Reliability and Safety Engineer

Role Summary

Help Build Europe's Hypersonic Capability

At Hypersonica , we’re redefining what’s possible in European defence technology. We exist to deliver speed, resilience, and technological independence at a pace that sets a new standard. We are a small, elite team working on problems that matter, and solving them fast.

As our Reliability and Safety Engineer you’re not stepping into a predefined role. You’re joining a talent dense environment where every individual shapes the direction of the company. Our philosophy is to hire a small number of exceptional people with broad, deep technical capability, strong judgement, and the ability to operate autonomously.

We hire for talent, not rigid boxes. This role represents a business need, but the way it evolves will be shaped by the individual. If you’ve achieved what others said was impossible, or you bring a unique combination of skills that doesn’t fit a traditional mould, we want to hear from you. The work you do here directly contributes to Europe’s technological independence.

Responsibilities

• Lead reliability and safety analysis across avionics, guidance, navigation, and control (AGNC) systems at system, subsystem, and component level.
• Perform structured safety analyses, including Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA).
• Assess and quantify reliability metrics, including MTBF, to inform design tradeoffs and system architecture decisions.
• Identify single point failures, common cause risks, and degradation paths in flight critical systems.
• Work closely with AGNC design, systems, and test engineers to influence architectures and mitigate risk early in development.
• Support verification, test, and flight readiness activities by providing clear safety and reliability evidence.
• Use test results and flight data to validate assumptions, refine analyses, and improve models over time.

Requirements

• A reliability or safety engineer with 4+ years’ experience in aerospace, defence, or other high-consequence engineering domains.
• Deeply experienced in structured safety and reliability methods, with the judgement to know where they add value and where they don’t.
• Comfortable reasoning across system, subsystem, and component boundaries, not just analysing parts in isolation.
• Someone who naturally looks for single-point failures, common-cause risks, and degradation paths before they show up in test.
• Fluent in quantitative reliability thinking, including interpreting and challenging MTBF-style metrics.
• Confident influencing design decisions early, before architecture hardens and options disappear.
• Able to balance analytical rigour with programme pace, supporting rapid iteration without false confidence.
• Motivated by working on flight-critical systems where safety and reliability are mission-enabling, not box-ticking.

Benefits

• A mission driven environment with the opportunity to work on one of Europe’s most consequential defence challenges, with direct impact on sovereign capability and security.
• Daily collaboration with top experts across engineering, operations, and defence, with real opportunity to learn from the best, contribute, and grow.
• High ownership and autonomy; no time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes.
• A fast paced environment where good ideas are implemented quickly, and feedback from test and flight drives real decisions.
• A culture that values clarity, integrity, and excellence, and supports people who take initiative and push boundaries responsibly.
• Competitive compensation and real share options aligned to responsibility and impact, not tenure or hierarchy.