Functional Safety Architect - San Jose, California, United States
$149,100 - $215,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 17 July 2026 by the employer.
Architect device safety concepts and safety mechanisms for ASICs and PLDs across ISO 26262 and IEC 61508 standards.
About the role
Altera is seeking a Functional Safety Architect to lead and oversee functional safety activities across semiconductor and IP development projects for Avionics, Space, Defense, Automotive, and Industrial market segments. In this role, you will own the device safety architecture and develop technical safety concepts, including safety mechanisms derived from safety analyses and safety requirement allocation to IP sub-blocks.
What you'll do
- Architect safety concepts and safety mechanism features in collaboration with architecture, silicon design, and software teams. - Perform safety analyses using FTA, FMEA, and DFA methodologies against CCF and CF to ensure FFI, independence, and fault tolerance requirements are met. - Define safety architecture techniques including lockstep CPUs, ECC memories, watchdogs, and redundancy. - Guide engineering teams on ASIL/SIL decomposition, fault tolerance, and diagnostic coverage metrics including SPFM, LFM, and PMHF. - Collaborate with design verification teams to define safety verification and validation strategies covering fault injection, fault simulation, and test methodologies. - Document and present defensible safety case evidences aligned with IEC 61508 and ISO 26262, and perform safety manager responsibilities on designated projects to achieve systematic capability (SIL3/ASIL D).
What you'll need
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field with 10+ years of silicon industry experience, or Master’s degree with 8+ years of silicon industry experience. - 7+ years of safety professional experience, including safety certifications such as FSCP or FS Professional license. - 7+ years of experience certifying devices from concept through certification for ASICs, PLDs, or CPUs with EXIDA, TÜV, or equivalent assessors. - 7+ years of experience with SysML, FMEA/FMEDA, FTA, HAZOP, and requirements-management tooling such as Jama. - Experience ensuring process and product compliance with ISO 26262, IEC 61508, and related safety standards such as DO-254/DO-178.
Nice to have
- Familiarity with RTL coding and simulations/debug of SoC architectures. - Hands-on experience creating safety documents including Safety Cases, Safety Management Plans, and Safety Manuals. - Functional Safety Management experience in achieving systematic capability SC3/ASIL D. - US Citizenship.
Skills: functional safety, ISO 26262, ASIL, FMEA, FTA, safety architecture
This role has been open 95 days — well above the 62-day median for Automotive/Functional Safety Engineering roles.
Automotive/Functional Safety Engineering · Automotive Safety
|
Open roles in category
126
|
Median days open
62 d
|
Median salary
$233k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Altera | All employers we track in this specialty (126 roles · 27 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 3 | 126 |
| Median days open | 95 d | 62 d (+33 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $233k |
Skills observed across this category: functional safety, ISO 26262, ASIL, FMEA, FTA, safety architecture
Who's hiring in this category
- NXP Semiconductors · 31 open roles · median 33 d
- NVIDIA · 17 open roles · median 57 d
- Infineon Technologies · 13 open roles · median 47 d
- Arm Holdings · 10 open roles · median 89 d
- Qualcomm · 9 open roles · median 195 d
- Renesas Electronics · 8 open roles · median 56 d
How we counted: 126 open Automotive/Functional Safety Engineering (Automotive Safety) roles from 27 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.