Reliability Principal Engineer

2401 E 86th St, Bloomington, MN 55425, USA

Posted Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 6:00 AM

Bold Thinking. World Changing. At Sky Water, our ingenuity helps improve lives around the world by manufacturing U.S. made semiconductors that are essential ingredients of modern life. Automotive safety enhancements, life-saving medical devices, consumer electronics and American security require semiconductors. Working in our Minnesota headquarters, Florida, or Texas location — employees join together to improve the world.

Explore what’s possible. Joining our U.S.

- based team means contributing to and learning about the commercialization of some of the most exciting technologies the world has ever seen. We are turning “science fiction” into everyday reality through technologies such as superconducting, 3D integrated circuits or computer chips, carbon nanotubes, photonic logic devices, micro electro-mechanical systems and other emerging device topologies. We manufacture products for aerospace and defense, medical, automotive, consumer and industrial markets, to name a few.

Our customers include emerging leaders who rely on our intellectual property security and quality manufacturing services.

Step into the future. Sky Water’s values of Integrity, Excellence, Collaboration, Empowerment and Growth Mindset guide us to cultivate an empowered, learning environment. We also invest in developing highly skilled, dedicated employees — and employees who are entering the workforce for the first time, from the military, and a variety of educational backgrounds.

Are you bold thinking? Find your place on our team and help us change the world!

Sky Water is hiring a highly skilled Reliability Principal Engineer with a deep understanding of Front-End-of-Line (FEOL) and Back-End-of-Line (BEOL) CMOS technology. As a Reliability Engineer in our organization, you will be responsible for ensuring the robustness, durability, and long-term performance of our semiconductor products. Your expertise in FEOL and BEOL CMOS technology will play a pivotal role in optimizing the reliability of our technology.

Responsibilities:

• Set and own the reliability strategy, standards, and qualification roadmaps across assigned technology nodes and product families, define and maintain the reliability POR including stress conditions, sample plans, success criteria, and reporting requirements.
• Architect and lead end-to-end reliability characterization and qualification spanning wafer, package, and product-level testing, ensure efficient coverage of operating corners, environmental conditions, and application-driven stress profiles.
• Own FEOL reliability assessment and mitigation, including: BTI (NBTI/PBTI), HCI, TDDB, charge trapping and interface-state generation, oxide integrity, and related device wear-out mechanisms, translate findings into process/ design recommendations and operating limits.
• Own BEOL reliability assessment and mitigation, including: electromigration (EM), stress migration (SM), dielectric integrity, corrosion/contamination-related risks as applicable, and interconnect/via/TSV-related reliability where relevant, translate findings into layout/process guidance and reliability limits.
• Develop, validate, and govern lifetime projection methodologies (e.g., Weibull statistics, acceleration models, temperature/field dependencies), clearly document assumptions, confidence, and limitations for decision-making.
• Lead advanced failure analysis and root-cause investigations, establish hypotheses, design targeted experiments/DOEs, and drive cross-functional corrective and preventive actions to closure.
• Represent reliability in executive program reviews and customer engagements, communicate technical risk, confidence level, and required actions in clear, decision-oriented language.
• Drive organizational capability improvements: mentor senior engineers, standardize test/analysis workflows, champion automation and data quality, and influence lab/tool investments to close capability gaps.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years experience with BS, 7-10 years of experience with MS, 5+ years of experience with PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics,…