Director, Autonomous Vehicle Safety Case & Assessment

Job description

About the Role We are seeking an experienced safety leader to serve as Director, Autonomous Vehicle Safety Case & Assessment for Uber’s Autonomous Mobility & Delivery Safety Team. This role will lead Uber’s work to advance the development, assessment, and adoption of safety cases across autonomous vehicle partners and contribute to the broader AV industry movement toward more rigorous, consistent, and evidence-based safety practices.

This role will be responsible for developing and maturing Uber’s safety case framework, partner safety case assessment methodology, implementation guidance, tooling recommendations, and governance model. The role will also help partners prepare for emerging regulatory frameworks that require structured safety cases, including in the European Union and other markets where safety case quality, evidence sufficiency, and lifecycle safety case monitoring are becoming central to deployment approval.

This role requires deep expertise in autonomous vehicle safety, safety case development, safety assurance, risk management, validation and verification, safety management systems, and the standards and regulatory frameworks that shape AV development and operations. The ideal candidate will be able to translate complex technical, operational, organizational, and regulatory safety requirements into guidance that accelerates AV partner deployment readiness.

The candidate will work closely with AV technology partners, fleet partners, external safety experts, industry bodies, regulators, and internal teams across Safety, Product, Engineering, Operations, Support, Legal, Policy, Business Development, and regional operations. This role will also represent Uber in industry discussions related to safety cases, safety assurance, and automated driving system readiness, helping shape the emerging practices and standards that will define safe autonomous deployment at scale.

What You Will Do

Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as the strategic expert on the development of safety cases for autonomous vehicles, including structured safety assessment approaches, partner guidance, evidence expectations, maturity models, and readiness evaluation processes while leveraging input from both regulatory frameworks and industry best practices.

External Stakeholder Engagement

Collaborate with regulators, technical services, public safety officials, and industry bodies to understand evolving standards for automated driving systems, ensuring partners’ certification pathways are well supported and internal safety and compliance strategies remain aligned with current and anticipated regulations.

Technical Policy Support

Apply technical understanding of AV safety case frameworks to inform and contribute to the development of safety standards and regulations. Collaborate with internal teams to ensure alignment with global safety policies.

Cross-functional Leadership

Collaborate with many different skilled individuals across Uber, including business development, fleets, product management, legal, policy, safety operations, marketing, engineering, and regional operations teams Team Development: Build and lead a high-performing team of safety, systems, and technical program management talent as the program scales.

Program Management

Define and track program success metrics, including partner engagement, safety assessment maturity improvements, and deployment readiness progress across milestones.

Responsible Use of AI

Evaluate opportunities to use AI/ML-enabled tools to support evidence organization, safety analysis, validation review, and risk identification, while ensuring appropriate human oversight, traceability, and alignment with safety standards.

Basic Qualifications

Minimum of 10+ years of experience in autonomous vehicles, automotive safety, transportation safety, systems safety, safety assurance, technical program leadership, or another safety-critical domain. Experience leading complex strategic safety programs with cross-functional ownership, executive visibility, and external partner engagement. Strong understanding of autonomous vehicle development, validation, deployment readiness, operational design domains, and advanced autonomous operations.

Experience developing or applying safety assurance approaches, readiness assessments, maturity models, evidence-based evaluations, or technical safety governance processes. Familiarity with functional safety, operational safety, safety management systems, safety-critical software development, safety performance measurement, and operational risk management. Knowledge of relevant safety standards, regulatory frameworks, and industry best practices for automated driving systems.

Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence senior technical, business, regulatory, and cross-functional stakeholders. Demonstrated ability to build programs from ambiguity, define operating mechanisms, and deliver measurable outcomes across multiple organizations. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create executive-level materials, technical guidance, and partner-facing documentation.

Preferred Qualifications

Advanced degree in safety, engineering, robotics, computer science, systems safety, human factors, or a related technical field. Experience with safety case development, structured safety arguments, assurance cases, or evidence-based safety assessments in autonomous vehicles or another safety-critical industry. Experience working in European, Middle Eastern, or other complex regulatory environments for autonomous mobility or automotive technology.

Familiarity with Uber’s Safety Guidelines Program and relevant industry standards. Experience with safety assessment tooling, evidence management, maturity heat maps, gap assessments, or partner readiness reviews. Experience analyzing operational safety data and developing safety performance indicators. Experience representing a company or industry group in regulatory, policy, standards, or technical working-group discussions.

Demonstrated ability to lead multi-stakeholder efforts related to AV safety, deployment readiness, or safety governance. A continuous improvement mindset, with a history of quick adaptation and self-directed learning.

Responsibilities

For New York City, NY-based roles

The base salary range for this role is USD $239,000 per year - USD $265,000 per year.

For San Francisco, CA-based roles

For all US locations, you will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits.