Job Description:

Staff Reliability Engineer – Utility Scale Inverter Platform

Location: Spain

About the Role

Nextpower is seeking an experienced Staff Engineer – Product Reliability to serve as the Product Reliability Leader for our next-generation utility-scale power conversion platform. This role is responsible for leading Design for Reliability (DfR) activities throughout product development and ensuring products achieve their intended service life while meeting performance, availability, manufacturability, and warranty objectives.

Working within the product development team, you will partner with Systems, Electrical, Mechanical, Firmware, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, Product Management, Service, and Operations to proactively identify reliability risks, drive mitigation actions, and establish confidence in product readiness before commercial release.

You will collaborate closely with Nextpower's global Reliability Team, leveraging expertise in semiconductor reliability, reliability modeling, materials science, failure analysis, and field reliability while maintaining overall accountability for reliability execution on the product platform.

Key Responsibilities

Product Reliability Leadership

• Serve as the Product Reliability Owner throughout product development, qualification, production launch, and early fleet deployment.
• Develop and execute the Product Reliability Program Plan.
• Establish product reliability goals aligned with customer expectations and warranty objectives.
• Lead reliability planning, design reviews, and development milestone assessments.
• Coordinate cross-functional reliability activities and communicate residual technical risk to engineering leadership.

Design for Reliability

• Lead DFMEA, FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis, and other structured risk assessments.
• Drive reliability-focused design decisions across electrical, thermal, mechanical, cooling, insulation, and electromechanical systems.
• Partner with reliability subject matter experts to evaluate critical failure mechanisms and design margins.
• Balance reliability, performance, manufacturability, schedule, and cost throughout product development.
• Drive closure of reliability action items and risk mitigation plans.

Reliability Validation

• Develop reliability validation strategies based on identified product risks and expected operating conditions.
• Coordinate qualification activities across internal laboratories, suppliers, manufacturing partners, and external test facilities.
• Lead reliability growth through EVT, DVT, PVT, and pilot builds.
• Review test results and determine product readiness for subsequent development phases.
• Ensure validation demonstrates achievement of product reliability objectives.

Supplier & Manufacturing Reliability

• Support qualification of contract manufacturers and key suppliers.
• Evaluate reliability impact of supplier, manufacturing, and component changes, including second-source qualifications.
• Participate in supplier technical reviews and manufacturing readiness activities.
• Define ongoing production reliability monitoring and support corrective actions for reliability-related issues.

Field Reliability & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor pilot deployments, field performance, and emerging reliability trends.
• Lead investigations of validation failures, customer returns, production escapes, and warranty issues in collaboration with Failure Analysis teams.
• Drive implementation of corrective actions and integrate lessons learned into future product designs.
• Support product reliability assessments, warranty discussions, and fleet health reviews.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Reliability Engineering, Power Electronics, or related field.
• Fluency in Spanish and English, both written and spoken, is required.
• 10+ years of experience in Product Reliability, Design for Reliability, or Reliability Engineering for complex electrical or electromechanical products.
• Experience leading reliability activities for power conversion, industrial electronics, or other high-reliability products.
• Strong understanding of DFMEA, FMECA, Fault Tree Analysis, Accelerated Life Testing, Reliability Growth, and Root Cause Analysis.
• Experience leading cross-functional engineering teams and influencing technical decisions.
• Experience supporting supplier qualification, manufacturing readiness, and product introduction.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills.

Preferred

• Experience with utility-scale renewable energy systems, industrial power electronics, EV power electronics, or similar products.
• Familiarity with outdoor power conversion systems, thermal management, cooling systems, and passive components.
• Working knowledge of reliability analysis tools such as ReliaSoft, ANSYS Sherlock, Windchill Quality Solutions, or equivalent.
• Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) or equivalent certification.

At Nextpower, we are driving the global energy transition with an integrated clean energy technology platform that combines intelligent structural, electrical, and digital solutions for utility-scale power plants. Our comprehensive portfolio enables faster project delivery, higher performance, and greater reliability, helping our customers capture the full value of solar power. Our talented worldwide teams are redefining how solar power plants are designed, built, and operated every day with smart technology, data-driven insights, and advanced automation. Together, we’re building the foundation for the world’s next generation of clean energy infrastructure.

We are Nextpower