VP, Reliability

Nextpower•Fremont, CA

10d•$300,000 - $330,000

About The Position

Nextpower is seeking a VP of Reliability to define and lead the company’s global reliability strategy across its products and lifecycle phases. The role ensures that product performance, durability, and risk are understood, quantified, and actively managed in alignment with business objectives. As the enterprise authority on product reliability risk, the VP enables decisive action under uncertainty while balancing innovation velocity, product performance, financial exposure, and brand integrity. Reliability is also positioned as a competitive advantage that strengthens customer confidence, supports bankability, and differentiates products in the marketplace. The VP leads reliability strategy and governance across design, validation, qualification, and field performance; oversees reliability programs and systems; and integrates reliability considerations into product and business decisions. The role works across Engineering, Product Management, Quality, Asset Management, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance, and Marketing. It also leads responses to major product performance issues and field failures, and builds and develops a high-performing global reliability organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
15+ years of experience in reliability engineering, product engineering, or related disciplines.
Proven track record of leading global, cross-functional technical organizations.
Demonstrated experience influencing product release decisions and managing risk at the executive level.
Ability to make sound, timely decisions with incomplete data and clearly communicate associated risks.
Ability to translate complex technical risks into clear business, financial, and customer impacts.
Strong understanding of product lifecycle interactions and long-term performance implications.
Deep expertise in reliability engineering principles combined with financial and strategic awareness.
Ability to influence senior leadership and drive alignment across diverse stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Experience in industries with high reliability and long lifecycle requirements, such as energy, automotive, or aerospace; solar experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

Define and deploy a global reliability strategy spanning design, validation, qualification, and product field performance over its lifetime.
Standardize reliability methodologies, tools, and processes across regions and product lines, and embed reliability in product development and business decisions.
Own executive-level assessments of reliability risk for new product introductions and major design changes.
Drive or make go/no-go decisions when data is incomplete or evolving, balancing time-to-market, product performance, warranty exposure, and brand impact.
Position reliability as a differentiator in product strategy and customer value propositions; partner with Product Management and Marketing to communicate reliability benefits to customers.
Support bankability efforts by ensuring reliability data and methodologies meet customer, investor, and external stakeholder expectations.
Apply reliability insights to warranty reserves, lifecycle cost projections, margins, and profitability; partner with Finance and Asset Management to align assumptions with financial planning and risk management.
Integrate Engineering, Product Management, Quality, Asset Management, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams; resolve competing priorities and align technical decisions with business objectives.
Oversee reliability processes including Design for Reliability (DfR), DFMEA, accelerated life testing, reliability growth modeling, validation frameworks, and failure analysis and corrective action systems such as 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 systemic issues are rapidly identified, escalated, and resolved.
Incorporate field learnings into next-generation product designs.
Lead cross-functional responses to major product performance issues and field failures, including war-room diagnosis, mitigation planning, and stakeholder communications.
Balance urgency, transparency, and risk management to protect customers, financial outcomes, and brand reputation during field failures.
Build, lead, and scale a high-performing global reliability organization; establish goals, metrics, and accountability frameworks; and develop leadership capability and technical depth.