---
title: 'Lead Safety Case Engineer at Atoms'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-safety-case-engineer-atoms-san-francisco-b1fdgqxq2x3a'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-17'
---

# Lead Safety Case Engineer at Atoms

- **Company:** Atoms
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Posted:** 2026-09-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-17
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cssmerge/jobs/8815295002

## Job description

## Who we are

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress.

Over the last decade, software has transformed the digital world. But the physical world, where food is made, minerals are mined, goods are moved, and industries are run, remains far less intelligent, far less efficient, and far more constrained. We’re changing that.

Atoms builds Physical AI— real-world robots for the industries that move civilization forward, starting with food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, turning complex physical operations into something more reliable, more scalable, and more productive.

This work requires more than robotics. It requires deep integration across hardware, software, AI, operations, manufacturing, and real estate. We don’t just build machines in a lab. We deploy them into real environments, operate them, learn from them, and improve them until they work at scale.

We are roboticists, engineers, operators, and builders. We believe the next great technology companies will not only transform information, but the physical systems that shape everyday life.

If you want to work on hard problems with real-world impact, join us.

## What you’ll do

- Own a defined scope of the safety case end-to-end, leading it from initial drafting through sign-off and maintaining continuous governance as upstream dependencies evolve. As author of record, you hold ultimate accountability for defending the argument.
- Architect clear argument boundaries and constraints, defining operational conditions, valid assumptions, explicit exclusions, and non-credible hazards within your scope.
- Evaluate evidence sufficiency and coverage, scrutinizing operating experience metrics and data provenance while partnering directly with Functional Safety, Scenario Validation, and Fleet Operations leads to synthesize required evidence.
- Construct the Claim-Argument-Evidence (CAE) structure, establishing precise validity boundaries so it is transparent exactly when safety claims hold and when they do not.
- Lead formal safety reviews and peer governance, convening reviews only when evidence meets maturity standards, driving reviewer feedback to documented resolution, and serving as an independent reviewer for peer scopes.
- Drive rigor in shared methodologies and tooling, proactively identifying process gaps or ambiguous rules to prevent local workarounds from compromising organizational safety standards.
- Pioneer AI-assisted safety engineering workflows, leveraging AI tools to draft from templates, stress-test candidate hazard sets, cross-check scenario coverage, maintain end-to-end traceability, and rapidly flag invalidated claims.

## What we’re looking for

- 9+ years of cross-functional experience spanning functional safety, autonomous behavior, and fleet operations, featuring deep expertise in at least two areas and working fluency in the third. Specialists in a single domain seeking to cross-train on the job are not a fit.
- Proven track record as author of record for a structured safety argument (GSN or CAE equivalent) on a production system, including defending claims through rigorous technical scrutiny. Be prepared to critique your past work and discuss design trade-offs.
- Dual ownership of hazard analysis and validation, with demonstrated mastery in safety analysis methods (e.g., HARA, FMEA, FTA) paired directly with scenario-based validation strategies.
- Uncompromising rigor regarding data provenance, with an instinctive drive to distinguish, label, and challenge measurements, estimates, and placeholders before they acquire false authority.
- Courage and integrity to enforce safety gates, comfortably speaking up when a safety case is unready—even under commercial pressure—while clearly articulating missing evidence and associated risks.
- Proportional mastery of safety standards, applying ISO 26262, ISO 21448 (SOTIF), UL 4600, and SAE J3016 appropriately to scoped arguments without imposing unnecessary process overhead.
- Statistical fluency in exposure, rare events, and risk metrics, including a clear understanding of surrogate safety measures and their technical limitations when evaluating harm.
- Functional programming proficiency (e.g., Python) to analyze fleet data, engineer local tooling, and leverage AI assistants effectively—maintaining firm boundaries where AI-generated outputs are treated strictly as hypotheses or drafts.
- Exceptional written precision, producing clear, unambiguous safety documents capable of standing up under independent scrutiny without author intervention.
- Collaborative leadership and team flexibility, balancing deep ownership of your assigned scope with the agility to support peer scopes and provide high-value, non-ceremonial reviews.

## Why join us

At Atoms, you’ll work on one of the defining challenges of our time—bringing automation into the physical world to drive real, lasting impact. We exist to uncover valuable unknown truths and turn them into progress, which means constantly pushing beyond what’s known and building what doesn’t yet exist. The work is ambitious and often challenging, but it’s grounded in a shared sense of purpose and a team committed to seeing it through together. Our work only matters if it serves others, and we know that meaningful progress depends on the trust of the people we serve and the strength of our team—so we invest in both, creating an environment where you can do your best work and grow.

What else you need to know

This role is based in our San Francisco office. Atoms is a company driven by invention and continuous change - we are constantly reimagining our industries, building new products, and refining how we operate. We do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

The base salary range for this role is $182,000 - $230,000 per year.

Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.

Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):

- Medical, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account / Health Savings Account Options
- 401(k)
- Equity
- Sick Time, Unlimited Flexible Time Off, and Paid Holidays
- Paid Parental Leave
- Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit Plan
- Team lunch in our SoMa office every Tuesday and Thursday

Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion. Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.

Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others?

#LI-Onsite

## About Atoms

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Atoms builds physical automation systems—robotics, AI, software, and infrastructure—for mining, transport, and food industries to automate the physical world.
- **Entity Type**: Private (formerly City Storage Systems; rebranded from CloudKitchens/ProFood parent)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, United States
- **Founded**: Rebranded as Atoms in March 2026; predecessor City Storage Systems founded earlier (~2018)
- **Founders**: Travis Kalanick (CEO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Physical AI, Robotics, Automation Machinery Manufacturing, Industrial Infrastructure
- Target customers: Mining/quarry operators, transportation & logistics companies, food service brands and kitchens (B2B, heavy industrial)
- Mission or purpose statement: “We build progress machines.” / “The constraint on human progress is our ability to automate the physical world.”

## Products & Services
- **Atoms Mining**: Autonomous haulage systems for mines and quarries designed to improve productivity, safety, and efficiency in complex industrial environments.
- **Atoms Transport**: Wheelbase for robots — autonomous delivery and logistics systems for moving goods. Includes the acquired Pronto AI technology (acquisition completed April 2026).
- **Atoms Food (ProFood)**: Robotics for better food. Automated kitchen systems that deliver consistent, affordable meals at scale; kitchen infrastructure platforms (bringing orders, delivery, operations into one platform); food real estate; Lab37 (an operating system for food facilities); and a forthcoming “built” meals brand.
- **Lab37**: The operating system/software layer that connects and orchestrates Atoms’ physical automation across domains.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding – Not publicly disclosed; previously raised significant capital as City Storage Systems/CloudKitchens (estimated at over $1B in prior rounds); 414 employees on LinkedIn as of mid-2026
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Travis Kalanick (founder/CEO, previously co-founded Uber); partners include mining/quarry operators, food brands (specific names not public)
- **Growth Signals**: 414 employees (+13.2% monthly growth); operates in 24 countries; 26 active job postings (+160% monthly); recent acquisition of Pronto AI (April 2026); rebranding from City Storage Systems to Atoms (March 2026) signals strategic consolidation and pivot; hiring across robotics, AI, software, hardware, operations globally

## Competitive Advantages
- **Cross-stack vertical integration**: Controls sensors, compute, software, manufacturing, operations, real estate, energy, and infrastructure — a rare “full-stack” approach to physical AI.
- **Founder advantage**: Led by Travis Kalanick (Uber co-founder) who has deep experience scaling category-defining companies and attracting top engineering/operations talent.
- **Real-world deployment**: Robots with “real jobs” — not lab demos — deployed in working mines, kitchens, and transport systems today.
- **Engineering culture**: Emphasis on “cross-stack competence,” ownership, and solving problems “most companies won’t attempt.”
- **Global footprint**: Presence in 24 countries allows rapid deployment and operations at scale.

## Strategic Focus
- Consolidating formerly separate brands (CloudKitchens, ProFood, Pronto AI) under one unified “Atoms” identity to create a single physical AI platform
- Expanding autonomous mining haulage into more quarries and mines globally
- Scaling food automation from kitchen robotics to end-to-end food infrastructure (real estate, ordering, delivery, operations)
- Growing AI, ML, and autonomy capabilities (hiring Senior Software Engineer - ML Infrastructure, Backend Infrastructure, Robotics Engineer)
- International expansion with dedicated regional roles (APAC, LATAM, Europe)

## Why Work Here
- **High ownership**: “Take ownership early, and contribute from day one” — interns and new hires work on live products, not side projects.
- **Hard problems**: Solving physical-world automation challenges that most companies won’t attempt — mining, logistics, food production at scale.
- **Compensation**: “Outsized rewards for outsized performance” — competitive compensation, healthcare, benefits, and PTO.
- **Culture**: “Builders” and “hardcore engineers” who have scaled category-defining companies — a relentless, high-expectation environment focused on excellence.
- **Work policy**: Mix of in-office roles (Mountain View, CA; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Austin, TX) and international locations (Vilnius, LTU; Makati, PH; Bogotá, COL; São Paulo, BRA). Remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated but many roles list specific city locations.
- **Tech stack**: Modern — Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, Kubernetes, Docker, PostgreSQL, Redis, GraphQL, gRPC, Bazel, Google Cloud, NVIDIA, dbt, Looker, Airflow.
- **Team composition**: 25% of employees in technical roles (154 people); strong presence of HR, legal, finance, and operations supporting global scale; talent sourced from CloudKitchens, Amazon, Uber, Google, ProFood Properties, City Storage Systems.

## Sources
1. [atoms.co](https://atoms.co/)
2. [atoms.co/careers](https://atoms.co/careers)
3. [atoms.co/openroles](https://atoms.co/openroles)
4. [LinkedIn – Atoms](https://www.linkedin.com/company/atomsco)
5. [Greenhouse – Atoms Jobs](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cssmerge)

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