Full-Time

DoD System Safety Engineer

Posted on 6/30/2025

Forterra

Forterra

501-1,000 employees

Autonomous driving system for retrofitted vehicles

Compensation Overview

$150k - $220k/yr

+ Equity

Germantown, MD, USA

In Person

US Top Secret Clearance Required

Category
AI & Machine Learning (1)
Required Skills
Operating Systems
Requirements
  • A minimum of 8+ years of work experience as a Systems Safety engineer or related role
  • Strong record working in the field of system safety as it relates to hardware, software and system-level design
  • Strong expertise with MIL-STD-882E and safety critical system design best practices
  • Technical domain knowledge of autonomous vehicles or similar autonomous robotic systems
  • Strong Systems Engineering fundamentals and knowledge of modern systems engineering techniques, tools and processes
  • Expertise with safety analysis techniques such as FTA, PHA, FHA, SSHA, FMEA, and FMECA
  • Expertise with hazard identification, tracking, and mitigation using tools such as PHL and HTS
  • Expertise evaluating software control categories and severities to identify appropriate Software Criticality Indexes (SwCI)
  • Experience using SwCI to inform identification and gathering of Level of Rigor (LOR) evidence and carrying out LOR tasks to support risk mitigation claims
  • Experience leading (or participating in) test and evaluation planning, preparation of test event Safety Releases, conducting post-test event actions, and maintaining reports
  • Expertise performing and documenting Safety Assessment Reports (SAR) to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the status of safety hazards and their associated risks
  • Expertise in safety requirement authorship and management
  • Hands-on experience in software design patterns and principles of scalable software
  • Experience with embedded software and/or automotive software ecosystems and frameworks
  • Deep knowledge about system software development, operating systems and distributed systems architectures
  • Good understanding of high-performance computing related software infrastructures
  • Experience with requirements management tools such as Jama or DOORS
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate complex engineering issues to a diverse team
  • Flexible, adaptable mindset, open-minded: we try to solve a problem that has never been solved before. Multiple opinions exist on how to do so but nobody has the absolute truth until it is actually done: you know that, and you embrace it, you are open to multiple perspectives
Responsibilities
  • Work across Forterra to design safety into our autonomous vehicle systems from the ground up – focusing on defense applications which follow A MIL-STD-882E approach
  • Tackle the topics of functional safety, embedded systems and software safety in a complex system environment
  • Work to define safety architecture, safety concepts and derive requirements from safety analyses
  • Tackle new, non-standard, cross-functional challenges for which you will have to decompose the problems on the fly and drive them to completion even in the absence of standard methods or processes
  • Work with engineering teams from concept through implementation, representing the consideration of safety in the design throughout the process
  • Provide technical safety leadership on elements of significant scope
  • Perform systems & safety analysis activities, including on autonomy-related safety
  • Communicate design considerations and progress with respect to system safety across the engineering organization
  • Communicate effectively to make recommendations and drive consensus amongst all stakeholders (executive team, product, customer, engineering, test)
  • Other duties as assigned
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with or Certification in 882E, ISO 26262, ISO 21448, and UL4600
  • Experience applying functional safety concepts to autonomous vehicles and/or high-performance computing

Forterra provides autonomous vehicle technology for defense and industrial sectors. Its AutoDrive® installs as a retrofit kit that adds sensors, computing, and software to existing ground vehicles, enabling unmanned operation in challenging environments. It differentiates itself by upgrading current fleets rather than buying new vehicles and by serving both military and industrial markets. The goal is to deploy and scale AutoDrive® across applications to improve efficiency and safety, backed by its Series B funding.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Debt Financing

Total Funding

$634M

Headquarters

Clarksburg, Maryland

Founded

2002

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • BAE Systems partnership develops AMPV prototype by 2026, expanding to Bradley A4.
  • $238M funding at $1B valuation accelerates MESA and AutoTT production in 2026.
  • Kalmar JDA integrates AutoDrive into terminal tractors for ports by late 2026.

What critics are saying

  • BAE develops in-house autonomy for Bradley A4, eroding Forterra's expansions in 12 months.
  • DoD cancels RCV and SMET under Replicator, stranding vehicles without contracts in 18 months.
  • goTenna integration fails GPS-denied tests, triggering investor exodus in 6 months.

What makes Forterra unique

  • AutoDrive retrofits drive-by-wire vehicles for off-road, GPS-denied autonomy across defense platforms.
  • TerraLink orchestrates multi-vehicle swarms via TAK and WMI military interfaces.
  • Selected for DoD's RCV, GEARS, ROGUE Fires, and SMET programs with 400,000 miles driven.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Paid Vacation

Parental Leave

Professional Development Budget

401(k) Retirement Plan

401(k) Company Match

Paid Holidays

Hybrid Work Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-6%

1 year growth

-5%

2 year growth

-9%
Bloomberg Law
Nov 12th, 2025
Forterra Raises $238M, Hits $1B Valuation

Forterra, a startup specializing in autonomous military vehicle technology, has raised $238 million in a new funding round, boosting its valuation to over $1 billion. The funding, which includes $50 million in debt, was led by Moore Strategic Ventures. The investment will accelerate the production of Forterra's versatile military vehicles, capable of operating individually or in swarms for tasks like surveillance and transporting missiles and AI-supporting hardware.

Bloomberg L.P.
Nov 12th, 2025
Autonomous Military Vehicle Startup Notches Over $1 Billion Valuation in New Deal

Moore Strategic Ventures, Franklin Templeton and others have invested $238 million in Forterra.

CityBiz
Oct 9th, 2025
Forterra Acquires goTenna Networking Solutions

Forterra, a leader in autonomous mission systems, has announced its acquisition of goTenna, a pioneer in tactical mesh networking solutions.

intelligence360
Sep 29th, 2025
Forterra Raises $188M in New Funding

Robotic Research OpCo, operating as Forterra, has filed a notice with the U.S. SEC for an exempt offering to raise up to $188.3 million in new funding. This filing is required under federal securities law for companies selling securities without registration under specific exemptions. The notice must be filed within 15 days of the first sale. Forterra specializes in autonomous vehicle systems for defense and national security.

The Business Journals
Aug 22nd, 2025
Forterra raises $93M for autonomous vehicles

Clarksburg-based autonomous vehicle developer Forterra has raised $93 million in funding.

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