Safety Engineer

Role summary

The Company Engineering function manages a portfolio of specialist capabilities, generating highly differentiated solutions and products by applying electronic, mechanical, and software technologies in demanding and critical environments to meet customer needs.

The Safety Engineer for electronic equipment is an expert practitioner within the safety discipline, knowledgeable of safety standards, capable of performing hazard analysis, safety assessment analysis, failure mode analysis, influencing the design and development of Cyber UK products, and being able to generate FMEAFailure Modes and Effects Analysis: a bottom-up method cataloging how components fail and what effects those failures produce. Read more/FMECA.

The Safety Engineer is a recognised subject matter expert within the safety and reliability discipline, bringing both technical depth and practical application of established safety standards and methodologies. The role involves leading and supporting activities such as hazard identification, safety assessments, and failure analysis, ensuring that risks are systematically identified, evaluated, and effectively managed throughout the product lifecycle.

Working closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams, the Safety Engineer plays a critical role in shaping and influencing product design and development. By integrating safety considerations from the earliest stages, they help ensure that solutions are not only compliant with relevant standards but are also robust, reliable, and fit for purpose in demanding operational environments.

Within Cyber UK programmes, the role carries particular responsibility for delivering high-quality safety and reliability analyses, including FMEA and FMECA. The Safety Engineer ensures that these analyses are thorough, traceable, and aligned with project and regulatory requirements, ultimately contributing to the development of secure, dependable systems that can be trusted in mission-critical applications.

Responsibilities

• Conduct requirements and design assessments to systematically identify, evaluate, and mitigate hazards throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Perform safety and reliability analyses, including hazard analysis, safety assessments, failure mode analysis, and FMEA/FMECA, to identify and address design weaknesses and anomalies.
• Contribute to the design and development of Cyber UK products by integrating safety considerations into engineering decisions.
• Produce high-quality safety and reliability documentation, including planning and compliance documents, in accordance with company standards and project requirements.
• Provide accurate work estimates, identify cost-effective solutions, and deliver work predictably to support overall team performance.
• Operate effectively with minimal supervision, demonstrating autonomy and sound technical judgement.
• Generate technical inputs for product-level design reviews and approve significant technical documentation.
• Act as a subject matter expert, providing specialist guidance and support to wider engineering teams and, where appropriate, external stakeholders.
• Mentor and support the development of less experienced engineers, fostering knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Identify and champion process improvements to enhance engineering efficiency and innovation.
• Apply relevant defence and industry standards, including Def Stan 00-056, MIL-STD 1629, MIL-HDB 217F, ARP4761, and ARP4754 (for airborne systems).
• Maintain and manage the hazard log, ensuring hazards, mitigations, and verification activities are accurately captured, tracked, and closed through the lifecycle.
• Define and derive safety requirements, ensuring clear traceability from hazards through to implementation and verification.
• Support the development and maintenance of the safety case, including structuring arguments, evidence, and compliance with applicable standards.
• Facilitate and lead safety reviews and workshops, such as hazard identification sessions, design reviews, and risk assessments with cross-functional teams.
• Ensure safety requirements are verified and validated, working closely with test and integration teams to confirm that mitigations are effective.
• Interface with customers, regulators, and assurance bodies as required, providing technical justification and supporting audits or certification activities.
• Assess and manage the impact of design changes on system safety, ensuring that modifications do not introduce unacceptable risk.
• Support configuration and change management processes, ensuring safety artefacts remain consistent with the evolving system design.
• Promote a strong safety culture within the engineering team, encouraging proactive identification and management of risks.
• Contribute to bid and proposal activities, providing safety input to support technical solutions, cost estimation, and risk assessment.

Requirements

• Highly organised, self-managing, able to manage multiple activities at any one time
• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to engage effectively with all audiences/stakeholders at all levels in the organisation
• Experience in hazard analysis techniques, such as PHA, FHA, FTA (Fault Tree AnalysisA top-down deductive analysis tracing an undesired top event to combinations of lower-level faults using boolean logic. Read more), and Event Tree Analysis (ETA).
• Experience in developing and maintaining safety cases, including structuring arguments and linking evidence to safety requirements.
• Strong understanding of risk management principles, including risk assessment, mitigation, and acceptance processes.
• Ability to influence and challenge engineering decisions constructively, particularly in safety-critical contexts.
• Experience working within regulated or safety-critical environments (e.g. defence, aerospace, rail, nuclear, or similar).
• Understanding of verification and validation (V&V) processes, particularly in relation to safety requirements
• Awareness of configuration management principles, ensuring alignment between design, documentation, and safety artefacts.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly, both verbally and in written documentation suitable for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience with version control, change management, and defect tracking systems.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a proactive and self-motivated approach.
• Ability to quickly assimilate new information and apply logical, structured thinking to complex challenges.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent activities.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with best practice development processes and lifecycle models, particularly within safety-critical or regulated environments.
• Experience with continuous integration, automated testing, and DevSecOps practices, particularly in the context of assured or high-integrity systems.
• Experience using requirements and systems engineering tools, such as DOORS and Enterprise Architect.
• Knowledge of digital electronics and digital logic design, including an understanding of hardware failure modes and interfaces.
• Experience in the development of military or defence-related equipment, with an appreciation of operational environments and constraints.
• Experience in the development of UK High Grade Cryptographic products or other high-assurance secure systems.
• Candidates must be willing and able to obtain, and maintain, DV security clearance

Standards

• SAE ARP4754
• SAE ARP4761