What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Safety Compliance position at Boston Dynamics?
At Boston Dynamics, we are pushing the boundaries of what robots can do not just in the lab, but in the real world. As our robots transition from research breakthroughs to scaled commercial products, ensuring they operate safely and comply with an increasingly complex global regulatory environment is critical.
We are seeking a Head of Safety Compliance to serve as the enterprise leader for global product safety governance across our growing commercial robotics portfolio. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, this role will architect and lead a comprehensive safety and compliance framework that protects the company, enables responsible innovation, and ensures strong legal defensibility as we expand globally.
This is a senior corporate leadership role embedded within a high growth, high technology hardware organization. The successful candidate will combine regulatory expertise, strong business acumen, and executive presence to shape enterprise safety strategy, drive policy adoption, and influence cross functional execution.
Primary Responsibilities
Enterprise Safety Strategy and Policy Leadership
Set company wide safety policy, long term safety goals, and governance principles aligned with corporate risk tolerance and commercialization objectives. Develop and continuously evolve a comprehensive product safety management system that integrates legal defensibility, engineering rigor, and operational execution. Study internal practices, external regulatory developments, and emerging technologies to create a forward looking safety framework that supports innovation at scale.
Executive Advisory and Risk Leadership
Serve as the primary advisor to executive leadership on product safety goal attainment, enterprise risk evaluation, and safety strategy. Own the overall risk assessment methodology and directly manage the risk evaluation phases across product programs. Report regularly to executive leadership on safety performance, emerging risks, and compliance posture. Provide structured guidance that enables informed decision making at the highest levels of the company.
Regulatory and Compliance Subject Matter Expertise
Act as the company’s primary subject matter expert and advisor on safety related regulatory matters across global markets. Interpret regulatory requirements and translate them into actionable internal policies and procedures. Oversee third party certifications and regulatory interactions from a governance standpoint. Monitor legislative and regulatory changes that could impact product deployment and proactively guide internal stakeholders.
Product Lifecycle Governance
Embed safety governance across the full product lifecycle from early concept through commercialization and field deployment. Provide key inputs for individual programs’ safety strategies recognizing that approaches may vary by product and deployment environment. Participate in Core Safety Team meetings as senior advisor and ensure safety considerations are documented and managed in a manner that supports audit readiness and long term defensibility.
Cross Functional Business Partnership
Partner closely with Engineering, Product, Sales, and Operations to align safety policies with customer commitments and product roadmaps. Coordinate with Safety Engineering and other internal safety technology providers to set strategy, frameworks, key results, and assessment mechanisms. Advise and partner with Product Safety Engineering roles whether through direct reporting relationships or dotted line structures. Provide feedback to company programs on attainment of safety goals and proper implementation of processes within the product safety management system.
External Representation and Thought Leadership
Serve as the key external spokesperson for safety related matters. Prepare safety policy messaging and represent Boston Dynamics in technical talks, panels, industry conferences, and regulatory forums. Engage with standards bodies and industry groups to shape responsible robotics safety practices and reinforce the company’s leadership position.
Qualifications And Skills
We are seeking a Head of Safety Compliance to serve as the enterprise leader for global product safety governance across our growing commercial robotics portfolio. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, this role will architect and lead a comprehensive safety and compliance framework that protects the company, enables responsible innovation, and ensures strong legal defensibility as we expand globally.
This is a senior corporate leadership role embedded within a high growth, high technology hardware organization. The successful candidate will combine regulatory expertise, strong business acumen, and executive presence to shape enterprise safety strategy, drive policy adoption, and influence cross functional execution.
Primary Responsibilities
Enterprise Safety Strategy and Policy Leadership
Set company wide safety policy, long term safety goals, and governance principles aligned with corporate risk tolerance and commercialization objectives. Develop and continuously evolve a comprehensive product safety management system that integrates legal defensibility, engineering rigor, and operational execution. Study internal practices, external regulatory developments, and emerging technologies to create a forward looking safety framework that supports innovation at scale.
Executive Advisory and Risk Leadership
Serve as the primary advisor to executive leadership on product safety goal attainment, enterprise risk evaluation, and safety strategy. Own the overall risk assessment methodology and directly manage the risk evaluation phases across product programs. Report regularly to executive leadership on safety performance, emerging risks, and compliance posture. Provide structured guidance that enables informed decision making at the highest levels of the company.
Regulatory and Compliance Subject Matter Expertise
Act as the company’s primary subject matter expert and advisor on safety related regulatory matters across global markets. Interpret regulatory requirements and translate them into actionable internal policies and procedures. Oversee third party certifications and regulatory interactions from a governance standpoint. Monitor legislative and regulatory changes that could impact product deployment and proactively guide internal stakeholders.
Product Lifecycle Governance
Embed safety governance across the full product lifecycle from early concept through commercialization and field deployment. Provide key inputs for individual programs’ safety strategies recognizing that approaches may vary by product and deployment environment. Participate in Core Safety Team meetings as senior advisor and ensure safety considerations are documented and managed in a manner that supports audit readiness and long term defensibility.
Cross Functional Business Partnership
Partner closely with Engineering, Product, Sales, and Operations to align safety policies with customer commitments and product roadmaps. Coordinate with Safety Engineering and other internal safety technology providers to set strategy, frameworks, key results, and assessment mechanisms. Advise and partner with Product Safety Engineering roles whether through direct reporting relationships or dotted line structures. Provide feedback to company programs on attainment of safety goals and proper implementation of processes within the product safety management system.
External Representation and Thought Leadership
Serve as the key external spokesperson for safety related matters. Prepare safety policy messaging and represent Boston Dynamics in technical talks, panels, industry conferences, and regulatory forums. Engage with standards bodies and industry groups to shape responsible robotics safety practices and reinforce the company’s leadership position.
Qualifications And Skills
- Corporate and Regulatory Leadership Experience
- Advanced Degree Required (MS, PhD, MBA, JD)
- Ten or more years of experience in product safety, regulatory compliance, corporate risk management, or product liability within a high technology or advanced hardware environment such as robotics, aerospace, automotive, advanced electronics, or industrial automation.
- Demonstrated experience advising senior leadership on enterprise risk and global compliance strategy.
- Business Acumen and Policy Influence Strong business judgment with the ability to translate regulatory requirements into practical policies and procedures that drive execution. Comfortable operating at the intersection of law, engineering, and commercial strategy. Proven ability to influence cross functional stakeholders and drive adoption of governance frameworks across a matrixed organization.