BAE Systems - Principal Reliability Engineer

BAE Systems is a global defense, security, and aerospace company delivering products and services across air, land, naval, electronics, information technology, and cybersecurity domains. The Principal Reliability Engineer will support the C4ISR Systems team by analyzing failures, conducting reliability data analysis and prediction, improving maintainability and testability, leading reliability initiatives, and driving process and quality improvements.

Responsibilities:

• Analyze failed hardware and software components from production and field returns to determine root cause of failures and assist in developing corrective actions. This includes understanding failure mechanisms and applying engineering principles to diagnose issues
• Collaborate with internal teams (Quality, Hardware Design, Manufacturing, Software Engineering) to gather information, facilitate investigations, and implement solutions
• Interface with Suppliers/Vendors to review their failure analysis findings, ensure alignment, and drive resolution of supplier-related issues
• Perform detailed failure analysis using a variety of techniques (visual inspection, microscopy, component-level testing, data analysis, and potentially more advanced techniques like X-ray or SEM depending on your product)
• Author clear, concise, and technically accurate customer-facing failure reports and narratives, including recommended corrective actions and clear communication of technical issues
• Maintain and update the FRACAS database with accurate failure data, analysis results, and corrective action tracking
• Review and interpret data from manufacturing process monitoring, environmental stress screening (ESS), and system testing to identify potential reliability concerns
• Collaborate with test teams to investigate failure modes, refine test procedures, and improve test coverage
• Collect, analyze, and interpret reliability data from various sources (field failures, testing, simulations) to identify trends, potential areas for improvement, and quantify product reliability
• Utilize statistical tools and techniques (Weibull analysis, MTBF/MTTR calculations, FMECA, Root Cause Analysis, hypothesis testing) to assess system reliability and predict future performance
• Develop and maintain reliability prediction models to assess design margins and optimize product life
• Perform Reliability Growth Analysis to track improvement over time
• Contribute to the development of reliability test plans and strategies
• Perform Maintainability analysis, estimate Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), and identify opportunities to improve product serviceability
• Perform system-level testability analysis and demonstrate the effectiveness of diagnostic features
• Support the development and implementation of diagnostic procedures to facilitate efficient troubleshooting
• Identify opportunities to improve manufacturing processes, design practices, and quality control procedures to reduce failure rates and enhance product reliability
• Contribute to the development and implementation of corrective and preventative actions (CAPA)
• Participate in Design for Reliability (DFR) and Design for Manufacturability (DFM) reviews
• Lead small-scale reliability improvement projects
• Create and maintain detailed documentation of failure analysis results, test procedures, reliability data, and analysis reports
• Prepare and deliver presentations summarizing reliability findings for internal stakeholders (engineering teams, management) and potentially external stakeholders (customers, vendors)
• Lead reliability science initiatives, including failure analysis, proposal development, and program status management. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams

Requirements:

• • Bachelor's degree in engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace, Systems, or related field) with at least 6 years of experience (4 years with a Masters degree)
• • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• • Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• • Ability to obtain/maintain a security clearance
• • Lead reliability science initiatives, including failure analysis, proposal development, and program status management. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams
• • Experience with failure analysis techniques (e.g., visual inspection, microscopy, X-ray, electrical testing)
• • Familiarity with reliability standards (e.g., MIL-STD-883, MIL-STD-750, MIL-HDBK-217, MIL-STD-1629A, MIL-STD-454, MIL-STD-470, and MIL-HDBK-472)
• • Knowledge of statistical analysis tools (e.g., Minitab, JMP)
• • Experience with FRACAS databases and reporting systems, Reliability Testing, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Reliability/Maintainability Modeling including Availability
• • Experience with electronic circuits and components
• • Understanding of manufacturing processes
• • Experience with Python or other scripting languages for data analysis