Reliability Engineer

Job Title: Senior Reliability Engineer

Job Description

The Senior Reliability Engineer leads the reliability assessment, validation, and design guidance for core electrochemical components used in long-duration energy storage systems, including iron flow battery stacks, electrochemical rebalancing cells, and fluid interfaces. This role owns the full reliability lifecycle from concept and design through development testing, manufacturing, and field operation. The engineer investigates failures using physics-of-failure methods and physical testing, predicts component and system robustness, and translates insights into design and architecture improvements that continuously enhance product reliability and inform system-level reliability estimates. Acting as a key reliability advisor, this person partners closely with system and hardware design teams to evaluate off-the-shelf components for a unique operating environment and long service-life requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own reliability engineering for iron flow battery stacks and electrochemical rebalancing cells, ensuring robust performance over long service lifetimes.
• Identify and characterize dominant degradation and failure mechanisms, including electrochemical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, and environmental modes.
• Develop physics-of-failure models to guide accelerated life testing, define operating limits, and support design tradeoffs.
• Define clear reliability requirements and targets for core components based on field usage conditions, duty cycles, and cost models.
• Design and execute validation plans to determine expected operating lifetimes across different specification ranges.
• Lead teardown and failure analysis of lab-tested and field-returned components to determine root causes and recurrence risks.
• Partner with cross-functional engineering teams to translate failure analysis findings into design changes, updated requirements, and improved validation plans.
• Support system-level reliability analyses, including fault tree analysis, reliability block diagrams, and Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA).
• Integrate component-level reliability data into system reliability models and predictions to support product and architecture decisions.
• Analyze field data from deployed systems to identify reliability trends, emerging risks, and opportunities for design and process improvements.
• Serve as a reliability advisor to design teams evaluating off-the-shelf components for long-duration, grid-scale energy storage applications.
• Review off-the-shelf component data sheets, qualification reports, and life-test data to evaluate assumptions, margins, and applicability to operating conditions.
• Translate specific duty cycles—including electrical, thermal, mechanical, environmental, and chemical exposure—into reliability risks, gaps, and recommended validation or derating strategies.
• Provide guidance on when additional testing, screening, or supplier engagement is required before deployment of new components.
• Define and communicate reliability requirements for critical suppliers supporting battery and electrochemical components.
• Review and challenge supplier life-test data, assumptions, and acceleration models to ensure they align with real-world operating conditions.
• Support supplier corrective actions related to reliability issues, ensuring effective resolution and long-term prevention.
• Maintain and expand internal reliability guidelines, best practices, and lessons learned to strengthen organizational knowledge and processes.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Materials, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in reliability engineering, component development, or failure analysis (flexible for exceptionally strong candidates).
• Strong understanding of accelerated testing methods, governing equations, and physics-of-failure across a range of failure mechanisms.
• Solid foundation in applied statistics and reliability statistics, including methods such as Weibull analysis, Maximum Likelihood Estimation, Bayesian methods, and Monte Carlo simulation.
• Hands-on experience with failure analysis techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), C-SAM, X-ray inspection, cross-sectioning, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).
• Proficiency with reliability engineering analysis tools and platforms used for reliability modeling, statistics, and test planning.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute validation plans and interpret test results to drive design and process improvements.
• Ability to communicate complex reliability findings clearly to cross-functional teams and influence design decisions.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience with batteries, flow batteries, fuel cells, electrochemical systems, or fluid-based energy systems.
• Working knowledge of programming, preferably in Python, to support data analysis and modeling.
• Familiarity with corrosive environments, polymers, or battery materials and their impact on long-term reliability.
• Experience analyzing field reliability data to determine or predict failure causes and drive corrective actions.
• Comfort working across disciplines in a fast-moving hardware development environment with evolving requirements.
• Knowledge of reliability and warranty analysis methodologies, as well as reliability prediction techniques.
• Familiarity with design-for-reliability methods, including integrating ECAD, MCAD, and CAE data into 3D finite element models.
• Strong collaboration skills for working with design, test, manufacturing, and supplier teams on reliability topics.

Work Environment

This role is primarily onsite with potential for a hybrid schedule depending on business needs. The position is embedded in a hands-on hardware development environment focused on advanced energy storage technologies, where you collaborate closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams. You can expect regular interaction with laboratory and test facilities for component and system validation, as well as engagement with suppliers and manufacturing partners. The work setting supports detailed experimental work, data analysis, and design collaboration in a professional, engineering-driven environment.

We will be prioritizing regional talent who can work onsite and start work within the next couple of weeks. We may consider non-local prospects if their resume shows full qualifications and the candidate can relocate themselves to the area within a couple of weeks.

#LI-MH3

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Tualatin, OR.

The pay range for this position is $135500.00 - $155500.00/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:
• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a hybrid position in Tualatin,OR.

This position is anticipated to close on May 14, 2026.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Actalent, diversity and inclusion are a bridge towards the equity and success of our people. DE&I is embedded into our culture through:

• Hiring diverse talent
• Maintaining an inclusive environment through persistent self-reflection
• Building a culture of care, engagement, and recognition with clear outcomes
• Ensuring growth opportunities for our people

Actalent is an equal opportunity employer.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services. For more than 40 years, we’ve helped visionary companies advance their goals. Headquartered in the United States, our teams span 150 offices across North America, EMEA, and APAC—with four delivery centers in India led by 1,000+ extraordinary employees who connect their passion with purpose every day.

Our Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai delivery centers are hubs of engineering expertise, with core capabilities in mechanical and electrical engineering, systems and software, and manufacturing engineering. Our teams deliver work across multiple industries including transportation, consumer and industrial products, and life sciences. We serve more than 4,500 clients, including many Fortune 500 brands. Learn more about how we can work together at actalentservices.com.