Hardware Test Engineer

Rune; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Rune is seeking a Hardware Test Engineer to lead reliability, validation, and verification testing across mechanical, electrical, and compute systems for the RELIC platform in Mountain View, CA. You will translate design failure modes into test plans, build fixtures and instrumentation, develop test procedures in Python or LabVIEW, and deliver data-driven failure reports to design teams.

Travel up to 20% and in-office five days a week.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Reliability Engineering.
• 4–7 years in hardware test and 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 for bench testing.
• Experience with environmental and reliability stress testing per ASTM standards.
• Proficient in Python or LabVIEW for automation and data analysis.
• Familiar with bench instrumentation including oscilloscopes, DAQ, multimeters, and loads.
• Able to perform failure analysis and contribute to DFMEA and design reviews.
• Knowledge of energy storage and power electronics failure mechanisms.

Responsibilities

• Translate DFMEA findings into test plans, sample sizes, stress levels, and acceptance criteria.
• Design and build test fixtures, harnesses, instrumentation, and data acquisition systems.
• Develop test procedures and automation scripts in Python or LabVIEW.
• Specify chambers, loads, sensors, and bench equipment for campaigns and keep calibrated.
• Execute reliability tests: HALT, HASS, accelerated life, thermal cycling, vibration, humidity, shock, burn-in.
• Validate performance from battery to enclosure across EVT, DVT, and PVT builds.
• Run compute/GPU reliability tests with telemetry-based failure detection.
• Collect and analyze data using statistical methods and life-data analysis.
• Perform failure analyses and root-cause investigations across mechanical/electrical/firmware.
• Produce test reports with data, evidence, and design recommendations.
• Maintain test labs and manage external test-house partnerships and calibration history.
• Support field failure investigations and corrective actions.

Skills

Hardware test

Test automation

Python or LabVIEW

Data acquisition

Failure analysis

DFMEA input

Energy storage

Power electronics

Field work

Communication skills

Education

Bachelors in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics or Reliability Engineering

Tools

LabVIEW

Python

Oscilloscopes

Data acquisition systems

Multimeters

Bench equipment

Job description

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