Reliability Engineer

Responsibilities

• Develop, execute, and manage a variety of daily reliability tests to determine performance degradation of solar panels related to electrical, mechanical, visual, and safety parameters.
• Validate and analyze test degradation data, understand potential root causes, physics of failures, and calculate estimated field reliability parameters – Mean Time to Failure (MTTF), Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF), Annual Failure Rate (AFR), etc.
• Execute test requirements, prepare reports, and document all records as part of On-Going Reliability Test (ORT), Qualification Test Plans (QTP), and special reliability evaluations and/or design of experiments.
• Perform tests and analyze data derived from field exposure tests of solar panels and Balance of Systems (BOS) components such as inverters or microinverters to correlate accelerated laboratory test data with simulated field performance data.
• Develop, document and implement test procedures and laboratory operating protocols to ensure compliance with systems and product standards (ISO 17025, IEC 61215, IEC/UL61730).
• Interface with Customer Quality Engineering and stakeholders to communicate laboratory test results and demonstrate testing procedures.
• Manage validation, calibration, and preventive maintenance activities for all laboratory equipment.
• Support optimization efforts on laboratory workflows, test methods, and equipment utilization.
• Understand environmental, solar simulation, and electromechanical test technology to ensure equipment upkeep and accurate test results.
• Execute calibration, spectral analysis, and light uniformity measurements associated with IV/Flash Tester for photovoltaic systems.
• Clock with Equipment Engineering to ensure testing instruments remain functional, accurate, and up to date.
• Understand product drawings, specifications, bill of materials, and manufacturing process flows to correlate potential issues in ORT process capability indices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, or related field) or Science (Chemistry, Physics, or a related discipline).
• Advanced degree is advantageous for consideration.
• At least 4 years of experience in laboratory testing, quality assurance, or reliability engineering.
• Industry experience in automotive, semiconductor, or solar is highly desirable.
• Strong familiarity with data acquisition systems, testing instrumentation, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Able to understand product drawings, material specifications, and manufacturing process flows.
• Knowledgeable in Measurement System Analysis (MSA) and Statistical Process Control (SPC).
• Familiarity with reliability or statistical analysis software (e.g., JMP, Minitab, Reliasoft), preferred.
• Experience with ISO 9001, ISO 17025, and related quality management systems is advantageous.