Product Reliability Engineer

About the Team

OpenAI’s Hardware organization develops silicon and system-level solutions designed for the unique demands of advanced AI workloads. The team is responsible for building the next generation of AI-native silicon while working closely with software and research partners to co-design hardware tightly integrated with AI models. In addition to delivering production-grade silicon for OpenAI’s supercomputing infrastructure, the team also creates custom design tools and methodologies that accelerate innovation and enable hardware optimized specifically for AI.

The Compute team works on the design of our AI supercomputers, doing everything from workload modeling to influencing accelerator design. We’re leaning into our partnerships to make system and data center co-design an integral part of this process, and are looking for engineers to design AI supercomputers solutions for data center applications

This team is responsible for working with partners to optimize their hardware for our workloads, identifying promising new deep learning accelerators, and bringing those hardware platforms to production.

If you’re excited to work at the intersection of cutting edge deep learning, hardware system, and data center design this role is for you!

About the Role

We’re looking for a Product Reliability Engineer to own reliability engineering for advanced IT hardware, from printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) through compute and networking trays, systems, and fully integrated racks. You’ll translate operating conditions and service-life goals into reliability requirements, design and execute qualification tests, and drive failure analysis and corrective-action verification from development through production and field deployment. Working with electrical, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, quality, and data center teams, suppliers, and manufacturing partners, you’ll use test and field evidence to improve hardware durability, serviceability, and availability.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will

• Define reliability requirements and targets for PCBAs, trays, systems, and racks using mission profiles, expected service life, operating environments, duty cycles, and availability goals.

• Drive design-for-reliability reviews with electrical, mechanical, and thermal engineers. Use failure modes and effects analysis (DFMEA or FMEA) and physics of failure to prioritize risks and recommend design improvements. Own component de-rating guidelines and guidance.

• Own reliability qualification plans from new product introduction through production, defining test coverage, representative configurations, sample sizes, stress conditions, duration, pass/fail criteria, and exit evidence at each assembly level.

• Develop and execute accelerated life and environmental tests, including temperature cycling, humidity exposure, power cycling, shock, vibration, and transport testing. Exercise hardware under representative workloads and monitor function and degradation during stress.

• Analyze life-test and field data using Weibull and other reliability models, acceleration models, and confidence intervals. State assumptions, exposure, and uncertainty when estimating failure rates, useful life, or reliability against targets.

• Lead failure investigations from symptom reproduction through physical root cause. Maintain failure reporting, analysis, and corrective-action records, and verify fixes through targeted testing and recurrence monitoring.

• Review supplier reliability plans and evidence for PCBs, PCBa components/assemblies, cables, connectors, and cooling components. Identify gaps between component qualification and the stresses encountered in the integrated system or rack.

• Work hands-on with internal and partner labs to develop fixtures, instrumentation, and test methods. Review sample t

Responsibilities

• Define reliability requirements and targets for PCBAs, trays, systems, and racks using mission profiles, expected service life, operating environments, duty cycles, and availability goals.
• Drive design-for-reliability reviews with electrical, mechanical, and thermal engineers, using DFMEA or FMEA and physics of failure to prioritize risks and recommend design improvements.
• Own component de-rating guidelines and guidance.
• Own reliability qualification plans from new product introduction through production, defining test coverage, representative configurations, sample sizes, stress conditions, duration, pass/fail criteria, and exit evidence at each assembly level.
• Develop and execute accelerated life and environmental tests, including temperature cycling, humidity exposure, power cycling, shock, vibration, and transport testing.
• Exercise hardware under representative workloads and monitor function and degradation during stress.
• Analyze life-test and field data using Weibull and other reliability models, acceleration models, and confidence intervals.
• Lead failure investigations from symptom reproduction through physical root cause, maintain failure reporting, analysis, and corrective-action records, and verify fixes.
• Review supplier reliability plans and evidence for PCBs, PCBa components/assemblies, cables, connectors, and cooling components.
• Work hands-on with internal and partner labs to develop fixtures, instrumentation, and test methods.

• Relocation assistance to new employees.