Company Overview
ACS (Allen Control Systems) is a defense technology company building precision robotic systems for the United States and its allies. Founded by two former U.S. Navy electrical engineers with deep experience in robotics and software, ACS brings together AI, computer vision, precision motion, and advanced hardware to solve complex defense challenges across land, air, and maritime environments.

Our flagship product, Bullfrog, is an autonomous precision weapon system that transforms existing weapons into highly accurate counter-drone systems — giving warfighters a scalable, cost-effective response to one of the fastest-growing threats on the modern battlefield. Bullfrog is deployed with U.S. forces, and ACS works with organizations throughout the U.S. military and national security community.

Following a $200 million Series B at a $2.2 billion valuation, ACS is rapidly expanding manufacturing, accelerating Bullfrog deployments, and developing the next generation of autonomous battlefield systems. This is an opportunity to join a proven, fast-moving team and help scale technology with direct, real-world impact on national security.

ACS is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with additional operations in Alexandria, Virginia; Mountain View, California; and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, visit allencontrolsystems.com.

About The Role:

You’ll join Allen Control Systems’ Systems team — one team, three tracks (Systems, Systems Test, and Systems Reliability) reporting to the Director of Systems Engineering. We work cross-functionally across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, test, and operations to build ACS’s autonomous weapon platforms including Bullfrog. We hire across all experience levels — from interns and new grads to senior engineers — and seek to grow the team’s technical breadth and depth. There will be opportunities for management roles in the future as the team grows.

We are looking for a Systems Safety Engineer to join our team, focusing on system-level reliability, verification, and risk reduction for our next-generation autonomous weapon platforms. This role sits closer to systems engineering than a traditional full-time reliability function and is responsible for defining how we evaluate system performance, analyze test data, identify failure modes, and drive clear pass/fail conclusions across hardware and software. The ideal candidate is hands-on, technically rigorous, and able to own the full loop from test planning through analysis, with particular strength in structured validation, environmental and performance testing, and safety-minded systems thinking.

This role sits inside the systems engineering group and can be filled with a Reliability or Safety focus — tell us which lane fits you best; strong generalists are welcome too.

We’re hiring across multiple experience levels, including:

• Associate Engineer

• Engineer

• Senior Engineer

• Staff Engineer

• Senior Staff Engineer

Your title and level will be determined based on your experience, skills, and the scope of responsibility appropriate for the role.

What You’ll Do

• Own the ACS MIL-STD-882E safety process: SSPP (System Safety Program Plan), risk matrix, hazard tracking, mitigation, verification, and risk acceptance. Tailor it to the program.

• Perform hazard analyses across programs, including PHA (Preliminary Hazard Analysis), FHA (Functional Hazard Analysis), SSHA/SHA (Subsystem/System Hazard Analysis), and O&SHA (Operating and Support Hazard Analysis).

• Build FTAs (Fault Tree Analysis) and FMECAs (Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis) that drive design decisions.

• Own the hazard log. Every hazard has a risk level, mitigations, verification evidence, and documented risk acceptance.

• Derive safety requirements from the analyses and trace them into system requirements and verification.

• Write safety deliverables, including the SAR (Safety Assessment Report), and present the safety case to customer and government review boards.

• Work with software and controls to apply software system safety, including software criticality and LOR (Level of Rigor) tasks.

• Automate and reuse: hazard and failure mode libraries, templates, scripts that generate and check analyses, and a hazard log linked to requirements.

• Build a safety culture. Train engineers, add safety to design reviews and test readiness, and make it normal to raise hazards early.

• Support test safety for integration and live-fire events, and lead mishap investigations with the reliability team.

What You’ll Need

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field.

• 4+ years in system safety on defense, aerospace, or other safety-critical programs.

• Hands-on MIL-STD-882 experience (or ARP4761, IEC 61508). You have written hazard analyses, not just reviewed them.

• Working knowledge of FTA and FMECA, both qualitative and quantitative.

• Experience running hazard tracking and risk acceptance through closure.

• Enough breadth across ME, EE, SW, and controls to find hazards at the interfaces.

• Clear technical writing for government customers.

You’ll Stand Out

• Startup experience, especially standing up a safety program from scratch.

• A track record of building safety culture, not just safety documents.

• A bias toward automation and reuse, including Python automation and AI-assisted development for hazard analyses, fault trees, and FMECAs.

• Weapon system safety experience, including review boards such as the WSESRB (Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board) or service equivalents.

• Software system safety experience (JSSSEH, AOP-52), especially on autonomous systems.

• Experience with JAMA, DOORS, or MBSE tools (Cameo/SysML).

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary

• ACS Equity Package

• Health, Dental, Vision Insurance

• Paid Time Off

Allen Control Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Allen Control Systems prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.