Job DescriptionBasic Job Functions:- The Design Reliability Engineer IV provides senior technical leadership to ensure products and processes meet or exceed First Solar, customer, certification, and regulatory requirements.
- This role establishes risk-based qualification strategies for new products, materials, components, suppliers, and manufacturing-process changes and leads the resolution of complex reliability issues across global development and manufacturing teams.
Education/Experience:- Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or a related technical discipline with 15+ years of relevant reliability experience; or
- Master's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics, or a related discipline with 8-10 years of relevant reliability engineering experience.
- Demonstrated experience as a Lead Reliability Engineer or in a comparable technical leadership role is required.
- Photovoltaic or semiconductor industry experience is preferred.
Required Skills/Competencies:- Expertise in risk analysis and FMEA methods, including component-to-system translation and TFMEA, DFMEA, PFMEA, and SFMEA development.
- Advanced knowledge of product reliability testing, reliability prediction, reliability-growth analysis, accelerated-life testing (ALT), highly accelerated life testing (HALT), and complex modeling.
- Ability to design reliability-demonstration and modeling tests, including automated systems for data logging, analysis, and reporting.
- Proficiency with Python or MATLAB for reliability analysis and modeling.
- Working knowledge of SQL Express, JMP statistical software, and Visual Basic programming.
- Intermediate Microsoft Excel, Access, and PowerPoint skills; advanced proficiency is preferred.
- Experience with electro-mechanical test and measurement equipment, solar simulators, environmental chambers, measurement instruments, and related measurement techniques.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, project-management, organizational, and technical-leadership skills.
- Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to cross-functional and global stakeholders.
- Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and drive work to documented conclusions.
Essential Responsibilities:- Lead design-reliability strategy and risk-based qualification for new products, materials, components, suppliers, and manufacturing-process changes.
- Ensure required qualification plans are completed with acceptable results before release to customer production shipments.
- Own the creation, maintenance, and technical quality of TFMEA, DFMEA, PFMEA, and SFMEA activities.
- Design reliability-demonstration, accelerated-life testing, HALT, ALT, and reliability-growth programs.
- Apply statistical analysis, reliability modeling, and physics-of-failure methods to evaluate lifetime performance and field risk.
- Lead root-cause analysis and the development of corrective, preventive, and monitoring actions for complex reliability issues.
- Correlate laboratory, device-physics, environmental-exposure, and field-performance data to identify reliability risks and recommend solutions.
- Provide global technical support for reliability qualification efforts and establish clear documentation, conclusions, and recommendations.
- Lead cross-functional development projects, communicate technical risk to stakeholders, and support technical governance and decision-making.
- Mentor engineering teams and provide subject-matter leadership in one or more reliability disciplines.
- Other duties as assigned.
- Job description subject to change at any time.
Reporting Relationships:- This position reports to the Head of Development- Quality and Reliability.
- This position may have direct reports.
Travel:Estimated Salary Range:- $112,300-$160,000 Annually
US Physical Requirements:Hybrid Physical Requirements:- Will sit, stand or walk short distances for up to the entire duration of a shift.
- Will climb stairs on an occasional basis.
- Will lift, push or pull up to 37 pounds on an occasional basis.
- Required to use hands to grasp, lift, handle, carry or feel objects on a frequent basis.
- 20/40 vision in both eyes together, with or without correction, is required.
- Must be able to comply with all safety standards and procedures.
- May reach above shoulder heights and below the waist on a frequent basis.
- May stoop, kneel, or bend, on an occasional basis.
- Ability to wear personal protective equipment is required (including but not limited to; steel-toed shoes, gloves, safety glasses, hearing protection, protective jacket or apron and arm guards, and a condition of employment and continued employment (requires little or no facial hair) for those requiring respirator use.
Office Physical Requirements:All positions in our office require interaction with people and technology while either standing or sitting. To best service our customers, internal and external, all associates must be able to communicate face-to-face and on the phone with or without reasonable accommodation.
