Design Reliability Engineering Manager

Astrolab; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership in the company

Comprehensive health benefits

401(k) plan with company match

Flexible PTO and parental leave

Weekly lunch stipend

On-site snacks and beverages

Monthly social hour on-site

Job summary

Astrolab, The Lunar Operations Company, located in Hawthorne, California, seeks a Design Reliability Engineering Manager to ensure CLV-1 rover systems survive missions. You will lead reliability across avionics, mechanisms, power, thermal, and structures, building a scalable program for current and future rovers.

We are looking for a leader who can architect design standards, drive robust verification, own risk reviews, and mentor a growing team of reliability engineers as Astrolab scales its

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in STEM (or related field)
• 5+ years in reliability, design assurance, or systems engineering for high-consequence hardware (spaceflight, defense, nuclear, medical devices considered)
• 2+ years in people-management or team-lead role

Responsibilities

• Lead reliability engineering end-to-end for current and future rover programs
• Build and manage a team of reliability/design assurance engineers
• Architect design standards and test methodologies
• Own change and risk reviews and translate risk into decisions
• Mentor engineers on reliability methods
• Develop tools, checklists, and guides for reliability processes
• Capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvements

Skills

Reliability engineering

Team management

Design assurance

Systems engineering

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

FMEA/FMECA

MIL-HDBK-217

Physics-of-failure methods

Job description

Compensation: $175,000 - $220,000 / year

Department: Chief Engineering

Location: Hawthorne, California

Description

Astrolab is The Lunar Operations Company. We design and build the systems and hardware the lunar economy will come to depend on — rovers, power, and data networks for sustained operations on the Moon. We are focused on the problems that must be solved before the next chapter of human exploration can scale. The Moon does not forgive untested assumptions. The people who work here know that, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

CLV-1 is the first human-capable lunar rover since 1972. It will carry Artemis IV astronauts across the lunar South Pole, one of the harshest environments humans have ever worked in. There is no service center. It must work. As the Design Reliability Engineering Manager, you will ensure CLV-1's systems survive the mission. You will work across disciplines to build reliability into the design itself, identifying and mitigating failures before they arise.

What you'll do:

• Lead reliability engineering end-to-end: define and own the reliability program across avionics, mechanisms, power, thermal, and structures for current and future rover programs
• Build and manage a team of reliability and design assurance engineers, setting hiring priorities, technical standards, and growth paths as the company scales
• Architect Astrolab's design standards and test methodologies
• Champion the Astrolab design process and set design criteria, requirements, and verification approaches for new hardware
• Own change and risk reviews, translating technical risk and impact into decisions the team can act on
• Become the person the organization trusts to translate technical risk into clear, confident decisions
• Build the processes that ensure designs meet standards, reviews are comprehensive, changes are implemented, and risks are mitigated
• Flow reliability requirements down to hardware: margins, screening levels, derating guidelines
• Develop specialized analysis tools, review templates, reliability checklists, and design guides
• Mentor engineers on reliability methods and analysis techniques
• Capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvements to strengthen standards and processes

What you'll bring:

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) related field
• 5+ years in reliability, design assurance, or systems engineering for spaceflight, aerospace, or other high-consequence hardware (defense, nuclear, medical devices considered)
• 2+ years in a people-management or team-lead role

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with FMEA/FMECA, fault tree analysis, reliability prediction (MIL-HDBK-217 or physics-of-failure methods), and worst-case analysis.
• Experience with the environments that break lunar hardware: extreme thermal cycling, vacuum outgassing, radiation (SEU/SEL/TID), regolith/dust contamination, and launch/landing shock and vibration loads.
• Experience designing, integrating, testing, or operating space vehicles or other large, complex systems
• Experience standing up a reliability function at a growth-stage company.
• Experience creating engineering standards, review templates, or technical guidance frameworks
• Experience with manufacturing processes, materials selection, and hardware qualification pathways
• Experience with fracture control, human-rated hardware standards, or similar reliability frameworks

Benefits and Perks

• Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
• Equity ownership in the company
• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Flexible PTO and parental leave
• Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
• Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks