Hardware Test Engineer

Rune; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Rune is seeking a Hardware Test Engineer in Mountain View to lead reliability, validation, and verification testing across mechanical, electrical, and compute subsystems. You will translate failure findings into test plans, develop fixtures, and automate data capture with Python or LabVIEW.

Travel up to 20% and in-office collaboration are expected. You will design test procedures, run cycles (HALT, HASS, thermal, vibration), analyze data, and deliver failure evidence and design recommendations

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Reliability Engineering (or equivalent).
• 4–7 years in hardware test or validation engineering for energy storage, power electronics, or related hardware.
• Hands-on experience building test fixtures, harnesses, instrumentation, and data acquisition.
• Experience with environmental and reliability stress testing (HALT, HASS, thermal cycling, vibration, humidity).
• Proficiency with test automation and data analysis in Python or LabVIEW; familiarity with bench instrumentation.

Responsibilities

• Translate failure-mode findings into test plans, sample sizes, stress levels, and acceptance criteria.
• Design and build test fixtures, harnesses, instrumentation, and data acquisition needed for tests.
• Develop test procedures and automation scripts in Python or LabVIEW for instrument control and data capture.
• Specify chambers, loads, sensors, and equipment; keep calibrated and documented.
• Execute reliability tests across HALT, HASS, accelerated life, thermal cycling, vibration and burn-in.
• Run functional verification and validation from power electronics to enclosure and thermal systems.
• Collect and analyze test data using statistical methods and life-data analysis; report failures and design recommendations.
• Run and maintain test labs and coordinate external test house partnerships.

Skills

Test planning

Data analysis

Communication

Bench troubleshooting

Floor support

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics or Reliability Engineering

Tools

Python

LabVIEW

Oscilloscopes & DAQ

Job description

Hardware Test Engineer

The Role:

As our Hardware Test Engineer, you will execute the reliability, validation, and verification testing that proves the RELIC across its mechanical, electrical, and compute systems. You will translate the design groups' failure-mode findings into test plans, build the fixtures and instrumentation the tests run on, and carry the results back to the engineers who own the design. Travel: up to 20%. This is a full-time, in-office role, five days a week in Mountain View.

Key Responsibilities:

Test Planning & Fixture Development

• Translate DFMEA findings and verification requirements from the design groups, NPI, and

  the production floor into test plans, sample sizes, stress levels, and acceptance criteria

• Design and build the test fixtures, harnesses, instrumentation, and data acquisition the

  mechanical, electrical, and compute testing depends on

• Develop test procedures and automation scripts in Python or LabVIEW for instrument

  control, test sequencing, and repeatable per-unit data capture

• Specify the chambers, loads, sensors, and bench equipment each campaign requires, and

  keep them calibrated, documented, and available to the program

Reliability, Validation & Verification Test Execution

• Execute the reliability test program across HALT, HASS, accelerated life, thermal cycling,

  vibration, humidity, shock, and burn-in on units and subassemblies

• Run functional verification and validation from the battery and power electronics through

  the enclosure, thermal system, and interfaces on EVT, DVT and PVT builds

• Execute the compute and GPU reliability testing together with the GPU infrastructure

  engineer, covering burn-in, thermal throttling, and telemetry-based failure detection

Data Analysis & Failure Reporting

• Collect and analyze test data using statistical methods, Weibull and life-data analysis, and

  physics-of-failure reasoning

• Perform failure analysis and teardown on test and production failures, isolating root cause

  across the mechanical, electrical, and firmware boundaries

• Produce test reports carrying the data, the failure evidence, and the specific design or

  process recommendation to the responsible engineering group

Lab, Field & Continuous Improvement

• Run and maintain test labs and/or external test house partnerships, including the

  equipment, fixtures, calibration records, and per-unit test history

• Support field failure investigations and the closed-loop corrective action loop, from failure

  through analysis to corrective action implementation

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Reliability Engineering (or equivalent industry experience)

• Experience: 4 to 7 years in hardware test and/or product validation engineering on energy storage, power electronics, grid-tied equipment, or electromechanical hardware

• Hands-on experience building test fixtures, harnesses, instrumentation, and data acquisition, and bringing a unit up on the bench to be stressed and measured

• Direct experience executing environmental and reliability stress testing, including HALT, HASS, accelerated life, thermal cycling, vibration, and humidity, against ASTM standards

• Proficiency with test automation and data analysis in Python or LabVIEW, and with bench instrumentation including oscilloscopes, data acquisition systems, multimeters, and loads

• Experience with failure analysis and root cause methods, and contributing failure-mode evidence to DFMEA and design reviews

• Working knowledge of energy storage and power electronics failure mechanisms, covering cells and battery systems, inverters and converters, thermal management, and outdoor enclosures

• Comfortable working on the floor alongside assembly technicians and in the field alongside installation crews

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to turn test data into recommendations design engineers will act on