisms across the development lifecycle  

• Support verification and validation planning to demonstrate that safety requirements are fully implemented and that systems achieve targeted safety performance  

• Mentor engineers and influence cross-functional teams in robotics and automation safety and general functional safety practices 

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)  

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, or a related technical field 

• Significant professional experience in functional safety, system safety, machine safety, product safety engineering, validation, or closely related discipline 

• Significant experience supporting safety, design, validation, or compliance activities for electromechanical systems, industrial automation systems, robotics platforms, or similar products 

• Strong knowledge of relevant safety and certification standards such as ISO 13849, IEC 61508, ISO 12100, ISO 3691-4, ANSI B56.5, UL, or related frameworks 

• Experience developing product safety architectures and translating safety objectives into actionable engineering requirements and technical decisions 

• Experience creating, updating, or reviewing structured engineering documentation in support of design, validation, certification, or compliance activities 

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to assess risks, identify gaps, and support issue resolution 

• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and clearly explain safety requirements, tradeoffs, and decisions  

What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)  

• Experience leading safety architecture or certification activities for autonomous mobile robots, industrial vehicles, warehouse automation, or other safety-critical robotic systems 

• Experience working directly with third-party certification bodies, auditors, test labs, or regulatory stakeholders 

• Familiarity with robotics, automation, and warehouse safety use cases including mobile equipment interaction, obstacle detection, LiDAR-based sensing, safety PLCs, safety-rated sensors, and fail-safe actuators 

• Experience with safety engineering tools and methods such as FMEA, FMEDA, fault tree analysis, reliability block diagrams, performance level calculations, or safety verification planning 

• Experience reviewing electrical architecture, wiring diagrams, system interfaces, and safety function implementation details 

• Experience operating in cross-functional product development environments with a strong emphasis on design quality, documentation rigor, traceability, and execution discipline 

Why Join Us  

You will have the opportunity to help shape the design capability behind next-generation autonomous robotics at General Motors. In this role, you will work closely with the engineering teams building the product, contribute directly to certification readiness and safety documentation, and help ensure safety is designed into our systems from the start.