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Shield AI, a venture-backed defense-tech company, is seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer to lead reliability engineering activities for aircraft systems development, integration, testing, and operation. The role involves establishing reliability requirements, managing system reliability budgets, performing reliability analyses, and identifying design improvements to increase aircraft availability and mission success.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing and maintaining aircraft-level reliability requirements, objectives, and program reliability plans
- Establishing, allocating, and managing reliability budgets across systems, subsystems, and line-replaceable units
- Tracking predicted reliability against program targets and identifying components or subsystems driving reliability risk
- Performing reliability predictions using component failure-rate data, operating environments, and mission profiles
- Conducting FMEA, FMECA, FTA, and RBD analyses
- Supporting aircraft system safety assessments by providing failure rates, failure modes, and reliability data
- Developing and maintaining MTBF, MTBCF, mission reliability, availability, and related reliability metrics
- Performing reliability allocation, trade studies, sensitivity analyses, and design assessments
- Leading or supporting FRACAS activities
- Analyzing ground-test, flight-test, supplier, maintenance, and field-performance data to identify reliability trends
- Applying Weibull analysis and other statistical methods to evaluate failure behavior and predict component life
- Working with design teams to eliminate single-point failures and improve fault tolerance
- Reviewing supplier reliability analyses, test results, and supporting technical data
- Defining reliability demonstration and growth-test requirements
- Supporting technical reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and reliability review boards
- Communicating reliability performance, budget status, risks, and corrective actions to customers and program leadership
- Mentoring junior engineers and improving organizational reliability processes, tools, and standards
The successful engineer will establish a clear aircraft reliability strategy, maintain ownership of the reliability budget, and provide program leadership with an accurate view of reliability performance and risk. They will use analysis and test data to identify primary reliability drivers and work directly with engineering teams and suppliers to improve design before failures affect aircraft availability or mission performance.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in reliability engineering, systems engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or related technical field
- Minimum 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree
- Direct experience supporting aircraft development, integration, testing, sustainment, or operations
- Experience developing and managing reliability budgets at system, subsystem, or equipment level
- Proficiency with reliability methods: FMEA/FMECA, FTA, RBD, Weibull analysis, reliability predictions, and FRACAS
- Familiarity with reliability metrics: MTBF, MTBCF, failure rate, mission reliability, operational availability, and inherent availability
- Experience using reliability analysis tools such as ReliaSoft, Windchill Quality Solutions, Isograph, RAM Commander, or equivalent
- Ability to interpret aircraft mission profiles, operating environments, duty cycles, and test data
- Experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and suppliers
- Strong analytical, technical writing, presentation, and customer communication skills
- Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance required for the program
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience working on military aircraft, unmanned aircraft, or other defense aerospace platforms
- Experience managing aircraft-level reliability allocations and flowing requirements down to suppliers
- Familiarity with MIL-HDBK-217, NPRD, EPRD, RIAC 217Plus, or equivalent reliability prediction methods and databases
- Experience integrating reliability engineering with system safety, maintainability, logistics, and availability analyses
- Knowledge of Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) and condition-based maintenance approaches
- Experience supporting environmental qualification, ground testing, flight testing, or reliability growth testing
- Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering and requirements management tools
- Certified Reliability Engineer credentials or equivalent professional certification
- Active U.S. security clearance
