Reliability Engineer, Thermal & Mechanical, Energy Products

Tesla•Palo Alto, CA

1d•$84,000 - $192,000

About The Position

As a Mechanical Reliability Engineer focusing on Tesla's energy products, specifically Megapack, you will play a key role in designing reliability into Tesla’s industrial energy storage systems ensuring the products meet the highest standards of reliability. This role follows the reliability lifecycle of the product from concept to design, validation testing/analysis, manufacturing, and field operation to design-in, confirm, and grow exceptional reliability at every stage. You will investigate failures through physics of failure analysis and physical testing to accurately predict the system’s robustness and optimize product reliability while accelerating Tesla’s next gen products’ time to market. This role is ideal for an Engineer who is passionate about reliability physics, enjoys problem-solving, and thrives in a fast-paced collaborative environment.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering or a related field and three years of experience in a Reliability Engineering role or equivalent experience
Understanding of accelerated testing methods, governing equations, and physics of failure for different failure mechanisms
Understanding of applied statistics and reliability statistics (Weibull distribution, Maximum Likelihood Estimation, Bayesian methods, Monte Carlo analysis, etc.)
Understanding of Accelerated Degradation modeling and reliability prediction methods
Knowledge of material degradation mechanisms and their impact on mechanical performance
Experience analyzing test results and interpreting reliability insights
Knowledge of reliability growth techniques, such as Crow-AMSAA and Crow Extended
Knowledge of the ReliaSoft Synthesis Platform, including Weibull++, BlockSim, ALTA, RGA, and xFMEA
Working knowledge of failure analysis techniques such as optical microscopy, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), CSAM (Confocal Scanning Acoustic Microscopy), X-ray, cross-sectioning and EDX
Working knowledge of programming languages, preferably Python, or Matlab

Responsibilities

Facilitate Design FMEA sessions to detect risks, drive reliable design choices and inform validation testing
Set and communicate reliability requirements and targets for site, product, subsystem, and components
Define reliability test plans, design test conditions, set test duration and sample size, based on physics of failure modeling and accelerated life testing principles
Analyze lab test data and field data to identify reliability trends, forecast reliability estimates utilizing statistical analysis (e.g., Weibull analysis, physics of failure models) and recommend design improvements. Analyze usage and environmental conditions from field to improve requirement setting and testing methods
Communicate and drive test plans, results, learnings, and recommendations to various stakeholders within the organization
Closely collaborate with cross-functional teams, including test, reliability data science, design, architecture modeling, service, and quality to identify potential reliability issues and drive the corrective actions
Research failure mechanisms to build more robust validation plans and influence design choices. Drive reliability assessments in product design reviews and clearly communicate risk at each phase of product development and for released products
Influence supplier selection for higher reliability and provide clear guidance on reliability requirements and demonstration to suppliers
Facilitate failure analysis to understand root cause and drive resolution of failures occurring during product development phases
Provide reliability design guidelines and apply reliability lessons learned to enable continuous improvement. Answer complex questions on fleet usage and behavior to enable proactive health monitoring, grow reliability, and minimize field failures

Benefits

Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
Employee Assistance Program
Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
Tesla Babies program
Commuter benefits
Employee discounts and perks program