About this role
How do you deliver items to customers quickly, cost-effectively, and—most importantly—safely, in less than an hour? How do you build a service capable of operating at scale? Teams of scientists, engineers, aerospace professionals, and futurists at Amazon Prime Air are working to do just that. We are delivering to customers today and are excited about what comes next. If you are looking for an iterative environment where you can drive innovation, apply state-of-the-art technologies to real-world delivery challenges, and create meaningful benefits for customers, Prime Air is the place for you. Come work on the Amazon Prime Air team! Amazon Prime Air is seeking a Senior Hardware Reliability Engineer to define and lead reliability strategy for hardware used in airborne systems. You will develop reliability requirements, test methodologies, and environmental qualification programs while partnering with engineering teams to improve drone hardware reliability throughout the product lifecycle. Working across drone system development and multiple engineering disciplines, you will lead design-for-reliability activities, verification planning, environmental and accelerated-life testing, and complex failure investigations. You will use test and field data to characterize failure mechanisms, quantify risk, and develop statistical models that predict product lifetime and reliability. The ideal candidate combines strong cross-functional engineering fundamentals with demonstrated technical leadership. You must be able to communicate complex technical findings clearly, produce high-quality engineering documentation, and influence decisions across design, test, manufacturing, quality, and supplier teams. See your work take flight and help make history in autonomous aviation. If you are passionate about creating reliable hardware for demanding airborne applications, we want to talk to you. This position may require a deemed export control license for compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Placement is contingent on Amazon’s ability to apply for and obtain an export control license on your behalf. Key job responsibilities Own hardware reliability strategy across architecture, qualification, production, and field operations. Define quantitative requirements, success criteria, and validation plans based on mission profiles, environmental conditions, and service life. Lead design-for-reliability activities, including risk assessments, DFMEA, reliability block diagrams, and design reviews. Develop environmental, accelerated-life, and reliability-growth programs for airborne hardware, including test methods and acceptance criteria for temperature, vibration, shock, humidity, and ingress. Architect scalable test frameworks, fixtures, instrumentation, automation, and data systems. Apply Weibull analysis, design of experiments, confidence bounds, and accelerated-life models to quantify risk and predict product lifetime. Lead FRACAS and multidisciplinary root-cause investigations, driving corrective actions with design, systems, test, manufacturing, safety, quality, operations, and supplier teams. Analyze qualification, production, and fleet data to identify trends and prioritize improvements. Provide data-driven recommendations during architecture, design, test-readiness, and qualification reviews. Maintain traceable hardware configurations, procedures, results, and technical decisions. Establish reliability standards and supplier controls, communicate risks to senior leadership, mentor engineers, and serve as a hardware reliability authority across Prime Air.