Safety Lead

Who We Are

Gatik is in the business of autonomous freight, and that business is already on the road.

Every day, Gatik’s autonomous trucks move freight for Fortune 50 retailers, grocers and consumer brands across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas and Canada, connecting distribution centers and stores and keeping goods moving. At the heart of it all is the Gatik Driver, our proprietary Level 4 autonomous driving system, powered by scalable, interpretable AI and engineered to deliver safe, reliable, high-frequency freight operations.

Gatik’s momentum is real. With more than $600 million in contracted revenue and $200 million raised in our August 2026 Series D round, Gatik has taken one of the toughest challenges in autonomous technology and turned it into a proven commercial business.

And the market is paying attention. In 2026, Gatik earned a place on Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers list, and the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. The Gatik Driver won an Edison Award for Advancements in Autonomous Driving, and Inc. named our Co-founder and Chief Engineer, Apeksha Kumavat, to its Female Founders 500 list.

There's a lot more road ahead, and some of the brightest, most driven minds in autonomous technology are building the next chapter at Gatik. We're taking on hard engineering problems, pushing the limits of what's possible and building on a commercial foundation that's already proven itself in the real world with some of the biggest companies in the world, like PepsiCo and Loblaw. If you're ambitious, love solving problems that matter and want to see your work make a real difference, you'll find plenty to get excited about here.

About the role

What you'll do

• Team Leadership & Program Management: Recruit, mentor, and manage a multidisciplinary systems and safety engineering team. Oversee daily team execution, task prioritization, resource allocation across engineering sprints, performance reviews, and team development.
• Safety Case Leadership: Author, evolve, and defend the end-to-end safety case framework (leveraging UL 4600, ISO 26262, and ISO 21448 / SOTIF) to support commercial deployment, public road operations, and regulatory submissions.
• AI & Machine Learning Safety Strategy: Define and implement safety and verification methodologies tailored for advanced AI and ML-based autonomy models (e.g., perception, prediction, planning) using ISO/PAS 8800. Establish quantitative metrics for model robustness, dataset coverage, and edge-case validation.
• Systems Safety Architecture & Requirements: Define system-level safety requirements, hazard mitigations, functional safety concepts, and fail-operational/degradation paths across hardware, compute, and software stacks.
• Comprehensive Risk Management: Oversee formal risk identification methodologies—including Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA), FMEA, FTA, and System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)—ensuring risk traceability matrices remain updated throughout product lifecycles.
• Safety Governance & Operational Oversight: Direct daily safety program operations, chair safety review boards, establish incident response protocols, define system release gate criteria, and continuously monitor operational safety performance metrics.
• Engineering & V&V Integration: Partner with hardware, software, and V&V teams to validate safety arguments through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, closed-course testing, and high-fidelity simulation.
• Regulatory & External Representation: Lead technical engagement with regulatory agencies (NHTSA, California DMV, DOT), standard committees, and third-party auditors.
• OEM & Tier 1 Supplier Collaboration: Serve as the primary technical authority interfacing with OEM partners and Tier 1 suppliers. Establish joint safety frameworks, define Development Interface Agreements (DIAs), and ensure external supplier components align with system-level functional safety requirements.
• Customer Safety Liaison & Engagement: Serve as the primary safety interface with enterprise customers and commercial partners. Communicate core safety concepts, present operational safety programs, align joint risk-mitigation protocols, and build client confidence in platform safety performance.

What we're looking for 

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in systems safety engineering for safety-critical domains (autonomous vehicles, automotive, or aerospace).
• 4+ years of direct engineering management experience leading teams, managing budget/resources, and directing day-to-day engineering operations.
• Proven experience acting as a primary interface to customers or external stakeholders, translating complex safety concepts, risk frameworks, and safety programs into clear executive communications.
• Proven ability to operate, adapt, and drive technical outcomes in a fast-paced frontier technology environment.
• Demonstrated track record building, delivering, and defending an end-to-end safety case for deployed autonomous or robotic systems.
• Deep mastery of functional safety standards: ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), and UL 4600.
• Practical experience applying AI/ML safety frameworks (specifically ISO/PAS 8800) to probabilistic systems.
• Hands-on experience leading hazard analysis techniques (HARA, FMEA, FTA, STPA).
• Proven experience establishing technical safety interfaces with automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, including hands-on experience structuring DIAs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or Machine Learning.
• Experience managing joint-development automotive programs across multi-party supply chains (OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2) and strategic client fleets.
• Expertise assessing deep neural network (DNN) interpretability, dataset quality, and non-deterministic software verification in safety-critical deployments.
• Direct experience representing safety architectures to state/federal regulatory bodies or external certification entities.
• Proficiency with Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) and enterprise systems management tooling (e.g., Jama, Polarion, DOORS).

Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017, Gatik has grown into a commercial force in autonomous freight, operating trucks daily in live customer networks across the United States and Canada. We're headquartered in Santa Clara, California, but our impact is felt on the roads and in the supply chains that keep essential goods moving for some of the biggest companies in North America.

Our trucks do some of the most demanding work in freight, running high-frequency, time-sensitive routes between distribution centers and stores, where reliability matters every single day. For our customers, that means more capacity, better service and products arriving where they need to be, when they need to be there.

Behind it all is AI-first technology built from the ground up for autonomous trucking, capable of navigating highways and surface streets and tackling the complexity of real-world logistics at scale.

Visit Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

For the latest company news, visit the Gatik newsroom.

Recent media coverage:

• TechCrunch: Self-driving truck startup Gatik raises $200M following PepsiCo deal
• Reuters: Gatik secures $200 million in funding as autonomous freight market accelerates
• Bloomberg: Driverless Trucks Can Save Lives on America's Roads
• PepsiCo website: PepsiCo and Gatik announce multi-year agreement to deploy autonomous freight in North America
• Wall Street Journal: Driverless Trucks Are Here - and They’re Delivering Bags of Doritos
• CBS News: Pepsi deploys self-driving delivery trucks
• Bloomberg: Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million
• Forbes: Hundreds’ Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads
• CNBC-TV18: No more test runs: Gatik says driverless trucks are now a real, money-making business
• Forbes: Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.

E-Verify Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Gatik participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program.