Systems Reliability Engineer

CFD Research Corporation•Huntsville, AL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

CFD Research is seeking a full-time Systems Reliability Engineer to support the maturation, verification, and production of a complex multidisciplinary aerospace and defense hardware system. The engineer will maintain and mature the program reliability engineering framework, working closely with design engineering, systems engineering, test, manufacturing, quality, maintainability and testability, product support, and program leadership. The role maintains the quantitative reliability prediction model in Windchill and develops and maintains FMEA and FMECA, reliability allocations, failure analyses, reliability fault trees, FRACAS analytics, reliability-growth assessments, and critical-item evaluations. Reliability analyses are treated as living engineering products and updated as the design, component selections, verification evidence, failure information, and corrective actions change. The engineer assesses how the system may fail, expected failure frequency, dominant failure modes, and whether design changes and corrective actions are improving reliability. The position also provides reliability inputs to the assigned System Safety owner when needed for hazard analyses or safety assessments. This role is 100% onsite in Huntsville, Alabama, with travel to the Hollywood, Alabama testing facility twice per week.

Requirements

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.
U.S. citizenship is required due to the nature of the company's work and contractual requirements.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance, as required.

Nice To Haves

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.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and mature the system reliability prediction model using Windchill.
Keep the reliability prediction model consistent with the current system configuration, component and assembly information, and applicable assumptions.
Update reliability predictions as designs, parts, operating assumptions, failure data, and corrective actions change.
Develop and maintain reliability allocations and predictions at system, subsystem, assembly, and component levels.
Compare predicted reliability against requirements and identify reliability drivers, contributors, and insufficient margin.
Coordinate with engineering organizations to gather component data, operating conditions, duty cycles, environmental assumptions, and failure information.
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 design and operational 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 engineering organizations to investigate failures, identify root causes, establish corrective actions, and evaluate their 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 among reliability predictions, FMEA and FMECA results, critical-item assessments, FRACAS information, and the current technical baseline.
Identify reliability-critical items using failure analyses, reliability predictions, design and 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 detectable, isolatable, and maintainable.
Work with the Verification, Compliance and MBSE Systems Engineer to identify and trace verification evidence supporting reliability requirements and analytical conclusions.
Provide reliability data and analyses to the assigned System Safety owner for hazard analysis, safety assessment, or safety-critical-item decisions.
Travel to the Hollywood, Alabama testing facility twice per week.

Benefits

Employer matching 401(k).
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Medical insurance.
Vision insurance.
Dental insurance.
Company-paid leave.
Compensation time.
Parental leave.
Long-term and short-term disability insurance.
Accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
Life insurance.
Twice-yearly performance appraisals.
Annual pay increases based on corporate goals, personal development, performance, and outstanding achievements.
Group and individual bonuses for exceptional performance.