Reliability Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

Job Title: Reliability Engineer

Job Description

The Reliability Engineer drives product reliability across the full lifecycle of advanced autonomous defense systems, from early concept development through qualification, production, and field deployment. In this highly visible, cross-functional role, you serve as the reliability subject matter expert, influencing design decisions, test strategies, failure investigations, manufacturing readiness, and long-term product performance. You collaborate closely with engineering, manufacturing, quality, and operations teams to ensure that safety-critical hardware and software systems meet mission-critical performance requirements and withstand demanding real-world operating environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead reliability engineering activities across the entire product lifecycle, from concept and architecture development through design, testing, manufacturing, and field operations.
• Partner with mechanical, electrical, software, systems, manufacturing, quality, test, and field service engineers to embed reliability considerations into designs and processes.
• Plan, perform, and document FMEA and FMECA activities to identify, assess, and mitigate potential failure modes at the component, subsystem, and system levels.
• Develop and maintain Fault Tree Analyses (FTA) to understand system-level failure paths and support risk reduction strategies.
• Create reliability predictions and models, including Weibull analysis and other predictive techniques, to estimate product reliability and drive design improvements.
• Conduct root cause failure analysis for test and field issues, identify corrective and preventive actions, and ensure their implementation and verification.
• Develop, review, and execute qualification and validation test plans, including environmental and accelerated life testing, to demonstrate compliance with requirements and applicable military standards.
• Support and oversee environmental stress tests such as HALT and HASS, as applicable, to uncover design weaknesses and improve robustness.
• Collaborate with test engineering teams to define test strategies, test coverage, and acceptance criteria aligned with reliability objectives.
• Support manufacturing readiness by participating in Manufacturing Readiness Reviews (MRL) and Manufacturing Review Board (MRB) activities, ensuring designs are production-ready and reliable.
• Provide hands-on support on the manufacturing floor, including calibration oversight, mechanical testing, and review of nonconformances from a reliability perspective.
• Participate in and present at key design and program reviews, including Preliminary Design Reviews (PDRs), Critical Design Reviews (CDRs), and Manufacturing Reviews, communicating reliability risks and recommendations.
• Ensure products comply with relevant military standards and handbooks, and incorporate these requirements into design, analysis, and test planning.
• Review real-time data from testing and field operations to monitor reliability performance, identify trends, and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to risk management and change control processes, assessing reliability impacts of design changes and process modifications.
• Author clear technical documentation, including reliability analyses, test reports, specifications, requirements, and standards-related documentation.
• Influence cross-functional decisions without direct authority by using data-driven insights, clear communication, and structured problem-solving.
• Support field deployment and operations by investigating failures, recommending corrective actions, and feeding lessons learned back into design and process updates.
• Help build and refine scalable manufacturing and reliability processes tailored to fast-paced, autonomous defense systems.
• Champion a data-driven, mission-oriented reliability culture, balancing rigorous standards with rapid development cycles.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in Reliability Engineering, Design Engineering, Development Engineering, or Test Engineering.
• Strong hands-on experience performing FMEA and FMECA for complex hardware and system architectures.
• Proficiency in Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) to evaluate system-level failure scenarios and risk paths.
• Experience with reliability predictions and modeling, including use of predictive reliability techniques and tools.
• Proficiency in Weibull Analysis and related statistical methods for reliability data analysis.
• Demonstrated capability in root cause failure analysis for test and field issues, including structured problem-solving methods.
• Experience supporting safety-critical products in aerospace, defense, military systems, or autonomous platforms.
• Background in both hardware and software reliability for integrated systems.
• Experience developing and executing qualification test plans and validation test plans for complex systems.
• Hands-on experience with environmental testing and accelerated life testing to validate product robustness.
• Working knowledge of military standards and handbooks, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-217, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-516C, and MIL-STD-1629.
• Experience supporting products through design, development, production, and field operations or field deployment.
• Experience presenting at design reviews such as PDR, CDR, and Manufacturing Readiness Reviews (MRR).
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret Clearance.
• Strong communication skills with experience leading cross-functional investigations and driving corrective actions.
• Comfort working directly with hardware systems in labs, on the manufacturing floor, and in field-like environments.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-ownership, startup-like environment with rapid development cycles.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience with additional military and reliability standards such as MIL-HDBK-217Plus, MIL-HDBK-472, and MIL-STD-1916.
• Hands-on experience with Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS).
• Experience with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) and Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) testing for integrated systems.
• Participation in Manufacturing Readiness Reviews (MRL) and Manufacturing Review Board (MRB) activities.
• Experience with calibration processes, mechanical testing, and environmental stress testing for reliability qualification.
• Experience in risk management and change control, including assessing reliability impacts of design and process changes.
• Technical writing experience involving specifications, requirements, standards, and formal test or analysis reports.
• Experience working in mission-oriented environments focused on supporting warfighters or similar critical users.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decisions across multiple stakeholder groups without direct reporting authority.
• Curious, analytical mindset with a hands-on, problem-solving approach.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous situations while building new processes and frameworks from the ground up.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with mechanical, electrical, software, systems, manufacturing, quality, test, and field service teams.

Work Environment

This role operates in a highly hands-on engineering environment that is not limited to desk work. The Reliability Engineer splits time between engineering design reviews and planning meetings, the manufacturing and production floor, test labs and qualification test environments, and failure analysis or root cause investigation activities. You will work directly with hardware systems, support environmental and reliability testing, investigate failed components and assemblies, and participate in prototype builds and production readiness activities. You will also review real-time data from testing and field operations to monitor performance and drive improvements.

The position is highly collaborative, involving daily interaction with mechanical, electrical, software, systems, manufacturing, quality, and test engineers, as well as field service teams. You are expected to influence decisions across these groups in a matrixed environment without direct authority.

You will engage across the full product lifecycle, including concept and architecture development, design reviews (PDR and CDR), qualification testing, manufacturing scale-up, production support, field performance monitoring, and continuous improvement initiatives. The pace is fast and resembles a startup-like environment, with high ownership, rapid development cycles, significant autonomy, and a strong emphasis on data-driven engineering..

This is a Contract position based out of Atlanta, GA.

The pay range for this position is $61.00 - $80.00/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 fully onsite position in Atlanta,GA.

This position is anticipated to close on Aug 10, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email View email address on ziprecruiter.com for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.