Principal Functional Safety Engineer

Our Opportunity

Location: Fortescue’s Perth office is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk people.

Roster: Monday-Friday 

You will be responsible for developing and governing Fortescue's enterprise Functional Safety Management Framework, ensuring compliance with international standards and the consistent application of functional safety principles across mining, process, machinery and emerging product technologies. 

The role provides technical leadership, governance and assurance throughout the safety lifecycle, partnering with multidisciplinary teams to strengthen critical risk controls, improve safety performance and build internal functional safety capability across the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement Fortescue's Functional Safety Management Framework, aligned with relevant standards (IEC 61508, IEC 61511, ISO 13849/IEC 62061) across process, mining, machinery, and product applications.
• Provide governance across the safety lifecycle — design, implementation, operation, maintenance, testing, and modification — for Safety Instrumented Systems, machine safety systems, and safety-critical elements in battery and product design.
• Develop and maintain Functional Safety standards, procedures, and tools to support consistent application across projects and operations.
• Provide technical support across Fortescue's business units on process controls, safety instrumented systems, machinery safety, battery safety, and other critical controls.
• Lead or support assurance activities including audits, reviews, verification, gap assessments, and lifecycle health checks.
• Analyse risk, assurance, incident, and performance data to identify gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Develop performance reporting, training, and coaching to build internal capability and reduce reliance on external consultants.
• Coordinate with domain specialists (process, machine, battery safety) where deep technical depth sits outside this role's core expertise.

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree in Electrical, Instrumentation, or Control Systems Engineering is required.
• Broader electrical engineering knowledge beyond functional safety (i.e. hazardous area, protection systems, power) is highly regarded.
• Functional Safety certification strongly preferred (e.g. TÜV Functional Safety Engineer).
• 8+ years' experience in Functional Safety, Safety Instrumented Systems, Machine Safety.
• Experience developing or implementing Functional Safety frameworks, standards, or assurance programs.
• Experience applying Functional Safety across the lifecycle — specification, design, verification, validation, operation, maintenance, proof testing.
• Experience conducting Functional Safety assessments: SIL determination/verification, LOPA, HAZOP, HAZID, bowtie, ALARP.
• Exposure to machine safety standards (ISO 13849, IEC 62061); depth highly regarded.
• Exposure to battery safety principles (thermal runaway, UN38.3, IEC 62619) or willingness to build capability.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and coaching skills across multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong analytical capability, managing multiple priorities across a broad business portfolio.

About Us

Be part of something big. Fortescue is leading the world with our plan to decarbonise our iron ore operations, projects that harness renewable energy and the development of technology that will change our planet forever.

Our Commitment

Fortescue celebrates individual strengths and team members are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work. Our global workforce drives and promotes an inclusive culture, both within our organisation and throughout the communities we interact with. Diverse backgrounds include First Nations Peoples, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ community, gender, neurodiverse, cultural diversity, all age groups, and those with an intersectional or multiple diverse characteristics. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

https://fortescue.com/careers 

Internal Candidates / Current Contractors please apply via Success Factors Careers Portal. For further information on how to apply please visit the Fortescue Hub. 

Fortescue reserves the right to close applications early should a suitable pool of candidates be identified. Fortescue will never contact you to ask for payment of any kind, whether directly or through a third party.