Head of Hardware Failure Analysis & Reliability

Amazon; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 151,000 - 204,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

RSUs

Sign-on payments

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Amazon is seeking a Failure Analysis Manager to own the technical strategy and execution for a team investigating why hardware fails and ensuring it doesn’t fail again. The role covers electrical fault isolation, physical analysis, and accelerated stress testing across Amazon’s complex hardware, shaping design improvements.

You will lead investigations spanning NPI and field returns, set the team’s growth vision, and partner across hardware portfolios, acting as the authority on failure risk and

Qualifications

• 7+ years of new hardware products development experience.
• Master's degree or equivalent in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, physics or equivalent.
• Proven leadership experience scaling technical teams and root cause FA capabilities in high-reliability industries.
• Strong hands-on capability with established depth across component, board, and system failure domains, and a track record of influencing hardware design decisions at the portfolio level.
• Extensive experience resolving critical, systemic quality issues across high-performance hardware programs using structured problem-solving methodologies.
• Ability to operate in fast-paced, ambiguous environments, manage competing priorities under tight deadlines, and redirect efforts as business needs evolve.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own root cause failure analysis and reliability testing outcomes across Amazon's hardware portfolio: consumer electronics, spacecrafts, drones, data center infrastructure, robotics, and some others
• Set technical strategy for the team: identify capability gaps, prioritize investment in new analytical methods, and define the roadmap for scaling lab capacity
• Drive cross-functional problem solving that translates failure insights into upstream design, process, and manufacturing changes
• Serve as the primary escalation point for critical hardware quality issues, delivering clear risk assessments and corrective action plans to senior leadership
• Cultivate partnerships with engineering, supply chain, and program teams to position the lab as an indispensable resource across the product lifecycle
• Build and develop a high-performing team: recruit top talent, provide technical mentorship, and create growth paths for engineers with diverse science and engineering backgrounds

Skills

Root cause analysis

Leadership

High-reliability hardware

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Master's degree

Tools

CT X-ray

SEM

EDS

FTIR

XRF

Job description

Amazon is seeking a Failure Analysis Manager to own the technical strategy and execution for a team investigating why hardware fails and ensuring it doesn’t fail again. The role covers electrical fault isolation, physical analysis, and accelerated stress testing across Amazon’s complex hardware, shaping design improvements.

You will lead investigations spanning NPI and field returns, set the team’s growth vision, and partner across hardware portfolios, acting as the authority on failure risk and