Product Quality Engineer – Reliability & Environmental Qualification

Product Quality Engineer

Agilent inspires and supports discoveries that advance quality of life. We provide life science, diagnostic and applied market laboratories worldwide with instruments, services, consumables, applications and expertise. Agilent enables customers to gain the answers and insights they seek—so they can do what they do best: improve the world around us. The Santa Clara Site Quality Engineering Services (QES) organization provides quality leadership, testing, and qualification services for local R&D groups as part of New Product Introduction programs, as well as select manufacturing sites worldwide.

This role sits within the Product Quality (Environmental) Team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead product quality evaluations by reviewing design intent, customer use conditions, risk areas, and qualification evidence to determine whether products meet defined quality and reliability expectations.
• Develop and document test plans that define objectives, acceptance criteria, sample requirements, test methods, environmental stresses, transportation conditions, operational conditions, and reporting expectations.
• Coordinate and support test execution, including setup verification, data collection, deviation documentation, issue escalation, and cross-functional communication of test status and risks.
• Evaluate test reports and qualification results for completeness, traceability, technical accuracy, acceptance criteria alignment, and clear conclusions that support design release or corrective action decisions.
• Define and communicate basic design quality requirements for transportation and operational environments, including handling, vibration, temperature, humidity, installation, and normal-use conditions.
• Interface with Manufacturing Quality to assist in defining, maintaining, and improving process control points that support product quality, manufacturability, and reliability.
• Set and communicate reliability requirements and targets at system/subsystem/component levels; facilitate Design FMEA sessions to drive reliable design choices and improve verification test programs.
• Specify reliability validation plans using physics-of-failure; provide guidance on sample size and test durations for accelerated life testing, and apply reliability statistics (e.g., Weibull, MLE, Bayesian methods, Monte Carlo).
• Analyze usage and environmental conditions (lab/field) to refine requirements and test methods; drive reliability assessments in design reviews and clearly communicate risk through each phase of development and post-release.
• Work with Design Engineers to create/interpret/validate numeric models of fielded and in-test products; leverage CAE/ECAD/MCAD data in 3D finite element reliability models.
• Provide reliability design guidelines, apply lessons learned, and enable proactive health monitoring to grow reliability and minimize field failures.
• Develop Reliability Demonstration Tests (RDT) and Ongoing Reliability Tests (ORT); contribute to structural/environmental qualifications and analyze results (MTBF, MTTR, Availability, AFR) to drive improvements.

• BS or MS in a relevant engineering field, or equivalent scientific degree with demonstrated experience in reliability engineering, product qualification, or technical product development.
• 8+ years in hardware development, reliability, or compliance, with experience leading execution of processes/projects and communicating technical topics to interdisciplinary audiences.
• Proficiency with the standard office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
• Practical understanding of accelerated testing methods, governing equations, and physics of failure; applied statistics and reliability statistics (e.g., Weibull).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise in analytical instrumentation, including GC/MS, LC/MS, Liquid Handling Robotic systems.
• Experience in scientific instrumentation and vacuum system design, development, and troubleshooting.
• Leadership in cross-functional reliability and quality improvement programs.
• Strong background in product lifecycle support, including quality review processes and continuous improvement.
• Advanced knowledge of mass spectrometry…