Senior Staff Functional Safety Architect — Industrial Applications
RenesasJob Title
Senior Staff Functional Safety Architect — Industrial Applications
Role Summary
Lead system-level functional safety architecture for industrial products across hardware, software, and system boundaries. Serve as the technical authority to translate safety requirements from standards, regulations, and customers into product design and verification activities.
Work with product teams, hardware and software engineering, validation, and external assessors to ensure compliance with applicable functional safety standards and to enable safe, reliable industrial systems.
Experience Level
Senior — typically 8+ years of experience in embedded or industrial system development with significant responsibility in functional safety.
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include defining and governing safety architecture and supporting certification and customer engagements.
- Define and own system-level functional safety architecture covering sensors, MCUs/SoCs, power devices, actuators, and communications.
- Translate standards, regulations, and customer use cases into system, hardware, and software safety requirements and SRS artifacts.
- Lead hazard analysis and risk assessment activities (HARA) and develop safety concepts and lifecycle plans.
- Specify safety mechanisms, diagnostics, redundancy, fault handling, and HW/SW partitioning to achieve safety integrity and fault containment.
- Drive safety verification and validation strategy and review safety-related implementation and test results.
- Prepare and review safety manuals, safety cases, and certification artifacts; interface with assessors and certification bodies.
- Support product definition and roadmaps by assessing safety implications, certification effort, and architectural trade-offs.
- Provide technical guidance, training, and mentoring on functional safety to engineering and application teams.
- Monitor evolving standards and industry trends and incorporate them into safety strategies and reference architectures.
Requirements
Must-have qualifications and skills required to perform the role.
Must-have:
- Proven experience as a Functional Safety Architect, Safety Manager, or Lead Safety Engineer for industrial or automation systems.
- Deep understanding of IEC 61508, IEC 62061, ISO 13849 and their application to industrial equipment.
- Hands-on experience with safety lifecycle activities: HARA, safety concept definition, FMEA/FMEDA/FTA, and safety validation.
- Strong knowledge of embedded systems architecture, MCUs/SoCs, real-time software, and industrial communication protocols (e.g., CAN, EtherCAT, PROFINET, Modbus).
- Experience defining and assessing diagnostics, watchdogs, redundancy, diversity, and safe-state concepts.
- Ability to communicate complex safety topics clearly to engineers, product teams, customers, and assessors.
- Strong documentation skills for safety-related deliverables and audit-ready artifacts.
Nice-to-have:
- Functional safety certification (e.g., TÜV Functional Safety Engineer/Professional).
- Experience with cybersecurity interactions with functional safety in industrial systems.
- Background in robotics, motion control, motor drives, or industrial power conversion.
- Familiarity with semiconductor safety architectures, safety libraries, and safety-certified IP.
- Experience supporting third-party assessments and notified body certifications.
Education Requirements
Master's or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
About the Company
Company: Renesas
Headquarters: Hitachinaka, Japan
Renesas is a global leader in embedded semiconductor solutions, providing high-quality products across automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT sectors. With over 22,000 employees in more than 30 countries, the company focuses on scalable solutions that enhance user experience and drive innovation while committed to sustainability and energy efficiency.
