2027 Summer Intern - Research and Development - System Safety

Location: Warren, Michigan, United States of America

Job Description

The Role

Join General Motors Research & Development as a System Safety Intern. You will contribute research and thought leadership in system safety, safety assurance, and evidence-based decision-making across current and emerging technology areas.

Conduct research and work on the development, assessment, and continuous improvement of system safety analyses for complex products and safety-critical systems. As part of the system safety case development, evaluate safety arguments, evidence strategies, and sufficiency criteria to support safe technology development and align with regulatory expectations, industry best practices, and enterprise safety objectives.

GM R&D is seeking a System Safety Intern to work on research, assessment, and methodological advancement in system safety and safety assurance. You will perform safety analyses, develop and improve safety cases, define claims and sufficiency criteria with domain experts, integrate evidence across disciplines, and ensure alignment with product evolution, regulatory expectations, and industry best practices. The role works across engineering, research, AI/ML, systems engineering, functional safety, cybersecurity, validation, product safety, legal, regulatory, and leadership teams to strengthen traceability, evidence quality, and safety decisions.

What You’ll Do

Conduct the research, development, governance, and continuous improvement of safety analyses and system safety cases for complex products and safety-critical systems.

Support system safety evaluation of newly developed technologies within R&D by defining evaluation approaches, reviewing evidence, identifying gaps, and communicating recommendations.

Author and present safety-case materials for product submissions, audits, internal reviews, external assessments, and executive or regulatory audiences.

Integrate and assess evidence from systems engineering, AI/ML, functional safety, cybersecurity, validation, product safety, and other relevant disciplines.

Perform impact analyses when system scope, architecture, operating context, platform, or release changes affect safety claims, criteria, or evidence.

Improve compliance, traceability, and evidence-tracking processes, including opportunities to automate safety-evidence collection across the engineering lifecycle.

Surface safety gaps, evidence weaknesses, and emerging risks, and drive timely escalation and resolution through appropriate forums.

Align safety-case claims with applicable standards, guidance, and best practices, including UL 4600, ISO 26262, ISO 21448, AVSC guidance, and ISO/PAS 8800.

Research emerging approaches in AI/ML safety validation, probabilistic safety arguments, evidence sufficiency, and structured safety-case development; synthesize findings into recommendations.

Required Qualifications

Pursuit of an advanced degree (MS or PhD) in one of the following areas:  Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science, Robotics, Safety Management, or a related technical field.

Must be a current student

Able to work fulltime, 40 hours per week during the summer months

Green Card Holder or US Citizen

Relevant experience in systems engineering, system safety, safety assurance, program leadership, or other complex software-intensive safety-critical environments.

Demonstrated experience developing, supporting, or assessing safety cases, assurance cases, or equivalent structured safety arguments.

Knowledge of functional safety and safety assurance concepts, including ISO 26262 (FuSa), ISO 21448 (SOTIF), ISO/PAS 8800 (AI safety), and UL 4600.

Ability to decompose safety goals into clear requirements and evidence needs, synthesize ambiguous technical data, and evaluate evidence sufficiency.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences.

Passion for system safety research, safety assurance, and the safe deployment of complex technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in automotive, advanced mobility, product safety, regulatory, certification, or safety-assurance research and practice.

Understanding of AI/ML safety validation, statistical or probabilistic safety arguments, and evidence-sufficiency evaluation.

Familiarity with Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) or similar structured argumentation frameworks.

Experience with requirements management, traceability, and evidence management in safety-critical development lifecycles.

Experience engaging with external assessors, regulators, standards bodies, research institutions, or industry consortia.

This position requires eligibility to access classified information at the Secret U.S. Security Clearance level for which the U.S. Government requires U.S. Citizenship. The successful candidate must have eligibility to obtain a security clearance at that level.

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).

Work Arrangement

Hybrid: This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Warren, MI three times per week, at minimum [or other frequency dictated by the business].

GM will provide a one-time lump sum taxable stipend payment to eligible students selected for the 2027 Student Program - to help facilitate administration of relocation benefits, please apply using the permanent address you would move from.

Start dates for this internship role are May 24th & June 14th of 2027.

About GM

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