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Hypersonica is building Europe's hypersonic defence capability. This role leads the establishment and ownership of system safety across the company's products from concept through development, test, and operation.
Key Responsibilities:
- Own system safety across the full product lifecycle, from concept and development through test and operation
- Build and scale Hypersonica's Safety function and team, establishing a capable, lean organisation with clear technical authority
- Set the safety framework for complex defence systems and translate early hazard analysis into practical requirements, design choices, and resolved actions
- Own safety cases and assurance evidence, maintaining traceability of safety arguments, hazard logs, verification, assumptions, and change impacts proportionate to risk
- Lead the safety approach for flight-test operations, including readiness criteria, safety reviews, test-specific risk assessment, operational controls, and test release
- Represent Hypersonica's safety position with test ranges, regulators, and qualification authorities; define practical application of relevant military airworthiness, range, product, explosives/ordnance, and NATO standards
- Provide independent technical challenge and make high-consequence judgements under ambiguity; escalate concerns where evidence does not support safe decisions
- Build safety capability across engineering and test teams, using anomalies, near misses, and design changes to drive lasting improvement
The role offers high ownership and autonomy within a mission-driven, fast-paced environment. You'll work directly with leading experts across engineering, operations, business development, and defence, with exposure to the full lifecycle of complex defence programmes. The company values clarity, integrity, and excellence, with competitive compensation and real share options aligned with responsibility and impact.
Requirements:
- Established safety leader with significant experience in aerospace, defence, guided weapons, propulsion, autonomy, or another high-consequence engineering environment
- Experience building, scaling, or materially shaping a safety function and leading safety specialists
- Strong hands-on system-safety expertise, including hazard analysis, safety requirements, safety cases and assurance arguments, risk management, verification, and safety governance
- Meaningful experience with flight-test safety and operations, including test planning, readiness reviews, test-site interfaces, and operational risk assessment
- Ability to engage directly with complex safety-critical products (hardware, software, autonomy, propulsion, avionics, system integration) and apply relevant military airworthiness, range, product, explosives/ordnance, and NATO standards
- Sound judgement under uncertainty and high consequence; ability to balance mission, technical, schedule, and safety considerations
- Clear, authoritative communication with engineering teams, senior leadership, test organisations, regulators, and qualification authorities
- Fluent in English; German fluency desirable but not required
