Quality & Reliability Engineer

Job description

Exowatt is revolutionizing the energy landscape for the AI era with our groundbreaking P3 system that captures solar energy, stores it as heat, and generates electricity on demand. Founded in 2023 and backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, and Felicis, we're committed to providing clean, modular, and scalable power that meets the rapidly growing demands of AI infrastructure. Our mission is to make sustainable renewable energy always available and almost free, enabling technological advancement while protecting our planet. We’re hiring a Quality & Reliability Engineer to own both the quality of our supply chain and manufacturing operations and the long-term dependability of the P3 system in the field. You’ll qualify suppliers, drive root-cause investigations, and build the quality systems that let us scale — while simultaneously defining reliability requirements, running life-test programs, and ensuring every unit we ship meets the demanding uptime expectations of AI infrastructure customers. This is a hands-on, high-impact role for someone equally at home on a factory floor, at a supplier site, and deep in failure data. This role is based in our Austin, TX facility. Relocation is required, and relocation assistance will be provided if necessary. ### Quality Engineering - Own incoming inspection, in-process, and final quality for assigned commodities, sub-assemblies, and finished product - Partner with the supply chain team to qualify new suppliers — on-site audits, first-article inspections (FAI), PPAP-style submissions, and process capability reviews - Develop inspection plans, control plans, and acceptance criteria for purchased parts and in-house manufactured components - Lead root-cause investigations (8D, 5-Why, Ishikawa) on supplier defects and internal manufacturing non-conformances; drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to closure - Manage the non-conformance (NCR) and supplier corrective action request (SCAR) processes end-to-end - Partner with design engineering on DFM/DFA reviews and help translate design intent into manufacturable, inspectable specifications (GD&T, critical-to-quality features) - Track and report quality metrics — PPM, first-pass yield, cost of poor quality, supplier scorecards — and use them to drive improvement - Support new product introduction (NPI) from prototype through production ramp, including process validation and pilot builds - Build and maintain quality documentation: inspection procedures, work instructions, quality records, and calibration programs - Help stand up and evolve Exowatt’s quality management system (QMS) — we’re early enough that you’ll shape it, not just operate inside it ### Reliability Engineering - Own reliability requirements, targets, and budgets for P3 system hardware — thermal storage, heat exchangers, turbomachinery, power electronics, and balance-of-plant components - Design and execute accelerated life testing (ALT), HALT, and HASS programs to validate component and system life under thermal cycling, vibration, and operational stress conditions representative of the P3 deployment environment - Lead FMEA and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) studies during design, NPI, and production ramp; track and close action items with cross-functional teams - Analyze field failure data, warranty returns, and in-service performance data to identify failure modes, estimate Weibull parameters, and prioritize design or process improvements - Collaborate with design engineering on reliability-by-design principles: derating, thermal margin, fatigue life, creep, and materials selection for high-temperature, long-duration operation - Build and maintain reliability models (RBD, fault trees, MTBF/MTTF estimates) and support system-level availability analysis for customer site deployments - Define and track reliability KPIs — field MTBF, infant-mortality rates, demonstrated vs. predicted reliability — and report to engineering and operations leadership ### Required Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, Aerospace, or a related engineering field - 6+ years of quality and/or reliability engineering experience in a hardware manufacturing environment - Hands-on experience with supplier quality — audits, FAI, PPAP, SCARs, and supplier development - Working knowledge of root-cause methodologies (8D, 5-Why, fishbone) and statistical tools (SPC, Cpk, Weibull analysis, DOE basics) - Experience designing or executing accelerated life or stress tests for electromechanical or thermal hardware - Proficiency with reliability analysis methods: FMEA, fault tree analysis (FTA), RBD, FRACAS - Fluency with GD&T and the ability to read and interpret mechanical drawings - Experience with metrology and inspection tools (CMM, calipers, micrometers, optical comparators, etc.) - Familiarity with ISO 9001 and the fundamentals of building or operating a QMS - Clear technical writing and the ability to communicate findings to suppliers, engineers, and leadership - Willingness to travel to supplier facilities domestically and occasionally internationally (~20%) ### Preferred Qualifications - Experience in energy, aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, or other regulated/high-reliability hardware industries - Exposure to welded or brazed assemblies, pressure vessels, high-temperature materials, thermal storage systems, or rotating machinery relevant to the P3 system - Familiarity with failure mechanisms specific to high-temperature continuous-operation hardware: thermal fatigue, creep, oxidation/corrosion, bearing and seal wear, insulation degradation - ASQ certification (CQE, CQA, CRE, or CSSBB) - Experience standing up a QMS at an early-stage company, or taking one from ISO 9001 toward AS9100, ISO 14001, or similar - Six Sigma Green or Black Belt; Design for Reliability (DfR) training - Experience with ERP/MES/QMS or CMMS platforms (NetSuite, Arena, Propel, Salesforce Field Service, or similar) - Experience building a quality or reliability function from scratch at an early-stage hardware company