EmergingSpace missions and aerospace autonomy

Aerospace AI Assurance Engineer

Also called Flight AI Validation Engineer

An Aerospace AI Assurance Engineer tests AI-enabled flight and mission functions against real hazards and reports independently on where they fail. They help a company show a system is safe enough to fly, and stop it flying when it is not.

What they do

They take an AI-enabled function, such as an onboard planner, a perception module or an autonomy mode, and work out what could go wrong in the mission it serves. They build hazard scenarios, run them in mission simulators and digital twins, and replay telemetry from past runs. They read flight software behaviour at the interface with the model. They design edge cases, record what breaks, and write up findings that the build team did not shape. They keep a live list of open risks and track which have been closed.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months a strong hire gives the company a clear map of the AI-enabled functions and the hazards attached to each. They set up a repeatable scenario set that runs in simulation, produce a first body of assurance evidence, and issue independent failure findings that engineers accept as fair. They leave leadership with an honest list of unresolved risks, ranked by consequence.

How you can tell they are good

Ask them to walk through a system they assessed. A strong candidate names the hazards first, then the scenarios, then what the evidence did and did not cover. They can explain why a model that passes tests may still be unsafe in flight. They are comfortable saying a risk is open. Be wary of anyone who talks only about model accuracy.

Why it is hard to fill

Almost nobody has this title yet. The work sits inside safety, systems, test or autonomy jobs, so CVs rarely say assurance and AI together. Aerospace safety people often lack machine learning depth. Machine learning engineers often lack hazard thinking and flight discipline. We usually search by the work done, not the label, and expect to assess a mixed background.

Where to find them

Look in aerospace safety and verification teams, mission operations, flight software test, robotics validation and space science groups that run autonomy. Many are titled systems engineer, test engineer, reliability engineer or guidance and control engineer. They sit in satellite makers, launch and space operators, aerospace primes, research institutes and autonomy start-ups.

Indicative pay

Not enough published evidence yet to give a fair range for this role, which is common for work this new. We benchmark it for you as part of a search.

Interview questions for an Aerospace AI Assurance Engineer

  1. Describe an autonomous or AI-enabled function you tested against mission hazards. How did you decide what to test?

    Strong answers start from hazards and mission phases, then derive scenarios. They explain coverage gaps and how they chose priorities. Worry if the answer is a list of tools or a single accuracy figure.

  2. A model passes every test in your simulator. Why might it still be unsafe in flight?

    Look for simulator fidelity limits, distribution shift, sensor and timing faults, rare events and interface behaviour with flight software. Worry if they treat simulation passes as proof.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We build AI-enabled functions for aerospace and space missions. We need an assurance engineer to test them against real mission hazards and report independently on where they fail. You will work alongside autonomy, flight software and operations teams, and your findings will shape what we fly.

What you will do

  • Identify mission hazards for each AI-enabled function
  • Design and run scenarios in mission simulators and digital twins
  • Analyse telemetry to find faults and build test cases
  • Produce assurance evidence that others can review
  • Write independent failure findings with clear evidence
  • Maintain a ranked record of unresolved risks
  • Agree fixes and retests with engineering teams

What you will bring

  • Demonstrated assurance, verification or safety work on aerospace, robotics or mission systems
  • Experience testing learned or autonomous behaviour, not only conventional software
  • Ability to read flight software and system interfaces
  • Clear written reports that engineers and leaders both trust
  • Sound judgement on coverage and residual risk
  • Comfort challenging a design team with evidence

Nice to have

  • Experience with remote-sensing or geospatial data
  • Background in mission operations or incident response
  • Work on digital twin development

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Skills that matter

  • Robotics and controlAdvancedPerceive, plan and act through physical systems
  • Geospatial and earth systemsAdvancedAnalyse spatial, temporal and environmental information
  • Simulation and digital twinsWorkingBuild useful virtual representations of environments
  • Reliability and incident responseWorkingDetect failures, restore service and prevent recurrence

Other roles in space missions and aerospace autonomy

Hiring nowSpacecraft Autonomy EngineerA Spacecraft Autonomy Engineer builds the software that lets a spacecraft act sensibly on its own within limits the mission has approved. It matters…Hiring nowSatellite AI EngineerA Satellite AI Engineer builds AI that runs on a spacecraft or in the ground segment, turning satellite data and operations into useful results…Hiring nowMission Planning AI ScientistA Mission Planning AI Scientist builds the planning and scheduling methods that decide what a spacecraft or sensor does and when. They help a…

Related roles in other families

Hiring nowRobot Learning EngineerRobot learning and manipulationA Robot Learning Engineer trains policies that let robots complete defined physical tasks reliably. The work turns a promising demo into behaviour a…Hiring nowRobot Manipulation ResearcherRobot learning and manipulationA Robot Manipulation Researcher builds the grasping and object-interaction methods that let robots handle real things reliably. They turn lab demos…EmergingVision-Language-Action ResearcherRobot learning and manipulationA Vision-Language-Action Researcher builds models that turn instructions and camera input into safe, bounded robot actions. They matter because they…Hiring nowAutonomy Perception EngineerAutonomous navigation and field roboticsAn Autonomy Perception Engineer turns raw sensor data into a reliable picture of the world that a machine can act on. It decides whether an…

How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert.

← Space missions and aerospace autonomyAll new job families

Start a search

Hiring an Aerospace AI Assurance Engineer?

Tell us the work. We find the people already doing it, whatever their job title says, and you meet them already interviewed for your role.