About the Role We are seeking an experienced Lead System Safety Engineer to own system safety for our pressurized spacecraft and modular orbital structures, including vehicles that approach, berth to, and operate attached to crewed space stations. These vehicles must earn safety approval through station operator and NASA visiting-vehicle safety review processes.
You will lead the end-to-end system safety lifecycle: building the hazard analyses into the design while it is still changing, authoring the safety data packages, and serving as the company's principal safety representative before station operator and NASA safety review panels. You will provide independent safety assessment of the design, working closely with, but separate from, our systems, avionics, propulsion, and software teams.
Core Responsibilities - Safety Program Leadership: Author and maintain the System Safety Program Plan (SSPP). Own the hazard analysis baselines, hazard tracking, and safety verification tracking log through closure.
- Safety Review Panel Representation: Own the technical relationship with station operator and NASA safety review panels. Prepare, present, and close the phased (Phase 0/I, II, and III) safety data packages per SSP 30599 and SSP 50808.
- Hazard Analysis: Lead preliminary and detailed hazard analyses and author hazard reports with causes, controls, and verifications. Oversee the supporting system-level analyses:
- Functional Hazard Assessments (FHA)
- Fault Tree Analyses (FTA) for catastrophic and critical hazards
- Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analyses (FMECA) and the Critical Items List, with the reliability team
- Operating and support hazard analyses for ground processing, launch-site, and on-orbit operations
- Fault Tolerance & Inhibit Assessment: Define the safety requirements for, and independently assess, verify, and defend, the two-fault-tolerant (three independent inhibit) architectures required for catastrophic hazards. Key areas include pressure systems, propulsion and reaction control, batteries, structures and mechanisms, berthing interfaces, and cabin environmental monitoring.
- Protection of the Crewed Host Station: Assess the fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) design developed by systems and avionics engineering, ensuring that no single credible failure endangers the host station or its crew during approach, berthing, attached operations, and departure.
- Design Influence: Bring hazard analysis into open design trades early (propulsion architecture, battery redundancy, fault containment), so safety drives the design rather than being retrofitted at reviews.
- Safety Requirements & Traceability: Flow NASA human-rating and visiting-vehicle safety requirements into verifiable engineering requirements. Trace hazard controls to verification across hardware, software, and operational procedures in Jama, DOORS, or similar tools.
- Software Safety: Work with flight software and software assurance to identify safety-critical software functions and verify abort, hold, retreat, and inhibit logic.
- Ground & Launch Safety: Support range safety data packages (AFSPCMAN 91-710), hazardous ground operations procedures, propellant loading, and launch licensing safety inputs.
- Anomaly & Risk Management: Participate in Failure Review Boards. Assess test anomalies, nonconformance, waivers, and deviations for safety impact, and keep residual risk within human-spaceflight tolerances.
- Growth: Help build the S&MA safety function as the company grows, including mentoring additional safety engineers.
Required Qualifications - Education: Bachelor's degree in aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
- Experience: 7+ years in aerospace system safety, systems engineering, or propulsion/fluid systems engineering, including direct authorship of hazard reports or safety data packages approved by NASA for a human-rated vehicle, ISS visiting vehicle (COTS/CRS), or other crewed program.
- Hazard Analysis Skills: Hands-on experience with hazard reports, fault tree analysis, and FMECA, and with demonstrating fault tolerance and inhibit schemes for catastrophic hazards.
- NASA Standards: Working knowledge of SSP 50808 (ISS visiting vehicle requirements), SSP 30599 (safety review process), SSP 30309 (safety analysis and risk assessment), NPR 8715.3 (NASA safety program), and NPR 8705.2 (human-rating requirements).
- Pressurized & Hazardous Systems: Technical understanding of pressure vessels and pressurized systems, leak paths, propellant systems (hypergolic and/or green propellants), and battery safety (JSC 20793).
- Execution Mindset: Comfortable navigating technical ambiguity and balancing engineering rigor with rapid manufacturing and test cadences.
- U.S. Person Status: Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual to comply with U.S. export regulations (ITAR/EAR).
Preferred Qualifications - Prior presentations before the ISS Safety Review Panel or a commercial station operator safety board.
- Proximity operations and berthing safety: relative navigation, automated abort, hold, and retreat logic, collision avoidance, and berthing mechanisms or robotic capture interfaces.
- Software safety under NASA-STD-8739.8, including safety-critical flight software and fault-protection logic.
- Crew-accessible pressurized volumes: ECLSS, cabin atmosphere monitoring, fire detection, and hatch/ingress safety.
- Orbital debris assessment and controlled re-entry/disposal casualty analysis (NASA-STD-8719.14).
- Range safety and FAA AST commercial launch licensing.
- Requirements and configuration tools such as Jama, DOORS, Jira, or Confluence.
- Advanced degree with focus on system safety, risk, or reliability engineering.
Travel Approximately 10-20% travel to company facilities, customer sites, safety review meetings, and launch-site operations. Frequency may vary based on business priorities and program milestones.
Compensation and Benefits This is a full-time position. Compensation will be determined case by case and will vary with relevant experience, qualifications, and demonstrated skills.
Gravitics offers a comprehensive employee benefits package, including company equity, medical benefits, a 401(k) retirement plan, and other employee programs, subject to applicable plan terms and company policies.
ITAR Requirements To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
Salary Range
$150,000-$190,000 USD
