Product Reliability Engineer

OpenAI•San Francisco, CA

1d•$207,000 - $365,000•Hybrid

About The Position

OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions for advanced AI workloads, including production-grade silicon for supercomputing infrastructure and custom design tools and methodologies. The Compute team designs AI supercomputers, collaborates with partners to optimize hardware for OpenAI workloads, identifies promising deep learning accelerators, and brings hardware platforms to production. The Product Reliability Engineer owns reliability engineering for advanced IT hardware, from printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) through compute and networking trays, systems, and integrated racks. The role translates operating conditions and service-life goals into reliability requirements; plans and executes qualification testing; and drives failure analysis and corrective-action verification from development through production and field deployment. It works with engineering, manufacturing, quality, data center teams, suppliers, and manufacturing partners to use test and field evidence to improve hardware durability, serviceability, and availability. The position is based in San Francisco, California, with a hybrid schedule of three days in the office per week. Relocation assistance is offered to new employees. Candidates may need to meet certain legal status requirements under U.S. export control laws and regulations.

Requirements

Hands-on reliability engineering experience with advanced IT hardware, such as AI/HPC servers, networking equipment, or storage systems, spanning PCBAs, electromechanical assemblies, and integrated racks.
Experience designing, instrumenting, and executing hardware reliability tests, debugging laboratory failures, and translating results into practical design or process improvements.
Understanding of electronic-assembly failure mechanisms, including solder fatigue, PCB and laminate damage, connector wear, corrosion, and thermal or mechanical degradation.
Ability to translate mission profiles and failure risks into qualification plans, select defensible sample sizes and stress levels, and explain accelerated-testing assumptions and limitations.
Experience leading reliability qualification through development and production milestones while balancing sample availability, lab capacity, schedule, and release evidence.
Experience working directly with component suppliers, joint design manufacturers, contract manufacturers, and external test labs to review methods, resolve failures, and verify corrective actions.
Application of design-for-reliability, DFMEA, and physics-of-failure methods across electrical, mechanical, and thermal interfaces; understanding of how manufacturing, assembly, handling, and repair affect long-term reliability.
Experience driving structured failure analysis and corrective action using methods such as 8D, supported by electrical diagnostics, microscopy, X-ray, cross-section analysis, or specialist failure-analysis labs as appropriate.
Ability to analyze reliability and life-test data, including censored data, Weibull distributions, and confidence bounds, with Python, R, JMP, or equivalent statistical software.
Ability to communicate technical findings and uncertainty clearly, distinguish verified root cause and corrective-action effectiveness from hypotheses, and prioritize risks when requirements or designs change.
May need to meet legal status requirements under U.S. export control laws and regulations.

Nice To Haves

Experience with high-power electronics, dense interconnects, or liquid-cooled hardware, including thermal interfaces, leak integrity, material compatibility, and serviceability.

Responsibilities

Define reliability requirements and targets for PCBAs, trays, systems, and racks based on mission profiles, expected service life, operating environments, duty cycles, and availability goals.
Lead design-for-reliability reviews with electrical, mechanical, and thermal engineers; use FMEA/DFMEA and physics-of-failure methods to prioritize risks and recommend design improvements; own component de-rating guidance.
Own reliability qualification plans from new product introduction through production, including test coverage, configurations, sample sizes, stress conditions, duration, pass/fail criteria, and exit evidence at each assembly level.
Develop and execute accelerated-life and environmental tests, including temperature cycling, humidity exposure, power cycling, shock, vibration, and transport testing; test under representative workloads and monitor function and degradation.
Analyze life-test and field data using Weibull and other reliability models, acceleration models, and confidence intervals; document assumptions, exposure, and uncertainty in estimates.
Lead failure investigations from symptom reproduction through physical root cause; maintain failure reporting, analysis, and corrective-action records; and verify fixes through targeted testing and recurrence monitoring.
Review supplier reliability plans and evidence for PCBs, PCBA components and assemblies, cables, connectors, and cooling components; identify gaps between component qualification and integrated-system or rack stresses.
Work with internal and partner labs to develop fixtures, instrumentation, and test methods; review sample traceability, test configurations, calibration, raw data, and failure capture, including on-site support at manufacturing partners.
Partner with manufacturing and quality engineers to establish and validate reliability screens, justified burn-in, and ongoing reliability testing; ensure screens detect relevant defects without consuming unacceptable product life.
Evaluate reliability risks from assembly and integration, including board strain, solder-joint damage, connector mating and retention, cable routing, fastener preload, power connections, and thermal interfaces; partner with cooling specialists on leak integrity, material compatibility, corrosion, and cooling performance over time.
Plan reliability test resources, lab capacity, hardware samples, schedules, and dependencies across programs with engineering teams, technical program managers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners.
Present qualification results, unresolved failure modes, and residual risk at design and release reviews; make evidence-based readiness recommendations and identify test gaps, follow-up, and accountable decision owners.
Assess reliability impact and define targeted requalification for design, component, supplier, manufacturing process, and repair changes, including firmware changes that alter hardware operating stresses.
Track field returns and fleet failure trends with service and data center teams; correlate telemetry, failure analysis, and configuration history to prioritize corrective actions and inform future designs and qualification plans.
Validate serviceability and repeated assembly or maintenance operations, including connector mating cycles and component replacement; assess with system engineers how failures, redundancy, and recovery affect rack availability.