Member of Technical Staff: Hardware Reliability and Test

Walden Robotics; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual cash bonus

Company equity

Insurance programs

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO

Daily lunch

Job summary

Walden Robotics in Cambridge, MA seeks a Reliability & Test Engineer to define and drive reliability from design to field deployment. You will collaborate across mechanical, electrical, firmware, controls, manufacturing, and operations to identify risks and implement validation strategies.

The role emphasizes turning reliability into a core design principle, with diagnostic tests, telemetry, health signals, and feedback loops to guide improvements and ensure robust hardware products.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in robotics, reliability or test engineering.
• Hands-on experience validating integrated mechanical, electrical, firmware and controls systems.
• Ability to define reliability strategy, metrics and feedback loops for complex hardware products.
• Experience designing tests to uncover real-world failure modes.
• Experience with sensors, actuators, power systems, embedded systems, telemetry, diagnostics, or health monitoring tools.

Responsibilities

• Own the reliability strategy, test roadmap, and growth plan for robot hardware and systems.
• Ensure reliability is built into subsystem and system-level designs from architecture through release.
• Define reliability requirements, metrics, test coverage, acceptance criteria, and release readiness standards.
• Design and implement diagnostic tests, stress tests, accelerated life tests, and validation procedures.
• Partner with firmware and controls teams to define telemetry, health signals, fault detection, and diagnostic infrastructure.
• Lead failure analysis and feedback loops from test results, field data, repairs, and failures into design decisions.

Skills

Reliability strategy

Test engineering

Electromechanical systems

Diagnostics & validation

Telemetry & health monitoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

HALT/HASS

Accelerated life testing

Environmental testing

FMEA

Reliability growth programs

Job description

Position Summary

We're seeking a Reliability & Test Engineer to define and drive the reliability strategy for our robots from early design through production and field deployment. This role is ideal for a senior hands-on roboticist who is passionate about making reliability a first-class design principle, not a reactive failure response. You will work across mechanical, electrical, firmware, controls, manufacturing, and operations teams to identify risks early, implement diagnostic and validation strategies, and drive design improvements through strong feedback loops.

Position Summary

We're seeking a Reliability & Test Engineer to define and drive the reliability strategy for our robots from early design through production and field deployment. This role is ideal for a senior hands-on roboticist who is passionate about making reliability a first-class design principle, not a reactive failure response. You will work across mechanical, electrical, firmware, controls, manufacturing, and operations teams to identify risks early, implement diagnostic and validation strategies, and drive design improvements through strong feedback loops.

Core Responsibilities

• Own the reliability strategy, test roadmap, and reliability growth plan for robot hardware and integrated systems.
• Ensure reliability is built into subsystem and system-level designs from architecture and design review through production release.
• Define reliability requirements, metrics, test coverage, acceptance criteria, and release readiness standards.
• Design and implement diagnostic tests, stress tests, accelerated life tests, and validation procedures that expose real-world failure modes.
• Partner with firmware and controls teams to define telemetry, health signals, fault detection, and diagnostic infrastructure for monitoring degradation and failures.
• Lead failure analysis and build feedback loops from test results, field data, repairs, and failures into engineering and manufacturing design decisions.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in robotics, reliability engineering, test engineering, hardware validation, or complex electromechanical systems.
• Strong hands-on experience testing, debugging, and validating integrated mechanical, electrical, firmware, and controls-based systems.
• Demonstrated ability to define reliability strategy, metrics, validation plans, and design feedback loops for complex hardware products.
• Experience designing practical tests that uncover real-world failure modes and generate actionable engineering data.
• Experience working with sensors, actuators, power systems, embedded systems, logs, telemetry, diagnostics, or health monitoring tools.
• Strong systems thinking, failure analysis, technical leadership, communication, and cross-functional influence skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with robotic systems, ideally humanoid or custom manipulation robots.
• Experience with HALT/HASS, accelerated life testing, environmental testing, FMEA, or reliability growth programs.

Walden Robotics offers a competitive total compensation program, including salary, annual cash bonus, company equity, company-subsidized insurance programs, 401(k) with company match, flexible PTO, daily lunch, and other benefits. The pay ranges noted on our posts are for salary only.

Walden Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances.

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to [e-mail].

Walden Robotics participates in E-Verify. If you receive an offer of employment from Walden, you will need to go through the E-Verify process of digital verification of your employment authorization documents as provided on the Form I-9. Participation in E-Verify does not limit your right to work and verification will only be completed after you become

At Walden Robotics, we envision a world where general-purpose robots dramatically improve the quality of life for all people—supporting us at home, at work, in factories, on farms, and beyond. To accomplish this, we are building a team of exceptional professionals who combine world-class technical skills with creative vision, grounded in humility and collaboration.