Position: Senior Failure Analysis Engineer

Virtium LLC; Rancho Santa Margarita (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Virtium LLC is seeking a Senior Failure Analysis Engineer in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. This hands‑on role focuses on investigating customer‑returned SSD products, identifying root causes, and driving issues to resolution, while supervising a small team of 1–3 engineers.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in SSD failure analysis, excels in debugging across NAND, controllers, and firmware, and can lead cross‑functional investigations with strong communication to customers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, materials science, or related field.
• 8+ years of hands‑on SSD failure analysis, SSD debugging, or storage product engineering.
• Experience leading investigations and mentoring engineers in a failure analysis environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead end‑to‑end handling of customer returns, including investigation, root cause analysis, documentation, and issue closure.
• Collaborate with customers to gather failure symptoms, usage conditions, logs, and reproduction details.
• Provide technical updates and formal failure analysis reports to customers.
• Perform hands‑on electrical, firmware, system‑level, and physical failure analysis on SSDs.
• Debug failures involving NAND, controllers, DRAM, PCB, power circuitry, and interfaces.
• Drive structured root cause analysis using appropriate methodologies.
• Lead corrective actions with cross‑functional teams to prevent recurrence.
• Lead technical review meetings and customer-facing discussions for escalated issues.
• Track investigation progress, turnaround time, and closure of key issues.
• Maintain detailed failure analysis records and reporting.

Skills

Analytical skills

Debugging

Investigative mindset

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Time management

Education

Electrical Eng. degree

Materials Science

Tools

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Protocol analyzers

X-ray

SEM/FIB

Thermal analysis tools

Job description

Senior Failure Analysis Engineer

The Senior Failure Analysis Engineer is a highly hands‑on role responsible for investigating customer‑returned SSD products, identifying root causes, and driving issues through resolution. The role is expected to spend most of the time on hands‑on debug and investigation while also supervising a small team of 1–3 failure analysis engineers.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end‑to‑end handling of customer‑returned SSD products, including investigation, root cause analysis, documentation, customer communication, and issue closure.
• Work directly with customers to gather failure symptoms, usage conditions, logs, and reproduction details needed to drive effective investigations.
• Provide timely technical updates, clear communication, and formal failure analysis reports to customers throughout the investigation process.
• Conduct hands‑on electrical, firmware, system‑level, and physical failure analysis on SSD products.
• Debug and analyze failures involving NAND flash, controllers, DRAM, PCB, power circuitry, and interface‑related issues in SSD products.
• Drive structured root cause analysis using appropriate failure analysis and problem‑solving methodologies.
• Drive corrective actions with cross‑functional engineering, manufacturing, quality, and supplier teams to prevent repeat issues.
• Lead technical review meetings and customer‑facing discussions for escalated failure analysis issues.
• Track investigation progress, turnaround time, and closure of key failure analysis issues.
• Maintain clear documentation, failure analysis records, and reporting that support issue resolution and knowledge sharing.
• Supervise and provide technical guidance to a small team of 1–3 failure analysis engineers.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree(s) in electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.
• 8+ years of hands‑on experience in SSD failure analysis, SSD debug, or storage product engineering. 3+ years of leadership experience preferred.
• Experience leading technical investigations and supervising or mentoring engineers in a failure analysis or related engineering environment.
• Strong understanding of SSD architecture, including NAND flash, SSD controllers, NVMe/SATA/PCIe interfaces, and firmware interactions.
• Experience handling customer‑facing failure analysis, field‑return investigations, and escalated technical issues.
• Strong failure analysis and debugging skills, with a methodical, investigative approach to identifying root cause in SSD products.

Technical Skills

• Experience with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers, X‑ray, SEM/FIB, and thermal analysis tools.
• Strong hands‑on debugging, data analysis, and problem‑solving capabilities.
• Familiarity with JEDEC and reliability qualification standards.
• Experience with Python, SQL, JMP, MATLAB, or related data analysis tools is a plus.

Soft Skills

• Excellent analytical skills with a strong debugging and investigative mindset.
• Ability to manage multiple high‑priority investigations simultaneously.
• Ability to lead cross‑functional issue resolution and provide direction to a small failure analysis team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with enterprise SSD products or hyperscale customer support.
• Knowledge of NAND reliability mechanisms such as retention, read disturb, endurance wear, and ECC behavior.
• Familiarity with automotive or industrial reliability standards.

Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by timely issue resolution, strong customer communication, effective root cause identification, and reduction of repeat failures.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Failure analysis turnaround time (TAT)
• Field reliability improvement

This is a full‑time onsite role Monday to Friday in Rancho Santa Margarita with no travel required. Compensation is expected to start at $150K+ depending on experience and internal alignment.

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA