Senior Staff Reliability Engineer
Role SummaryThe Senior Staff Reliability Engineer is responsible for ensuring the successful and reliable development, launch, and life of the company's instrumentation into the field. This role focuses on identifying and eliminating reliability risks across manufacturing, installation, and real-world use by working directly with the internal development team, contract manufacturers, suppliers, and customers.This is a highly hands-on role requiring regular field engagement, system installations, and close collaboration with design and development engineers to drive manufacturing and design improvements that ensure reliable performance at scale.Primary Focus Areas & SkillsField reliability and real-world system performanceManufacturing and supplier feedback loopsDesign and process changes to improve robustnessEnd-to-end understanding of the product ecosystemKey SkillsSystematic and data driven troubleshooting for complex systems Experience in running controlled failure experimentsAnalytics ability to develop run chart, reliability charts and performance metric chartsGreat communications cross functionally and with customersExperience in multiple disciplines of design - electrical, mechanical, fluidics, instrument control software (embedded and applications) Highly independent, can work on multiple priorities, organized, and proactiveKey ResponsibilitiesField Deployment & Reliability LearningActively participate in field installations to understand real-world use cases, environmental conditions, and customer workflowsSupport field troubleshooting and early-life failure investigationsCapture field observations and translate them into actionable reliability, manufacturing, or design improvementsServe as the technical bridge between field experience and engineering teamsProduct Launch & Reliability OwnershipOwn reliability readiness for product launch and early field deploymentIdentify reliability risks across hardware, software, manufacturing, installation, and usageLead root cause investigations for field and manufacturing issues at CMODrive corrective actions in collaboration with design and development engineersManufacturing & Supplier InterfaceWork directly with contract manufacturers to identify and resolve reliability and process issuesReview manufacturing processes for robustness and repeatabilitySupport supplier investigations related to component or subassembly reliabilityRecommend process changes, inspection improvements, or supplier actions to prevent failuresDesign Feedback & Continuous ImprovementProvide structured feedback to design and development engineers based on field and manufacturing learningsRecommend design changes to improve reliability, serviceability, and manufacturabilityParticipate in design reviews with a reliability and field-use perspectiveSupport change implementation and validation related to reliability improvementsReliability & Quality Support (Startup-Appropriate)Support failure investigations, nonconformances, and corrective actions with technical rigorContribute to risk assessments and reliability-related documentationHelp define pragmatic reliability and quality processes suitable for a startup environmentTrack and report reliability metrics such as field failures, early-life issues, and systemic risksRequired QualificationsBachelor's degree in Mechatronics, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or related field10+ years of experience in reliability, operations, manufacturing, field engineering, or systems engineering. You must have participated in multiple developments and new product introductions launches, and demonstrated a strong history of field robustness.Hands-on experience with complex electromechanical systems (lasers, optics, PCBA, robotics preferred)Proven ability to translate field issues into design or process improvements.Comfortable working and communicating directly with customers, contract manufacturers, and suppliersWillingness and ability to travel for field installations and CM supportPreferred QualificationsStartup experience launching hardware products into the fieldExperience in diagnostics tools, research use only tools, medical devices, robotics, or similar regulated productsFamiliarity with structured problem-solving tools (FMEA, root cause analysis)Experience supporting early production ramp and first-customer installs