Senior Staff Reliability Engineer

Agility Robotics is a pioneer. Our robot, Digit, is the first to be sold into workplaces across the globe. Our team is differentiated by its expertise in imagining, engineering, and delivering robots with advanced mobility, dexterity, intelligence, and efficiency -- robots specifically designed to work alongside people, in spaces built for people. Every day, we break through engineering challenges and invent new solutions and capabilities that will one day make robots commonplace and approachable. This work is our passion and our responsibility: our mission is to make businesses more productive and people’s lives more fulfilling.

About Agility Robotics:
Agility Robotics is at the forefront of humanoid robotics, redefining how robots interact with and navigate the human world.  Our cutting-edge robots rely on advanced hardware systems, including actuators, motor controllers, sensors, PCBAs, limbs, and end effectors, to perform complex tasks in dynamic and demanding environments.

Location:

This position can be based either within commuting distance of our Salem, OR headquarters or remotely  in the San Francisco Bay Area.  For remote candidates, regular travel to Salem, typically 1 but sometimes 2 weeks per month, will be required. 

 

About the Role:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Staff Reliability Engineer to lead hardware reliability efforts for our humanoid robots.  This role is critical to ensuring the performance, safety, and durability of our products throughout their lifecycle.  Leveraging your deep expertise in reliability engineering, you will lead efforts to establish reliability standards, conduct advanced analyses, and drive improvements across key hardware components and systems.

 

About the Work:

• Reliability Strategy & Leadership:
• Develop and implement a comprehensive reliability engineering strategy for hardware systems, with a focus on actuators, motor controllers, PCBAs, sensors, limbs, and end effectors.
• Establish and maintain reliability metrics, goals, and test protocols for each product lifecycle stage, from design to production.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams (mechanical, electrical, firmware, and manufacturing) to integrate reliability principles into design and development processes.
• Efficient Testing & Analysis:  Ability to design reliability testing approaches that extract meaningful insights from small sample sizes, as large, statistically significant sample sizes (30+ units) are typically not available at our stage.  Must leverage statistical methods, engineering judgment, and accelerated testing techniques to drive data-informed decisions.
• Component Derating & Analysis:
• Apply component derating principles to ensure hardware components operate well within their rated limits, improving system reliability and longevity.
• Analyze thermal, electrical, and mechanical stresses to identify potential failure points and recommend design adjustments.
• Perform Coffin-Manson fatigue analysis to predict the lifecycle of materials and components under cyclic thermal and mechanical loading.
• Failure Analysis & Testing:
• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) for hardware failures, implementing corrective actions and preventative measures.
• Develop and oversee reliability testing plans, including Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT), Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS), vibration testing, and environmental stress testing.
• Analyze field data, prototype testing results, and production feedback to identify trends and drive improvements.
• Component & System Validation:
• Validate critical hardware components, including actuators, motor controllers, sensors, and PCBAs, through rigorous testing and analysis.
• Drive Design for Reliability (DfR) methodologies, including FMEA, DFMEA, stress analysis, and reliability growth modeling.
• Partner with suppliers to verify the reliability and quality of sourced components, ensuring alignment with design and reliability standards.
• Continuous Improvement:
• Identify and implement design and process improvements to enhance product reliability, reduce failure rates, and improve durability.
• Contribute to the development of reliability standards, documentation, and best practices to guide future hardware development.
• Collaboration & Reporting:
• Provide reliability reports, insights, and recommendations