RAMS Engineer

Cadre; Carson (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Cadre is seeking an experienced RAMS Engineer to support refurbishment, modernization, and retrofit programs for rail vehicles. You will apply RAMS principles across the lifecycle to ensure systems meet customer, safety, reliability, and performance requirements.

Collaborate with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, and Project Management to mitigate risks and develop RAMS documentation. You will conduct FMEA/FMECA, FTA, Hazard Analysis, and risk assessments, identify critical failure modes, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Reliability Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Transportation Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 3+ years of RAMS, reliability, systems engineering, safety engineering, or a related field.
• Experience applying RAMS methodologies to railway, rolling stock, transportation, industrial, aerospace, automotive, or other safety‑critical systems.
• Demonstrated experience with FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis, Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessment, and Root Cause Analysis.
• Understanding of reliability and maintainability concepts, including MTBF, MTTR, failure rates, availability, and reliability growth.
• Strong technical writing and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain RAMS plans, requirements, analyses, reports, and supporting documentation for rail vehicle refurbishment and modernization projects.
• Review customer and contractual RAMS requirements and translate them into engineering and project requirements.
• Perform reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety analyses for rail vehicle systems, subsystems, and components.
• Conduct and maintain FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessments, and other RAMS related analyses.
• Identify critical failure modes, safety hazards, single-point failures, and system-level risks.
• Develop mitigation and corrective actions and monitor their implementation through the project lifecycle.
• Support the development and maintenance of hazard logs, risk registers, failure reporting, and corrective action documentation.
• Analyze field failures, test failures, warranty issues, maintenance records, and operational data to identify reliability trends and recurring problems.
• Perform and support root cause analysis (RCA) and develop recommendations for corrective and preventive actions.
• Establish and monitor RAMS performance indicators, including reliability, availability, failure rates, downtime, and maintainability metrics.
• Support reliability prediction, MTBF/MTTR analysis, maintainability assessments, and life‑cycle reliability evaluations.
• Work with Design Engineering to evaluate proposed modifications and their impact on system reliability, safety, maintainability, and performance.
• Review engineering changes, replacement components, upgraded systems, and retrofit designs for RAMS implications.
• Support verification and validation (V&V), qualification testing, functional testing, environmental testing, and vehicle level testing.
• Review test plans and test results to ensure RAMS requirements are adequately verified.
• Support investigation and resolution of failures identified during vehicle refurbishment, testing, commissioning, and field operation.
• Work with Quality and Manufacturing teams to identify process‑related risks affecting vehicle reliability and safety.
• Collaborate with suppliers and subcontractors regarding component reliability, failure modes, safety requirements, and corrective actions.
• Support customer meetings, technical reviews, design reviews, and RAMS‑related presentations.
• Prepare clear and accurate engineering reports and documentation for customers, internal management, and project teams.
• Ensure RAMS activities and documentation are completed in accordance with applicable railway standards, customer requirements, project specifications, and company procedures.
• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives to improve the reliability, safety, maintainability, and availability of refurbished rail vehicles.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

RAMS Engineering

Reliability Analysis

Failure Analysis

FMEA/FMECA

Hazard Analysis & Risk

Root Cause Analysis

Technical Documentation

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Reliability Engineering or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

FRACAS

Job description

Whether you’re looking for a permanent or contract position, Cadre has the hiring and human resources contacts you need to secure the right opportunity. Our comprehensive assessment tools enable us to get to know you, identify your strengths and place you within an organization that satisfies your career goals.

Summary of Position

Our client is seeking an experienced RAMS Engineer to support railway vehicle refurbishment, modernization, and retrofit programs. The RAMS Engineer will be responsible for applying Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) principles throughout the refurbishment lifecycle to ensure that refurbished rail vehicles and their systems meet applicable customer, contractual, safety, reliability, and performance requirements. This position will work closely with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Project Management, Testing & Commissioning, and Maintenance teams to identify and mitigate system risks, analyze failures, support verification and validation activities, and ensure appropriate RAMS documentation is developed and maintained. The ideal candidate has experience with rail vehicles, rolling stock, transportation systems, railway equipment, or other safety-critical systems, and understands how to apply RAMS methodologies in a complex engineering and refurbishment environment.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain RAMS plans, requirements, analyses, reports, and supporting documentation for rail vehicle refurbishment and modernization projects.
• Review customer and contractual RAMS requirements and translate them into engineering and project requirements.
• Perform reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety analyses for rail vehicle systems, subsystems, and components.
• Conduct and maintain FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessments, and other RAMS related analyses.
• Identify critical failure modes, safety hazards, single-point failures, and system-level risks.
• Develop mitigation and corrective actions and monitor their implementation through the project lifecycle.
• Support the development and maintenance of hazard logs, risk registers, failure reporting, and corrective action documentation.
• Analyze field failures, test failures, warranty issues, maintenance records, and operational data to identify reliability trends and recurring problems.
• Perform and support root cause analysis (RCA) and develop recommendations for corrective and preventive actions.
• Establish and monitor RAMS performance indicators, including reliability, availability, failure rates, downtime, and maintainability metrics.
• Support reliability prediction, MTBF/MTTR analysis, maintainability assessments, and life‑cycle reliability evaluations.
• Work with Design Engineering to evaluate proposed modifications and their impact on system reliability, safety, maintainability, and performance.
• Review engineering changes, replacement components, upgraded systems, and retrofit designs for RAMS implications.
• Support verification and validation (V&V), qualification testing, functional testing, environmental testing, and vehicle level testing.
• Review test plans and test results to ensure RAMS requirements are adequately verified.
• Support investigation and resolution of failures identified during vehicle refurbishment, testing, commissioning, and field operation.
• Work with Quality and Manufacturing teams to identify process‑related risks affecting vehicle reliability and safety.
• Collaborate with suppliers and subcontractors regarding component reliability, failure modes, safety requirements, and corrective actions.
• Support customer meetings, technical reviews, design reviews, and RAMS‑related presentations.
• Prepare clear and accurate engineering reports and documentation for customers, internal management, and project teams.
• Ensure RAMS activities and documentation are completed in accordance with applicable railway standards, customer requirements, project specifications, and company procedures.
• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives to improve the reliability, safety, maintainability, and availability of refurbished rail vehicles.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Reliability Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Transportation Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 3+ years of experience in RAMS, reliability, systems engineering, safety engineering, or a related field.
• Experience applying RAMS methodologies to railway, rolling stock, transportation, industrial, aerospace, automotive, or other safety‑critical systems.
• Demonstrated experience with FMEA/FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis, Hazard Analysis, Risk Assessment, and Root Cause Analysis.
• Understanding of reliability and maintainability concepts, including MTBF, MTTR, failure rates, availability, and reliability growth.
• Ability to analyze technical data, failure information, test results, and maintenance records.
• Strong technical writing and documentation skills.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, schematics, test reports, and technical documentation.
• Strong communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with rail vehicles, passenger rail, subway/metro vehicles, commuter rail, light rail, or rolling stock refurbishment.
• Knowledge of railway RAMS and safety standards, including applicable EN 50126/IEC 62278, EN 50128/IEC 62279, EN 50129/IEC 62425, or equivalent railway standards.
• Familiarity with EN 50126 RAMS lifecycle principles.
• Experience developing or maintaining Hazard Logs and Safety Cases.
• Experience with FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Action System).
• Experience with reliability prediction and statistical analysis.
• Experience with Weibull analysis, reliability growth, life‑cycle analysis, and statistical reliability methods.
• Experience with electrical/electronic systems, controls, HVAC, doors, braking systems, propulsion, passenger information systems, or other rail vehicle subsystems.
• Experience supporting vehicle testing, commissioning, acceptance testing, and field troubleshooting.
• Knowledge of customer and regulatory requirements applicable to rail transportation.
• Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) or equivalent certification is a plus.
• Master's degree in Reliability, Systems, Safety, or a related engineering discipline is a plus.

Key Competencies

• Railway RAMS Engineering
• Reliability & Failure Analysis
• FMEA/FMECA
• Hazard Analysis & Risk Management
• Fault Tree Analysis
• Root Cause Analysis
• Reliability Data Analysis
• Safety‑Critical Systems
• Systems Engineering
• Verification & Validation
• Technical Documentation
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration
• Problem Solving & Attention to Detail

Cadre is committed to providing equitable treatment and equal opportunity to all individuals. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. We thank all those who apply; however, only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

INDONA