About the Role
Who we are
Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.
The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.
About the role
As the Staff V&V Systems Lead, you will serve as the master architect of Gatik’s overall Verification & Validation framework. You will oversee the complete V&V lifecycle—orchestrating how requirements flow into testing across SIL, HIL, Closed Course, and Public Road pillars. You will own the Verification Traceability Matrix (VTM), drive driverless release sign-off decisions, and synthesize empirical testing evidence to continuously prove Gatik’s safety cases.
This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA office!
What you'll do
Key Responsibilities
- End-to-End V&V Strategy: Architect and govern the multi-pillar validation methodology (SIL -> HIL -> Track -> Public Road), ensuring optimal allocation of testing efforts to maximize safety verification efficiency.
- Safety Case Evidence Synthesis: Own the empirical evidence layer of Gatik’s safety case (UL 4600 / ISO 26262), proving that system requirements are fully verified and validated.
- Requirements Traceability (VTM): Build and enforce direct end-to-end traceability between top-level safety requirements, HAZOP/STPA mitigations, test procedures, and test execution results in Jama/Jira.
- Driverless Release Gatekeeping: Serve as a technical sign-off authority for software and fleet updates bound for driverless commercial operations.
- Cross-Pillar Governance: Align testing strategies across Simulation, HIL Bench, Track, and Field Deployment teams to ensure zero gaps in edge-case coverage.
- Regulatory & Audit Readiness: Prepare comprehensive V&V summary packages and present audit-ready validation evidence to internal safety boards and third-party auditors.
Minimum Qualifications
- Education: B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or Aerospace Engineering.
- Experience: 8+ years leading systems verification and validation programs for safety-critical autonomous systems, aerospace, or automotive platforms.
- Leadership & Standards:
- Mastery of the system V-model development lifecycle and safety standards (ISO 26262, UL 4600, ISO 21448).
- Proven track record leading release gate sign-offs for safety-critical commercial products.
- Mastery of requirement management platforms (Jama, DOORS) and test execution tools.
- Strategic Architecture: Deep understanding of how to balance virtual testing (SIL/HIL) with physical testing (Track/Fleet) to achieve statistical confidence in system safety.
Preferred Qualifications
- Direct experience leading the V&V sign-off for a fully commercialized, uncrewed autonomous vehicle system.
- Background managing cross-functional technical teams across hardware, software, and field operations.
Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000
More about Gatik
Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.
We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.
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