Safety Engineer Jobs in California
Safety engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, with strong demand from aerospace and defense, semiconductor manufacturing, construction, and utilities sectors at every level from entry-level associate to senior principal. The heaviest hiring concentrates in Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego, where established employers like Northrop Grumman, Chevron, and BAE Systems maintain large operations. Process safety, construction safety, and systems safety engineering are the most sought-after specialties across the state. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
Find Safety Engineer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 214+ Safety Engineer jobs
Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA.
Minimum qualifications:
- PhD or equivalent practical research experience.
- 5 years of experience in a technical leadership role setting direction and guiding project workstreams.
- 5 years of experience in a people management, supervision, or team leadership role.
- 5 years of experience in machine learning, specifically working with LLMs, multimodal foundation models, or RL, along with safety and alignment specialization (e.g., model alignment, AI safety, or post-training techniques like supervised fine-tuning and reward modeling).
- One or more peer-reviewed scientific publications (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL, CoRL) or public preprints (arXiv).
Preferred qualifications:
- Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or related technical fields.
- 5 years of experience driving cross-functional initiatives across research, engineering, infrastructure, and product stakeholders.
- 5 years of technical leadership experience leading engineering workstreams, setting multi-year technical goal, and mentoring staff engineers.
- Demonstrated research in LLM reasoning, multimodal systems, RL/agents, robotics, or scientific AI.
About the job
Google DeepMind’s GenMedia Safety team defines the safety and alignment behavior of our flagship image, video, audio, and real-time interactive generative models. Working across safety post-training, runtime guardrails, evaluation, and threat intelligence, we address multi-stage systems whose visual and audio outputs carry high real-world stakes. Our mission is to protect people and society from harm while preserving creative freedom, neutrality, and user delight. We are responsible for making sure that Google DeepMind’s generative media models are deployed with the best GenAI safety in the world.As Technical Lead and Manager for GenMedia Safety Evaluations and Threat Intelligence, you will build and lead a team of researchers and engineers responsible for measuring, stress-testing, and anticipating risks across multimodal, multi-turn, and agentic generative media systems. You will own how we translate nuanced safety, alignment, and product goals into measurable quantities, and you will ultimately own the quality and trustworthiness of data across the entire GenMedia Safety team. Working collaboratively with peers across post-training, runtime safety, and production monitoring, you will set the strategy and architect the solution that lets us make data-driven decisions across the entire development and deployment life-cycle.
Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. At Google DeepMind, we are a pioneering AI lab with exceptional interdisciplinary teams focused on advancing AI development to solve complex global challenges and accelerate high-quality product innovation for billions of users. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, ensuring safety and ethics are always our highest priority.
US: $262000 - $364000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Translate safety and alignment goals into operational metrics, calibrated multimodal automated judges, and robust evaluation benchmarks.
- Build production-log evaluations and creatively probe system blind spots to continuously update multimodal threat models.
- Evaluate the quality of steered responses across media types and influence system infrastructure to ensure comprehensive logging.
- Govern dataset quality across the team and verify post-launch metrics to fold real-world data back into regression suites.
- Manage and mentor a team of 5 to 10 researchers and engineers while fostering a culture of scientific excellence.
Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA.
Minimum qualifications:
- PhD or equivalent practical research experience.
- 5 years of experience in a technical leadership role setting direction and guiding project workstreams.
- 5 years of experience in a people management, supervision, or team leadership role.
- 5 years of experience in machine learning, specifically working with LLMs, multimodal foundation models, or RL, along with safety and alignment specialization (e.g., model alignment, AI safety, or post-training techniques like supervised fine-tuning and reward modeling).
- One or more peer-reviewed scientific publications (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ACL, CoRL) or public preprints (arXiv).
Preferred qualifications:
- Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or related technical fields.
- 5 years of experience driving cross-functional initiatives across research, engineering, infrastructure, and product stakeholders.
- 5 years of technical leadership experience leading engineering workstreams, setting multi-year technical goal, and mentoring staff engineers.
- Demonstrated research in LLM reasoning, multimodal systems, RL/agents, robotics, or scientific AI.
About the job
Google DeepMind’s GenMedia Safety team defines the safety and alignment behavior of our flagship image, video, audio, and real-time interactive generative models. Working across safety post-training, runtime guardrails, evaluation, and threat intelligence, we address multi-stage systems whose visual and audio outputs carry high real-world stakes. Our mission is to protect people and society from harm while preserving creative freedom, neutrality, and user delight. We are responsible for making sure that Google DeepMind’s generative media models are deployed with the best GenAI safety in the world.As Technical Lead and Manager for GenMedia Safety Evaluations and Threat Intelligence, you will build and lead a team of researchers and engineers responsible for measuring, stress-testing, and anticipating risks across multimodal, multi-turn, and agentic generative media systems. You will own how we translate nuanced safety, alignment, and product goals into measurable quantities, and you will ultimately own the quality and trustworthiness of data across the entire GenMedia Safety team. Working collaboratively with peers across post-training, runtime safety, and production monitoring, you will set the strategy and architect the solution that lets us make data-driven decisions across the entire development and deployment life-cycle.
Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. At Google DeepMind, we are a pioneering AI lab with exceptional interdisciplinary teams focused on advancing AI development to solve complex global challenges and accelerate high-quality product innovation for billions of users. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, ensuring safety and ethics are always our highest priority.
US: $262000 - $364000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Translate safety and alignment goals into operational metrics, calibrated multimodal automated judges, and robust evaluation benchmarks.
- Build production-log evaluations and creatively probe system blind spots to continuously update multimodal threat models.
- Evaluate the quality of steered responses across media types and influence system infrastructure to ensure comprehensive logging.
- Govern dataset quality across the team and verify post-launch metrics to fold real-world data back into regression suites.
- Manage and mentor a team of 5 to 10 researchers and engineers while fostering a culture of scientific excellence.
See All 214+ Safety Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Safety Engineer JobsSafety Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Safety Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Tesla12
- Northrop Grumman11
- Apple8
- SpaceX8
- Zoox7
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software10
- Manufacturing5
- Electronics & Hardware2
- Medical Devices1
- Science & Research1
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in safety engineer jobs across California.
- Associate Safety Professional (ASP) or Certified Safety Professional (CSP) credential required or preferred
- Bachelor's degree in occupational health and safety, engineering, or a closely related field
- Working knowledge of California Code of Regulations Title 8 and Cal/OSHA standards
- Experience conducting job hazard analyses, safety audits, and incident investigations
- Familiarity with process safety management under California Accidental Release Prevention regulations
- Strong written communication skills for producing safety plans and regulatory compliance reports
Safety Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a safety engineer in California?
Most safety engineer roles in California require a bachelor's degree in safety science, industrial engineering, or a related field, followed by field experience and professional certification. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals administers the Associate Safety Professional exam, which is the standard entry credential, and the Certified Safety Professional designation for experienced practitioners. California also enforces Cal/OSHA regulations, so familiarity with Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations is expected before most employers will consider a candidate independently.
Which companies hire safety engineers in California?
Employers hiring safety engineers in California right now include Tesla, Northrop Grumman, and Apple, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. California's concentration of aerospace contractors, semiconductor fabs, oil refineries, and large construction firms means safety engineering roles appear across multiple heavy industries throughout the state.
Which California cities have the most safety engineer jobs?
San Francisco, Mountain View, and Irvine have the most safety engineer openings in California. Los Angeles and San Diego are driven by aerospace, defense contracting, and large construction activity, while San Jose sits at the center of semiconductor and advanced manufacturing operations in the Bay Area that require dedicated process and systems safety engineering staff.
Are there remote safety engineer jobs in California?
Yes, but they're rare. About 56% of safety engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how much of the role involves on-site inspections, hazard assessments, and direct workforce engagement. The portions of the work most likely to be done remotely include documentation review, compliance reporting, and safety program development for multi-site organizations.
How can I get hired as a safety engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is an environmental health and safety coordinator or safety technician role, which large California employers in construction, manufacturing, and utilities use as a pipeline for developing safety engineers. Companies like Chevron, SoCalGas, and major general contractors operating under California's prevailing-wage construction sector regularly hire recent graduates into associate EHS roles. Earning the Associate Safety Professional credential before applying and completing an internship through a Cal/OSHA consultation program gives candidates a concrete edge over those without field hours.
Where can I find and apply to safety engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to safety engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from employers hiring in the state right now. Find roles that fit your experience and specialization and apply directly to the ones that match.
See All 214+ Safety Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Safety Engineer Jobs