Failure Analysis Engineer, Electromechanical Hardware

Meta; Redmond; On-site; AUD 206,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

Meta is seeking a Failure Analysis Engineer for electromechanical hardware to own end-to-end FA across fixture, DVE, and qualification testing, capturing symptoms, performing teardown, and delivering corrective action. You will classify failures, isolate domains, and drive CAPA with cross-functional partners.

The role requires hands-on lab skills (DMM, oscilloscope, DAQ) and a strong track record in FA reporting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of hands-on failure analysis, reliability, or test engineering on electromechanical hardware (motors and drives, gearboxes, precision mechanisms, consumer devices, instrumentation, or similar)
• Demonstrated root-cause methodology: 5-Why, fishbone, fault-tree, DOE, or equivalent, applied to real hardware failures you can talk through in detail
• Hands-on lab competence: DMM, oscilloscope, power supplies, load/test fixtures, DAQ
• Experience writing technical FA reports that enable design engineers to act on findings without additional clarification

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end FA for units failing fixture, DVE, and qualification testing: intake, symptom capture, hypothesis-driven teardown, root cause, disposition, and corrective-action follow-through
• Build and maintain a failure-mode taxonomy for the hardware in scope and classify incoming failures against it, so root causes transfer between units instead of being re-derived every time
• Diagnose by signature, not by guesswork — isolate the failing domain (mechanical, electrical, firmware, thermal, process) using periodicity, load-vs-position behavior, electrical waveforms, calibration and configuration data, and environmental correlation
• Write and maintain analysis tooling (Python) that parses test-station reports and time-series logs to classify failure modes automatically at fleet/population scale
• Run fleet-level correlation studies to accept or refute candidate root causes, and document refuted leads as clearly as confirmed ones
• Drive nonconformance (NC) and CAPA workflows: file, triage, and close NCs
• present findings at CCB / design review
• feed pass-fail criteria improvements back into the test stations
• Partner with design ME/EE/FW on containment and permanent fixes, and with suppliers on incoming quality and process escapes
• Perform and interpret physical FA: precision teardown, dimensional/metrology inspection, wear and fracture surface inspection, optical/microscopy, and — where available — CT, SEM/EDX, and cross-sectioning

Skills

Root-cause analysis

Lab testing

Python

FA reporting

Electrical/Mechanical analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

DMM

Oscilloscope

Power supplies

DAQ

Test fixtures

Job description

At Meta, we're building the future of human connection and the technology that enables it, continuously inventing for the next generation of experiences. To move toward advanced machine intelligence, we're enabling AI to go beyond vision and interact with the physical world.As we move closer to a future with intelligent robots and advanced AI models, we're hiring talent across robotics hardware, system software, machine perception, and artificial intelligence. You'll tackle open problems in robotics and AI, with the opportunity to shape new ways people connect around the world.We build complex electromechanical hardware, and the parts that move are the highest-risk elements of any program. This role owns failure analysis for hardware that fails design-verification, qualification, and production testing — from first symptom through root cause to a documented, transferable corrective action. You will work in the lab with hardware in your hands, in the data with logs and telemetry, and across electrical engineering, firmware, mechanical engineering, and quality teams to close the loop on defects before they reach a product. Scope spans actuators and drive systems, precision mechanisms, sensors, and the electronics and firmware that control them.

Failure Analysis Engineer, Electromechanical Hardware Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end FA for units failing fixture, DVE, and qualification testing: intake, symptom capture, hypothesis-driven teardown, root cause, disposition, and corrective-action follow-through
• Build and maintain a failure-mode taxonomy for the hardware in scope and classify incoming failures against it, so root causes transfer between units instead of being re-derived every time
• Diagnose by signature, not by guesswork — isolate the failing domain (mechanical, electrical, firmware, thermal, process) using periodicity, load-vs-position behavior, electrical waveforms, calibration and configuration data, and environmental correlation
• Write and maintain analysis tooling (Python) that parses test-station reports and time-series logs to classify failure modes automatically at fleet/population scale
• Run fleet-level correlation studies to accept or refute candidate root causes, and document refuted leads as clearly as confirmed ones
• Drive nonconformance (NC) and CAPA workflows: file, triage, and close NCs
• present findings at CCB / design review
• feed pass-fail criteria improvements back into the test stations
• Partner with design ME/EE/FW on containment and permanent fixes, and with suppliers on incoming quality and process escapes
• Perform and interpret physical FA: precision teardown, dimensional/metrology inspection, wear and fracture surface inspection, optical/microscopy, and — where available — CT, SEM/EDX, and cross-sectioning

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 5+ years of hands-on failure analysis, reliability, or test engineering on electromechanical hardware (motors and drives, gearboxes, precision mechanisms, consumer devices, instrumentation, or similar)
• Demonstrated root-cause methodology: 5-Why, fishbone, fault-tree, DOE, or equivalent, applied to real hardware failures you can talk through in detail
• Hands-on lab competence: DMM, oscilloscope, power supplies, load/test fixtures, DAQ
• Experience writing technical FA reports that enable design engineers to act on findings without additional clarification — FA reports that a design engineer can act on without a meeting

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with motor control and firmware concepts: commutation, field-oriented control, current limits, calibration tables, and encoder error sources
• Working knowledge of BLDC/PMSM motors, gear trains, bearings, brakes, and position encoders
• Working knowledge of quality systems: 8D, PFMEA, DFMEA, control plans, MSA/Gage R&R
• Experience taking electromechanical assemblies — robotic joints and actuators, or comparable precision hardware — from prototype through DVT/PVT into production
• Experience querying and building on large test-data pipelines and dashboards
• Reliability engineering depth: HALT/HASS, Weibull and life-data analysis, rainflow/duty-cycle load-spectrum analysis, accelerated life testing
• Experience with metrology and analytical FA labs (CT, SEM/EDX, metallography, tribology)

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and

We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.

Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].

$144,000/year to $204,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.