Product Manager - Safety Critical Systems

About Us

STARK is a new kind of defence technology company revolutionising the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop, and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective — providing operators with a decisive edge in contested environments.

We are focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems — not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe, today.

Your mission

STARK's autonomous platforms — aerial and maritime — operate in contested, high-stakes environments where safety systems must function without exception. As Product Manager for Safety-Critical Systems, you will own the requirements engineering, roadmap and delivery of the systems that make that guarantee possible: from Flight Termination Systems on our UAVs to fire suppression and recovery on our USVs. This is a hands‑on, high‑accountability role at the intersection of systems engineering, software engineering and cybersecurity, and the foundation of trust that enables everything STARK ships.

Responsibilities

• Own the requirements engineering, roadmap and delivery for all safety-critical systems across STARK's UAV and USV platforms

• Lead product-level contributions to Functional Hazard Analyses (FHA) and Fault Tree Analyses (FTA), translating identified risks into concrete product requirements

• Serve as the product bridge between cybersecurity and safety engineering

• Champion a "Digital Thread" for safety: end-to-end traceability from high-level system safety requirements through development, verification, and post‑mission analysis

• Define architectures that are mass‑scalable and cost‑effective — not bespoke, one‑off solutions — enabling STARK to deploy safe autonomous systems at scale

• Collaborate with systems engineers, system safety engineers, certification leads, and executive stakeholders to drive design decisions and communicate risk clearly

• Drive the company's "Digital-First Safety" posture, ensuring compliance with applicable standards (e.g. SIL‑2/3, DO‑178C, IEC 61508) while maintaining architectural resilience against emerging threats.

• Shape STARK's approach to safe agentic autonomy — ensuring increasingly autonomous behaviour remains deterministic and verifiable

Qualifications

• Degree (B.Sc. or M.Sc.) in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related technical discipline

• Proven track record as a Product Manager, Product Owner, or Systems Engineer delivering complex hardware/software systems under rigorous safety or regulatory standards

• Deep working knowledge of safety standards and methodologies, e.g. IEC 61508, DO‑178C, DO‑254, ISO 26262, FHA, FTA

• Experience taking a hardware/software product from concept through certification and into field deployment

• Technical fluency in safety architecture concepts: redundancy topologies, dissimilar architectures, real‑time operating systems

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross‑functional delivery activities and drive decisions in ambiguous, high‑stakes technical environments

• Eligible to obtain appropriate security clearance for defence work

Nice to have

• Experience with Model‑Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and standards such as MOSA or FACE

• Background in cybersecurity — particularly in understanding how offensive threat models translate into safety requirements

• Familiarity with autonomous systems or UAV/USV platforms

• Experience in a scaling defence‑tech or aerospace startup environment