Staff Reliability Engineer

Span; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive equity

100% employee premiums covered

Transit-adjacent office

Team building events

Flexible hours & time off

Job summary

SPAN is seeking a Staff Reliability Engineer to be the technical leader for our reliability team, improving lab organization, standardizing reliability test suites, and mentoring a small team of dedicated reliability engineers.

You'll set the technical direction for reliability testing across the SPAN product suite—electrical, mechanical, environmental, and systems-level—while guiding day-to-day team work.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Statistics or related field.
• 8+ years reliability engineering with ownership of multi-discipline programs.
• Experience with XFMEA and reliability test planning/execution.
• Strong statistics with DOE and reliability models.
• Proficiency in Python for test automation and data logging.
• Hands-on with test rigs and environmental chambers.
• Ability to speak across engineering domains and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Mentor a small agile reliability team and set priorities.
• Own DFR program: targets, DFMEAs, test plans.
• Define cross-domain test strategy with program management.
• Analyze test results and translate to design input for engineers.
• Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and systems teams.
• Hands-on testing in lab using Linux and Python.
• Drive CAPAs with engineering changes and recertification as needed.
• Grow in-house testing capabilities and manage external labs.

Skills

Python scripting

DOE analysis

Statistical analysis

Test automation

Reliability testing

Lab instrumentation

Education

B.S./M.S. in engineering

Tools

XFMEA

Metrology tools

Test rigs

Environmental chambers

Job description

This range represents SPAN's good faith estimate of competitively-priced salary for the role based on national, real-time industry data from companies of a similar growth stage. This range reflects minimum and maximum new hire salaries for the role across US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by location and individual factors including relevant skills, experience, and education or training. This range correlates to the relative level of the candidate we believe we need for the role and may require an adjustment for candidates of a different level.
Your recruiter can tell you more about the specific salary range for the location this role is based during the hiring process.

Our Mission

SPAN is enabling electrification for all

We are a mission-driven company designing, building, and deploying products that electrify the built environment, reduce carbon emissions, and slow the effects of climate change.

Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere.

Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives.

At SPAN, we believe in:

Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy

Building more resilient homes with reliable backup

Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid

The Role

SPAN is seeking a Staff Reliability Engineer to be the technical leader for our reliability team, improve lab organization, standardize reliability test suites, improve the visibility of reliability test reports, and mentor a small team of dedicated reliability engineers. You'll set the technical direction for reliability testing across the entire suite of SPAN products -spanning electrical, mechanical, environmental, and systems-level considerations- while managing the day-to-day work of the entire team. You'll be the closed-loop-feedback function between test results and product requirements and design decisions, translating product data into clear, actionable input for design engineering teams across all disciplines.

This is a role for someone who can operate at both altitudes: hands-on enough to dig into a failure mode with an oscilloscope or X-ray machine, and strategic enough to standardize reliability test suites, prioritize conflicting test programs, and mentor junior engineers on sound reliability judgment and organizational escalation.

In this role, you will:

Mentor and develop a small, agile reliability team-setting weekly, monthly, and annual priorities, creating and reviewing proposed test plans and results, and helping the team improve their independent capabilities with both technical depth and judgment.

Own Span's DFR (Design for Reliability) program: Setting reliability targets, establishing mission profiles / usage models, creating and maintaining DFMEAs, writing reliability test plans, and creating test plans across the full suite of SPAN products.

Define reliability test strategy with program management across all domains (electrical, mechanical, thermal, environmental, and systems-level) while balancing product risk, DFMEA-based mitigations, team bandwidth, and program schedules.

Analyze reliability test results with statistical tools and translate those findings into tangible impacts that executives can understand while making clear recommendations on what levers are available to change the results.

Serve as the primary link between the reliability organization, program management, and product design in order to ensure reliability test results are integrated into programmatic continuous improvement plans

Guide root cause analysis on test failures and partnering closely with the certification and design teams to drive corrective and preventative actions (CAPAs) into product with formal engineering change orders and/or recertification (when necessary).

Collaborate with electrical, mechanical, and systems teams to grow in-house testing capabilities and determine when to engage outside labs.

Manage relationships with all third-party testing facilities used for reliability test evaluations that cannot be performed in house.

Redefine how the reliability team functions as the company scales to faster product launches that iterate on existing design and test history, including the definition of new processes, tooling, and technical standards that the Reliability group can use to expedite evaluations of new product launches.

Stay hands-on where it matters-operating tests, using Linux command line and Python for logging test data, performing statistical and reliability analysis on all data collected, summarizing and publicizing the results to appropriate teams, and getting into the lab when a problem needs a second set of hands.

About You

Required Qualifications

BS or MS in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Statistics or a related engineering field.

8+ years of experience in reliability engineering, with demonstrated ownership of reliability programs that evaluate products with multiple product discipline inputs (electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, sourcing and/or environmental).

Deep experience with XFMEA, reliability test planning and execution, and translating lab data into product requirements.

Strong background in statistical analysis of DOE tests and reliability test data using common reliability predictive models.

Proficiency with Python or similar scripting languages for test automation, data logging, and analysis.

Hands-on experience designing and building test rigs, using metrological instrumentation, and running reliability tests in both large and small environmental control chambers.

Ability to speak fluently across engineering domains: electromagnetism, electronics, mechanical/material physics, and how they intersect with hardware reliability and safety.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting technical findings to both engineers and leadership.

Able and willing to perform all the physical activities required as part of the job, including but not limited to: opening and closing large environmental test chambers, independently installing and removing large electronic equipment weighing as much as 50lbs, installing and removing large electronic equipment weight as much as 100lbs with an installation partner.

Bonus Qualifications

Experience mentoring or organizing the work of several engineers and technicians on a project or program basis.

Experience working safely with high voltage equipment (up to 600-1000V) and AC/DC power systems.

Knowledge of national and international safety and regulatory standards (UL, NEC, IEC, ISO).

Experience creating or scaling an in-house reliability lab to expand capabilities and capacity.

Experience in connected home, energy, or IoT hardware products.

Experience in corrosion mechanics and how they relate to material plating.

Experience in IC degradation mechanics and how they relate to thermal and environmental factors.

Experience in defining product mission profiles, writing test procedures and scripts to automate mission profile testing, and interpreting test results of mission profiles in reliability metrics that can be communicated with leadership.

Life at SPAN

Headquartered in San Francisco's vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a 'make it happen' approach to addressing complex challenges.

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

We're hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we'd love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.

The Perks:

Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company

Comprehensive benefits: 100% employee premiums for base plans on medical, dental, vision with options for additional coverage. Parental leave up to twenty four (24) weeks depending on eligibility

Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit

Strong focus on team building and company culture: Employee Resource Groups, monthly social events, SPANcakes recognition breakfast, lunch, and learns

Flexible hours, one holiday per month, and flexible time off