Senior Reliability Engineer

GRVTY (Northstrat) is seeking a Senior Reliability Engineer to own the reliability of our fielded and in‑production radio‑frequency (RF) electronic warfare (EW) systems. These systems are already designed; your focus is on qualification, production, sustainment, and fielded reliability—predicting, measuring, and continuously improving the reliability of EW transmitters, receivers, high‑power amplifiers, wideband RF front‑ends, T/R modules, and antenna assemblies operating in harsh military environments such as airborne pods, shipboard installations, and ground platforms.

This is a hybrid role based out of our Sterling, VA facility, with regular on‑site presence expected for lab, integration, and program activities.

• Serve as the reliability technical lead for fielded and in‑production EW RF systems, maintaining reliability requirements, allocations, and verification artifacts tied to mission and operational profiles and contractual (RAM) requirements.
• Perform reliability predictions and modeling (MTBF/MTTF, reliability block diagrams, fault trees) for EW RF hardware—high‑power PAs, LNAs, mixers, filters, synthesizers, wideband front‑ends, DRFM/receiver assemblies, and antenna/array hardware—using MIL‑HDBK‑217 and related methods.
• Lead FMEA/FMECA on existing EW designs and translate findings into production‑process, screening, and sustainment improvements.
• Plan and analyze qualification and ongoing reliability testing per MIL-STD-810 and program specifications: HALT/HASS, accelerated life testing, thermal cycling, vibration/shock, humidity, and altitude, plus EW‑relevant RF stress (sustained high‑power operation, duty cycle, VSWR/mismatch, ESD).
• Conduct root‑cause and failure analysis on RF and EW component and board‑level failures, working with FA labs (cross‑section, X‑ray, decap, SEM/EDS, network analyzer characterization) and driving closed‑loop corrective action (FRACAS).
• Apply derating and thermal management analysis to high‑power EW RF components; review junction temperatures, power dissipation, and component stress against derating guidelines.
• Own component sustainment for RF and high‑frequency parts: screening, EEE parts management, and obsolescence/DMSMS risk management for in‑production and fielded systems.
• Own reliability data across the production and sustainment lifecycle—FRACAS, field‑return and depot/sustainment data—and build reliability growth models (e.g., Crow‑AMSAA) to drive continuous improvement.
• Support production and sustainment milestone activities (e.g., Production Readiness Reviews, Test Readiness Reviews) and author/review qualification, acceptance, and screening procedures.
• Mentor junior reliability engineers and help mature the organization's reliability processes and toolset.

• Must have an active Secret or higher clearance.
• A bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, reliability engineering, physics, or a related field.
• Must have 8+ years of reliability engineering experience, including significant work on RF/microwave or wireless hardware.
• Experience supporting defense, aerospace, or other regulated/high‑reliability hardware programs in production and/or sustainment.
• Working knowledge of RF fundamentals: S‑parameters, impedance matching, link budgets, noise figure, gain/compression, and common RF components and measurements.
• Demonstrated expertise in reliability methods: FMEA/FMECA, RBD, fault tree analysis, Weibull and statistical life‑data analysis, and reliability prediction standards (MIL‑HDBK‑217; familiarity with MIL‑HDBK‑338, Telcordia SR‑332, or FIDES a plus).
• Experience planning and interpreting environmental and accelerated stress tests, including MIL‑STD‑810 environments and HALT/HASS.
• Strong failure‑analysis and root‑cause skills (8D, fishbone, 5‑Whys) and experience operating a FRACAS.
• Strong data analysis skills (Excel and at least one of Python/R/MATLAB/Minitab/JMP).

• Master’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline.
• ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) certification.
• Direct experience with electronic warfare systems (ECM/ECCM, jammers, EW receivers, DRFM, wideband/high‑power RF) and their failure and degradation…