Safety Test Engineer - Robot Arms

Safety verification & validation

• Plan, design, and execute test cases for robot safety functions (e.g., emergency stop, protective stop, safe torque off, safety-rated speed and position limits, safety zones, and collaborative operation modes).

• Validate safety performance in practice: stopping time and distance, speed and separation monitoring, power and force limiting, and contact force and pressure measurements.

• Test safety-related interfaces, including safety I/O, safety PLC and controller communication, and fieldbus safety protocols.

• Perform fault-injection and negative testing (sensor failures, communication loss, power interruptions, invalid configurations) to confirm the system reaches a safe state.

• Apply mechatronics knowledge (mechanical, electrical, control) to anticipate failure modes and design tests that catch real integration issues early.

Compliance & documentation

• Support compliance with relevant standards, such as ISO 10218-1/-2, ISO/TS 15066, ISO 13849, IEC 61508 / IEC 62061, and IEC 60204-1.

• Ensure full traceability from safety requirements and risk assessment results to test cases, results, and findings.

• Create and maintain test plans, test reports, and verification evidence for the safety case and for audits with certification bodies (e.g., TÜV).

• Contribute to risk assessments, FMEA, and hazard analyses from the testing perspective.

Release validation & automation

• Run safety regression validation across software and firmware releases and hardware variants.

• Build and maintain automated and semi-automated test setups (test benches, measurement equipment, scripts) integrated into CI/CD pipelines where possible.

• Analyze failures, drive root-cause investigations, and communicate safety-relevant findings clearly to stakeholders.

• Log, track, and follow up on defects to closure.

Collaboration & leadership

• Act as the contact point between functional safety, firmware, robotics, and application engineers.

• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to sprint planning, estimation, and retrospectives in agile teams.

• Drive improvements in safety test methods, coverage, and tooling.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechatronics, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience in testing, validation, or verification of safety-critical mechatronic or robotic systems; industrial automation or collaborative robot experience preferred.

• Solid knowledge of robot arm fundamentals: kinematics, joint vs. Cartesian motion, reference frames, safety limits, and collaborative operation principles.

• Working knowledge of functional safety concepts and standards (Performance Level, SIL, safety architectures, safe states).

• Hands-on experience with safety-related hardware and testing: safety PLCs or controllers, safety I/O, force/pressure measurement devices, and oscilloscopes or data loggers.

• Experience writing structured test specifications, reports, and traceability documentation.

• Scripting or programming skills (Python and/or Java); familiarity with test automation (e.g., Cucumber/BDD, Selenium) and Git is a plus.

• Experience with CI/CD (e.g., GitLab) and agile, cross-functional teams.

• Ability to coordinate tasks across teams and mentor others.

• Fluency in English is required; German is a plus.

• Experience supporting CE marking or third-party safety certification.

• Knowledge of cybersecurity aspects of safety systems.

• Experience with ROS or other robotics middleware.