Lead Customer Safety Engineer - Hardware

NVIDIA is hiring a Lead Customer Safety Engineer - Hardware in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $224k-$357k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Tools and skills the posting cites include iso 26262, functional safety and automotive engineering.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 2,700+ other open roles at NVIDIA.

AI in this role

Lead customer safety engineer focusing on hardware functional safety and autonomous driving systems integration.

iso-26262functional-safetyautomotive-engineeringhardware-safety

At NVIDIA, we're not just changing the landscape of computer graphics and AI; we're paving the way for the future of autonomous driving. As a Lead Customer Safety Engineer, you will play a key role in assisting automotive customers as they incorporate NVIDIA hardware into safety-critical products. You will work alongside inventive engineers and technologists while acting as the main technical safety liaison between our customers and internal functional safety groups. This hardware-centered customer-facing position is essential to meeting and surpassing NVIDIA's and customer’s rigorous safety criteria, making your work both thrilling and meaningful!

What you’ll be doing:

Represent NVIDIA’s functional safety strategy and architectures to the customer.
Serve as the principal customer interface for hardware safety topics, translating customer needs into clear actions for internal teams.
Assist customers to safely integrate and validate our products in their systems and vehicles.
Coordinate Development Interface Agreements and clarify the division of safety responsibilities between NVIDIA and customers.
Support customer-facing safety collaterals, including tailor functional safety platforms and safety analyses for strategic customers.
Lead resolution of customer safety questions, gaps, and change requests, engaging the appropriate NVIDIA subject-matter experts.
Mentor junior customer safety engineers and establish consistent practices for technical reviews, monitoring concerns, partner concern handling, and customer communication.
Work closely with safety management, solution architects, hardware and software engineering, sales, and technical marketing teams to deliver safe products.

What we need to see:

Bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, hardware engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
At least 12 years’ experience, with more than 3 years in automotive functional safety, chip or ECU development, or customer safety engineering.
Solid understanding of ISO 26262, including hardware safety concepts, SEooC development, assumptions of use, hardware safety integrity, and customer integration. Experience with market adjacent standards such as IEC 61508 can also be considered.
Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team.
Ability to lead complex technical discussions with automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, assessors, and cross-functional engineering teams.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

ADAS, autonomous vehicle, robotics or industrial safety experience.
Direct experience assisting automotive clients (OEM or Tier 1).
Hardware functional-safety experience involving complex SoCs, GPUs, processors, accelerators, or safety MCUs.
Knowledge and experience with ECU/board level E/E build and validation.

#ArchitectYourFuture

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary range for this position is 224,000 USD – 356,500 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

How we rate this

Lead Customer Safety Engineer - Hardware at NVIDIA rates 10 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Lead Customer Safety Engineer - Hardware is an open job at NVIDIA.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $224k-$357k a year.
The role is based in US, CA, Santa Clara.
The job was posted on October 6, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by NVIDIA. Apply on NVIDIA

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Iso 26262Functional SafetyAutomotive EngineeringHardware Safety

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where iso 26262 was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where functional safety was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where automotive engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where hardware safety was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Iso 26262, Functional Safety, Automotive Engineering, and Hardware Safety. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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