Mechanical Reliability Engineer
Austin, Texas
Engineering /
Full Time /
On-site
Saronic Technologies is a leader in revolutionizing defense autonomy at sea, dedicated to developing state-of-the-art solutions that enhance maritime operations for the Department of Defense (DoD) through autonomous and intelligent platforms.
We are seeking a Mechanical Reliability Engineer to drive key mechanical reliability and systems integration initiatives for our cutting-edge autonomous vessels. In this pivotal role, you will lead efforts in design reliability across the product lifecycle, including focusing on predictive analysis, proactive failure modes and effects analysis, and comprehensive verification and qualification testing. You will work cross-functionally to turn data into design insights, strengthen our mechanical systems, and drive continuous improvement across design, manufacturing, maintenance, and engineering processes. Your expertise will be crucial in ensuring the reliability and performance of our innovative maritime technology as we advance towards the future of autonomous vessels.
We know great people don’t always check every box. We also know that confidence gaps and imposter syndrome can hold great people back. If you’re excited about the work we’re doing but you don’t meet every qualification, we still want to hear from you. Some of the best people on our team started this way. We value builders, problem-solvers, and people who learn fast, and we’re far more interested in what you can do next than what’s already on your resume. Your unique experience and perspective might be exactly what our team needs, so we encourage you to apply anyway!
Responsibilities
- Define top-down use cases, system architecture, and design reference missions for products alongside product architects and responsible engineers
- Define, document, and maintain system requirements (design criteria) using Jama and in-house developed tools/environments.
- Work closely with engineering teams to ensure requirements are accurately interpreted and implemented.
- Maintain up-to-date technical documentation for system requirements, testing requirements, verification and validation.
- Clearly articulate technical information to stakeholders at all levels, ensuring alignment of objectives across engineering, software, and mission operations.
- Participate in systems engineering activities including concept development, system design, integration, and testing.
- Develop, own, and execute subsystem- and system-level verification and validation (V&V) plans to ensure designs meet functional, performance, autonomy, reliability, and safety requirements
- Define test objectives, configurations, procedures, and success criteria for subsystem and full-system integration tests
- Lead root cause analysis/failure investigation, and corrective action for issues found during R&D and qualification testing alongside the development, quality, and test teams.
- Analyze test results to identify design issues, system interactions, or performance shortfalls; clearly communicate findings and recommended actions
- Lead acceptance test execution for engineering stakeholders with production.
- Lead development of preventive maintenance plans for all product variants for engineering stakeholders with quality.
- Partner with design engineers as a critical partner to identify risk as early as possible through tools such as Design Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, Physics of Failure Methodologies, and analysis + test data reviews, then coordinate mitigation action plans to proactively lead the design reliability effort for the product or subsystem
- Develop and maintain internal data analysis and visualization tools to streamline test reporting and decision-making
- Collaborate closely with mission operations, design engineers, and other stakeholders to collect, analyze, and interpret in-field or post-deployment data, feeding results back into design iterations
- Work with hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) engineers to architect verification & test campaigns and execute subsystem- and system-level testing
- Help drive the development of internal tools, guides, calculators, or similar via Palantir Foundry, Confluence, Excel, or similar
- Support the engineering design cycle process as a subject matter expert to ensure teams adhere to our hardware design best practices, and analysis best practices.
Qualifications
- 2+ years of industry experience as a Design Engineer, Development Engineer, Test Engineer, Systems Engineer, Reliability Engineer, or similar
- Bachelor’s Degree or greater in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Systems, Software, Computer, Electrical Engineering, or similar
- Experience working on advanced hardware systems, autonomous systems, complex electronics systems, or similar
- Requirement decomposition experience for both hardware and software
- Experience with failure analysis, root cause analysis methodologies, corrective action management, and risk management.
- Experience architecting and designing test campaigns (subsystem level to the vehicle/vessel/product level) as well as creating & executing test plans
- Familiarity with industry processes, standards, and guides, such as MIL-STDs, ABS Rules, ABYC, COLREGs, ISO, NASA, IEC, IEEE, and similar
- Ability to travel as needed
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with requirements management tools such as Jama, DOORS, Innoslate, 3DX, Cameo, Flow, or similar
- Experience developing tools, guides, and engineering solutions in Palantir Foundry
- Coding and software development experience, such as in Python, Java, C++, or similar
- Hands on test engineering experience including data collection, analysis, and closing feedback loops to improve designs & outcomes
- Experience with analysis tools such as MATLAB, Excel, ANSYS, FEMAP, etc.
- Modeling/CAD Experience
- HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing), environmental testing, mechanical/loads testing, electrical testing and/or debugging, software testing and/or debugging
- Technical writing experience developing standards, specifications, user guides, or similar
Benefits
- Medical Insurance: Comprehensive health insurance plans covering a range of services
- Saronic pays 100% of the premium for employees and 80% for dependents
- Dental and Vision Insurance: Coverage for routine dental check-ups, orthodontics, and vision care
- Saronic pays 99% of the premium for employees and 80% for dependents
- Time Off: Generous PTO and Holidays
- Parental Leave: Paid maternity and paternity leave to support new parents
- Competitive Salary: Industry-standard salaries with opportunities for performance-based bonuses
- Retirement Plan: 401(k) plan
- Stock Options: Equity options to give employees a stake in the company’s success
- Life and Disability Insurance: Basic life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage
- Additional Perks: Free lunch benefit and unlimited free drinks and snacks in the office
This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require “U.S. Person” status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a “U.S. Person”: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)
Saronic does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.
