Sr. Director, Reliability

Nextpower•Fremont, CA

About The Position

Nextpower is seeking a Sr. Director of Reliability to define and lead the company’s global reliability strategy across all products and lifecycle phases. This senior leadership role will ensure that product performance, durability, and risk are fully understood, quantified, and actively managed in alignment with business objectives. This role serves as the enterprise authority on product reliability risk, enabling decisive action under uncertainty while balancing innovation velocity, product performance, financial exposure, and brand integrity. The Sr. Director will play a critical role in positioning reliability not only as a risk management function, but as a competitive advantage that strengthens customer confidence, supports bankability, and differentiates our products in the marketplace.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field required; advanced degree preferred.
15+ years of experience in reliability engineering, product engineering, or related disciplines.
Experience in industries with high reliability and long lifecycle requirements (e.g., energy, automotive, aerospace, but solar is preferred).
Proven track record of leading global, cross-functional technical organizations.
Demonstrated experience influencing product release decisions and managing risk at the executive level.
Decisiveness in Uncertainty: Ability to make sound, timely decisions with incomplete data and clearly communicate associated risks.
Risk Translation: Ability to translate complex technical risks into clear business, financial, and customer impacts.
Systems Thinking: Strong understanding of product lifecycle interactions and long-term performance implications.
Technical Depth & Business Acumen: Deep expertise in reliability engineering principles combined with strong financial and strategic awareness.
Executive Presence & Influence: Ability to effectively influence senior leadership and drive alignment across diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Define and deploy a global reliability strategy spanning design, validation, qualification, and field performance over its lifetime.
Standardize reliability methodologies, tools, and processes across regions and product lines.
Embed reliability as a core pillar of product development and business decision-making.
Own executive-level assessment of product reliability risk for new product introductions and major design changes.
Drive and, where necessary, make go/no-go decisions under conditions of incomplete or evolving data.
Balance tradeoffs between time-to-market, product performance, warranty exposure, and brand impact.
Position reliability as a key differentiator in product strategy and customer value proposition.
Partner with Product Management and Marketing teams to translate reliability performance into customer-facing benefits, including improved system economics and long-term performance confidence.
Support bankability efforts by ensuring reliability data and methodologies meet the expectations of customers, investors, and external stakeholders.
Use reliability insights to help make meaningful business impacts, including: Warranty reserve requirements, Lifecycle cost projections, and Margin and profitability considerations.
Partner closely with Finance and Asset Management to align reliability assumptions with financial planning and risk management strategies.
Serve as the central integrator across Engineering, Product Management, Quality, Asset Management, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams.
Resolve competing priorities across performance, cost, schedule, and risk.
Ensure alignment between technical decisions and business objectives.
Oversee implementation of robust reliability processes, including: Design for Reliability (DfR) and DFMEA, Accelerated life testing (HALT, HASS, fatigue, environmental testing), Reliability growth modeling and validation frameworks, and Failure analysis and corrective action systems (e.g., FRACAS).
Drive continuous improvement through closed-loop learning from test and field data.
Lead global monitoring of field performance, failure trends, and product health.
Ensure rapid identification, escalation, and resolution of systemic issues.
Drive incorporation of field learnings into next-generation product designs.
Serve as the leader during major product performance issues or field failures.
Lead cross-functional “war room” responses to diagnose issues, define mitigation strategies, and communicate with internal and external stakeholders.
Balance urgency, transparency, and risk management to protect customers, financial outcomes, and brand reputation.
Build, lead, and scale a high-performing global reliability organization.
Establish clear goals, metrics, and accountability frameworks.
Develop leadership capability and technical depth across the team.