Hardware Reliability Engineer

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 172,000 - 203,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity

Health, dental, vision

Oura Ring + employee discounts

Paid time off & holidays

Parental leave & sick leave

Region 1 pay: $172,000–$203,000

Job summary

Oura is seeking a Hardware Reliability Engineer in San Francisco to lead reliability work for wearable products. You will plan, execute and optimize tests, drive failure analyses, and ensure field reliability through robust DFMEA and cross-team collaboration.

The role emphasizes hands-on testing, data-driven decision making, and strong communication in English to support durable and high-quality devices.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in hardware reliability, validation, or test engineering in consumer electronics.
• Design and execute reliability tests with stress, aging, metrics and acceptance criteria.
• Hands-on experience with mechanical, environmental, and electrical reliability.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving with failure analysis and data-driven decisions.
• Ability to interpret test data and communicate results to cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with industry reliability standards and methodologies.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, collaborative; strong English communication.

Responsibilities

• Plan, document and execute reliability testing for hardware and accessories.
• Coordinate tests with contract manufacturers and external labs.
• Develop methods to address evolving wearable tech and design challenges.
• Support failure analysis and drive corrective actions with teams.
• Build test-to-field correlation and refine plans from field learnings.
• Perform DFMEA early in design to identify risks and mitigation.
• Create test plans and documentation to ensure traceability.
• Collaborate across hardware, firmware, test, and manufacturing teams.
• Analyze test and field data and communicate insights for improvements.

Skills

Reliability testing

Failure analysis

Data-driven decisions

Cross-functional communication

Analytical skills

English communication

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical, Electrical, Materials, Reliability Engineering

Tools

DFMEA

Job description

Our mission at Oura is to empower every person to own their inner potential. Our award-winning products help our global community gain a deeper knowledge of their readiness, activity, and sleep quality by using their Oura Ring and its connected app. We've helped millions of people understand and improve their health by providing daily insights and practical steps to inspire healthy lifestyles.

Empowering the world starts with living our values and empowering our team. As a quickly growing company focused on helping people live healthier and happier lives, we ensure that our team members have what they need to do their best work — both in and out of the office.

We're looking for a Hardware Reliability Engineer to join us on this journey. You'll take the lead on planning and driving hardware reliability work for Oura's wearable products — teaming up with folks across the company to make sure every device we ship is durable, dependable, and built to last. If you love digging into how things break (and, more importantly, how to make sure they don't), this is your chance to make a real impact on products people wear every day.

Location: San Francisco, CA

Key Responsibilities

• Plan, document, and also execute reliability testing for Oura hardware products and accessories under established reliability frameworks.
• Setup, coordinate and review reliability testing activities with contract manufacturers and external test labs.
• Develop, document, and improve reliability test methods to address evolving wearable technologies and design challenges.
• Support failure analysis and root cause investigations, working with design, Quality, and manufacturing teams to drive corrective actions.
• Build test-to-field correlation for failure modes identified in reliability testing, ensuring lab test methods accurately predict real-world product performance and continuously refining test plans based on field learnings.
• Perform Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) to proactively identify potential risks and failure modes early in the design process, driving mitigation actions ahead of validation phases.
• Create and maintain detailed test plans, reports, and documentation to ensure traceability, repeatability, and data integrity.
• Partner with hardware, firmware, test engineering, and manufacturing teams to ensure reliability considerations are integrated throughout product development.
• Analyze test data, field data, summarize results, and clearly communicate insights to support data-driven design decisions and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of experience in hardware reliability, validation, or test engineering within consumer electronics, wearables, or small electromechanical systems.
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute reliability tests, including defining stress conditions, aging, metrics, and acceptance criteria — not just running predefined tests.
• Hands‑on experience with mechanical, environmental, and electrical reliability programs.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with experience in failure analysis and data‑driven decision‑making.
• Ability to interpret test data and communicate results clearly to cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Familiarity with industry reliability standards and methodologies.
• Self‑motivated, detail‑oriented, and collaborative working style.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Preferred

• Experience with wearable or portable consumer devices, especially compact form factors with integrated electronics.
• Experience working with contract manufacturers.
• Experience conducting DFMEA or similar risk‑identification methodologies (e.g., PFMEA, FRACAS) during early product development.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Materials, Reliability Engineering, or a related discipline.

Work Model

• Location: San Francisco, CA.
• Close collaboration with Oura's global hardware, firmware, quality and manufacturing teams.
• Up to 15% travel to manufacturing locations and Finland required.

Benefits

What we offer:

• Competitive salary and equity packages
• Health, dental, vision insurance, and mental health resources
• An Oura Ring of your own plus employee discounts for friends & family
• 20 days of paid time off plus 13 paid holidays plus 8 days of flexible wellness time off
• Paid sick leave and parental leave
• Region 1: $172,000 - $203,000

Oura takes a market‑based approach to pay, which may vary depending on your location. US locations are categorized into tiers based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. While most offers will be closer to the starting range, successful candidates' pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, internal peer equity, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

A recruiter can determine your Region based on your US location.

We are not considering candidates residing in the following states: Alaska (AK), Delaware (DE), Iowa (IA), Mississippi (MS), Nebraska (NE), South Dakota (SD), West Virginia (WV), and Wisconsin (WI).

Oura is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Individuals seeking employment at Oura are considered without regard to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.