Senior Sensor Hardware Safety Engineer

NVIDIA is hiring a Senior Sensor Hardware Safety Engineer in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $184k-$288k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this role: aI is not part of the work.
Level classifies it as a senior role.
Level lists 2,600+ other open roles at NVIDIA.

AI in this role

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself for over two decades, from inventing the GPU in 1999 to transforming computer graphics, parallel computing, and modern AI. Today, GPU-accelerated computing is powering Physical Ai intelligent systems that perceive, reason, and act in the real world. At NVIDIA, we build system, hardware, and software technologies that enable these systems to operate safely.

Our Hardware Safety Engineering team is seeking a highly motivated Sr Sensor Hardware Safety Engineer to define and drive hardware safety for sensor systems. You will own the end-to-end hardware safety strategy for cameras, LiDAR, radar, inertial measurement units (IMUs), and other sensors across NVIDIA’s physical AI platforms. You will collaborate across sensor architecture, board hardware, software, systems, validation, and supplier teams. Together, you will evaluate sensor safety concepts and ensure robust integration into safety-critical systems. This is an outstanding opportunity to work where advanced sensing, high-performance computing, and safety engineering converge.

What you'll be doing:

Own the end-to-end sensor hardware safety strategy for cameras, LiDAR, radar, IMUs and other sensors used in NVIDIA automotive systems.
Support sensor supplier selection through technical and safety evaluations of sensor architectures, safety concepts, safety analysis, and integration assumptions.
Define and manage sensor hardware safety requirements, including requirements for sensor power, interfaces, timing, synchronization, data integrity, fault detection, and fault response.
Collaborate with sensor architects, board and system designers, software teams, and validation engineers to develop effective implementations of sensor safety requirements.
Perform and review safety cases & analyses, including FMEA, FMEDA, DFA, and FTA, and use the results to guide architecture decisions and design improvements.
Work with third-party suppliers to evaluate safety manuals, analysis reports, assumptions of use, and supporting evidence for sensor integration.
Develop clear safety documentation, integration guidance, analysis reports, and user-facing safety information for internal teams and customers.

What we need to see:

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related engineering field, or equivalent experience.
8+ years of relevant experience in automotive sensors, hardware systems, functional safety, or a related field.
Understanding of automotive sensor technologies such as cameras, radar, LiDAR, or IMUs, including their hardware architectures and system interfaces.
Knowledge of safety analysis methodologies, including FMEA, FMEDA, DFA, and FTA.
Ability to work effectively with sensor suppliers and multidisciplinary engineering teams from concept through integration and verification.
Proven ownership and proactivity, with a strong bias for action and results.
Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication skills.

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

Experience developing automotive sensor systems or evaluating sensor safety concepts and architectures.
Understanding of functional-safety development processes required for ISO 26262 or other relevant industry standards such as IEC 61508 and ISO 13849.
Experience defining or verifying safety mechanisms, and writing requirements, for safety-critical sensor hardware and systems.
Experience in PCB or ECU design and embedded systems based on NVIDIA SoCs.
Background in system modeling using SysML and developing structured user documentation such as DITA.

NVIDIA empowers automakers, developers, manufacturers, researchers, and startups to build and deploy physical AI systems. Its unified AI computing architecture enables training advanced AI models on NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms and deploying them into safety-critical systems, with software updates that add and improve capabilities throughout the product lifecycle.

#LI-Hybrid

#ArchitectYourFuture

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary ranges for this position are:
184,000 USD – 287,500 USD for Level 4; and 224,000 USD – 356,500 USD for Level 5.

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

Senior Sensor Hardware Safety Engineer at NVIDIA rates 9 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.