Senior Staff Functional Safety Engineer

Job Title

Senior Staff Functional Safety Engineer

Role Summary

Lead and coordinate functional safety activities across assigned silicon/IP programs, ensuring compliance with functional safety standards and delivery of safety artefacts throughout the product lifecycle. Work cross-functionally with architecture, design, verification, software, program management and quality teams to capture, implement and verify safety requirements.

Experience Level

Senior — minimum of 8 years of hands-on hardware/software engineering experience in the semiconductor industry; extensive experience managing functional safety activities through the full product lifecycle.

Responsibilities

Accountable for planning, executing and demonstrating functional safety for assigned programs.

• Lead and coordinate functional safety activities in accordance with ISO 26262 / IEC 61508 and internal safety management processes.
• Create, maintain and monitor program safety plans and safety cases; track safety activities to completion.
• Perform and support hardware safety analyses (DFMEA, FMEA, FMEDA, DFA) and impact analyses for errata.
• Support development of safety artefacts: Safety Manual, Development Interface Agreements, safety analyses and related documentation.
• Ensure requirements traceability for safety-related requirements across architecture, design and verification teams.
• Coordinate with certification bodies and support internal/external safety audits and assessments.
• Report safety status, risks and progress to senior management and stakeholders.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of functional safety processes and practices.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (program management, architecture, cybersecurity, design, DV, software, system test) to ensure safety requirements are implemented and verified.

Requirements

Key must-have skills and experience for successful performance in this role.

• Must-have: Minimum 8 years of hands-on experience in hardware/software engineering within the semiconductor or IP development domain.
• Must-have: Deep practical knowledge of ISO 26262 or IEC 61508 functional safety frameworks and experience managing FuSa through the full product lifecycle (development, test, audit, QA).
• Must-have: Experience performing hardware safety analyses (DFMEA, FMEA, FMEDA, DFA) and conducting safety impact analyses for errata.
• Must-have: Experience with IP/ASIC development lifecycles, hardware design and verification methodologies, and program management practices.
• Must-have: Skilled with industry tools for requirements traceability and project management (examples: Jama, Jira, Git/GitHub) and version control workflows.
• Must-have: Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to present complex technical information clearly to engineering and management audiences.
• Must-have: Ability to work independently and as part of cross-functional teams.

• Nice-to-have: Formal safety certification(s) and experience interacting with certification bodies for functional safety assessments.
• Nice-to-have: Familiarity with ISO 9001 quality management and automotive cybersecurity standard ISO/SAE 21434.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Formal functional-safety certification(s) are highly desirable.

About the Company

Company: SiFive

Headquarters: San Mateo, California, United States

SiFive is a pioneering company in the RISC-V ecosystem, focused on transforming the future of computing by delivering high-performance, data-intensive RISC-V solutions. Their compute platforms empower leading technology firms to innovate across various markets, including AI, machine learning, and automotive sectors. SiFive is recognized for its commitment to ongoing innovation and fostering collaboration among talented teams, impacting lives by enabling advanced chip design.