Systems Reliability Engineer

About CFD Research:  Since its inception in 1987, CFD Research has delivered innovative technology solutions within the Aerospace & Defense, Biomedical & Life Sciences, Intelligence & Sensing, and Energy & Materials industries. CFD Research has earned multiple national awards for successful application and commercialization of innovative component/system technology prototypes, multi-physics simulation software, multi-disciplinary analyses, and expert support services. Based in Huntsville, Alabama where laboratory facilities and headquarters are located, CFD Research also has office and laboratory facilities in Dayton, Ohio, prototyping test and evaluation facilities in Hollywood, Alabama, and office facilities in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. CFD Research is an ISO9001:AS9100D registered company and is appraised at CMMI Level II for Services.  CFD Research is a 100% ESOP (employee-owned company) recognized in Inc. Magazine's Inc5000 as a top growing company for four of the last five years. Learn more at 

About the Job

CFD Research is seeking a full-time Systems Reliability Engineer to support the continued maturation, verification, and production of a complex multidisciplinary aerospace and defense hardware system.

The Systems Reliability Engineer will maintain and mature the program reliability engineering framework and will work closely with design engineering, systems engineering, test, manufacturing, quality, maintainability and testability, product support, and program leadership.

The position will be responsible for maintaining the quantitative reliability prediction model in Windchill as well as developing and maintaining FMEA and FMECA, reliability allocations, failure analyses, reliability fault trees, FRACAS analytics, reliability-growth assessments, and critical-item evaluations.

This position will split time between our Headquarters in Huntsville, AL and our Engineering Test Center in Hollywood, Alabama. 

About the Role

The Systems Reliability Engineer will be responsible for understanding how the system can fail, how often failures are expected to occur, which failure modes dominate system reliability, and whether design and corrective actions are improving the system as intended.

The reliability prediction model, FMEA and FMECA, failure analyses, and FRACAS information will be maintained as living engineering products and updated as the system design changes, component selections mature, verification testing generates new information, failures occur, and corrective actions are implemented.

The engineer will also provide reliability inputs to the assigned System Safety owner, including relevant failure modes, failure rates, fault logic, criticality information, and corrective-action status when those inputs are needed to maintain system hazard analyses or safety assessments.

What You’ll Do

• Develop, maintain, and mature the system reliability prediction model using Windchill.
• Maintain consistency between the reliability prediction model, current system configuration, component and assembly information, and applicable reliability assumptions.
• Update reliability predictions as designs mature, parts change, operating assumptions change, failure data become available, or corrective actions modify the system configuration.
• Develop and maintain reliability allocations and predictions at appropriate system, subsystem, assembly, and component levels.
• Evaluate predicted reliability against system requirements and identify significant reliability drivers, contributors, and areas of insufficient margin.
• Work with design engineering and other technical organizations to obtain component data, operating conditions, duty cycles, environmental assumptions, and failure information required to maintain the reliability model.
• Develop, maintain, and mature system-level FMEA and FMECA analyses.
• Coordinate subsystem and component failure-mode information with responsible engineering organizations.
• Maintain failure severity, criticality, consequence, and related analytical information as the design and operating knowledge mature.
• Develop and maintain reliability fault-tree analyses where appropriate.
• Analyze test, manufacturing, and operational failure information for trends, recurring failure mechanisms, and emerging reliability risks.
• Support and maintain the technical analysis portion of the program FRACAS process.
• Work with responsible engineering organizations to investigate failures, identify root causes, establish corrective actions, and evaluate corrective-action effectiveness.
• Use actual test, manufacturing, and operational failure information to assess and refine reliability-model assumptions where appropriate.
• Evaluate the reliability impact of engineering changes and proposed corrective actions.
• Maintain traceability between reliability predictions, FMEA and FMECA results, critical-item assessments, FRACAS information, and the current technical baseline.
• Identify reliability-critical items using applicable failure analyses, reliability predictions, design information, operational information, and program criteria.
• Generate reliability-model results and supporting analyses for technical reviews, customer deliverables, design trades, and verification activities.
• Work with the Maintainability and Testability Engineer to ensure significant failure modes are appropriately detectable, isolatable, and maintainable.
• Work with the Verification, Compliance and MBSE Systems Engineer to identify and trace verification evidence needed to support reliability requirements and analytical conclusions.
• Provide reliability data and analyses to the assigned System Safety owner where reliability information supports hazard analysis, safety assessment, or safety-critical item decisions.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in reliability engineering, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, or another relevant technical discipline.
• Three or more years of experience involving reliability engineering, failure analysis, hardware development, or a closely related engineering activity.
• Experience developing, maintaining, or interpreting quantitative reliability prediction models for complex hardware systems.
• Experience developing, maintaining, or using FMEA, FMECA, fault-tree analysis, or similar reliability engineering products.
• Ability to work with component-level reliability information, system configurations, operating environments, duty cycles, failure-rate data, and engineering assumptions to maintain a defensible system reliability prediction.
• Ability to understand multidisciplinary hardware systems and evaluate failure propagation and consequence.
• Experience investigating technical failures and working with design engineers to establish root cause and corrective action.
• Strong technical writing and analytical communication skills.
• Ability to translate analytical findings into practical engineering actions and verification needs.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance, as required.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience using Windchill for reliability prediction, reliability analysis, or related reliability and maintainability activities.
• Experience maintaining reliability models through design maturation, configuration changes, testing, production, and corrective-action implementation.
• Experience correlating predicted reliability with actual failure information obtained through FRACAS, testing, manufacturing, or operational use.
• Experience developing or maintaining FMEA or FMECA on aerospace or defense hardware.
• Experience with FRACAS and reliability-growth programs.
• Experience with reliability prediction, allocation, criticality analysis, or reliability fault-tree analysis.
• Experience with critical-item or critical safety item programs.
• Experience supporting qualification testing, production hardware, or LRIP activities.
• Experience providing reliability inputs to system safety or hazard-analysis activities.

Benefits: CFD Research offers competitive salaries and excellent employee benefits, including an employer matching 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). CFD Research offers our Full-Time, permanent employee-owners a highly competitive insurance package, including medical, vision, and dental insurance. Additionally, we offer company paid leave, compensation time, parental leave, long-term and short-term disability, accidental death and dismemberment, and life insurance. Part-Time and Temporary employee-owners may receive partial or reduced benefits and leave time based on their employment status level. Performance appraisals occur twice a year and annual pay increases are based upon corporate goals, personal development, performance, and outstanding achievements. In addition, group and individual bonuses are awarded for exceptional performance.

CFD Research is an EO employer - Veterans/Disabled and other protected categories