System Safety and Assurance Lead

We continually strive to help our workforce achieve their professional and personal goals, engaging them in challenging and inspiring projects.

Primary Duties

• Lead the EOS product safety and engineering assurance capability, including governance, methods, tools, templates and competency development.
• Develop, own and maintain safety management plans, assurance plans, safety cases and safety assurance reports for assigned products and programs.
• Provide independent technical challenge and assurance that safety risks are understood, reduced so far as reasonably practicable, and supported by objective evidence before acceptance.
• Lead and mentor safety and assurance practitioners, and build safety capability across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Act as the senior focal point for customer, regulator, certifier and internal stakeholder engagement on product safety and assurance matters.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish, implement and continuously improve product safety and assurance frameworks aligned with applicable Defence, customer, regulatory and industry requirements.
• Plan and lead hazard identification and safety analysis activities, including PHA, FHA, SHA, SSHA, IHA, FMEA/FMECA, FTA and common-cause analysis, as appropriate to the system and lifecycle phase.
• Own and maintain hazard logs, safety requirements and assurance evidence, ensuring end-to-end traceability from hazard identification through mitigation, verification and formal closure.
• Develop and maintain safety cases and structured assurance arguments that clearly demonstrate the basis for safe design, integration, manufacture, operation, maintenance and disposal.
• Assess system, hardware, software, human-factor and interface hazards, including failure propagation and safety impacts arising from engineering or configuration changes.
• Define proportionate assurance activities and acceptance criteria; review plans, analyses, test evidence, concessions, waivers and technical data for completeness and adequacy.
• Participate in architecture, design, test-readiness, qualification, acceptance and change-control reviews to identify safety concerns early and drive timely resolution.
• Coordinate independent reviews, audits and assurance assessments, track findings to closure, and report material risks, gaps and decisions to senior leadership.
• Support incident and near-miss investigations where product or engineering safety is involved, identify systemic causes and ensure lessons are incorporated into designs and processes.
• Provide clear risk and assurance reporting to governance forums, including recommendations, residual-risk statements and escalation of issues beyond delegated authority.
• Collaborate with customers, suppliers and subcontractors to define safety deliverables, assurance expectations, data requirements and evidence acceptance arrangements.
• Ensure safety and assurance records are controlled within EOS information, quality and configuration-management systems.
• Coach engineers and leaders in safety thinking, just culture, risk-based decision-making and the preparation of high-quality assurance evidence.

Experience, Qualifications and Capabilities

• Tertiary qualification in systems, safety, mechanical, electrical, electronics, software or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Substantial experience in system safety, product safety or engineering assurance for complex, mission-critical or safety-critical systems, preferably within Defence.
• Demonstrated experience leading safety programs, assurance activities or multidisciplinary technical teams and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Practical experience developing safety plans, hazard analyses, hazard logs, safety requirements, safety cases and assurance reports.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering, verification and validation, configuration management, quality management and lifecycle governance.
• Knowledge of relevant Defence safety and regulatory frameworks and recognised risk, quality and safety standards. Experience interpreting contract and customer assurance requirements is desirable.
• Experience conducting or supporting technical audits, independent reviews, incident investigations and risk acceptance processes.Ability to communicate complex safety arguments and residual risks clearly to technical and non-technical decision-makers.
• Professional engineering registration, Chartered status, or eligibility to attain these, is desirable.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain the required Australian Government security clearance.

Success Measures

• Safety risks and assurance obligations are visible, current and supported by objective evidence.
• Safety deliverables are accepted on schedule with findings and actions closed in a timely manner.
• Design and change decisions demonstrate clear consideration of hazards, mitigations and residual risk.
• Engineering teams consistently apply agreed safety and assurance practices across the lifecycle.
• Leaders and risk acceptors receive concise, decision-ready advice with clear recommendations and escalation.

Decision Rights and Interfaces

• Recommend acceptance, conditional acceptance or rejection of safety and assurance evidence within delegated authority.
• Escalate unacceptable, inadequately controlled or insufficiently evidenced safety risks to the appropriate technical and business authority.
• Chair or support safety working groups and assurance reviews, and commission independent specialist review where justified.
• Key interfaces include Directors, Heads and Chief Engineers, Systems Engineering, Design Engineering, Software, Test and Evaluation, Production, Quality, Programs, Supply Chain, customers, regulators and external assurance providers.

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