Manufacturing Reliability Engineer (Austin, TX; 50% travel to Milwaukee, WI)

About this role

<p><strong>What we’re doing isn’t easy, but nothing worth doing ever is.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Diligent builds helpful robots that work safely and autonomously in real world environments. We move quickly, solve messy problems, and care deeply about reliability at scale. We’re hiring a Manufacturing Reliability Engineer to own production test for our robots at our contract manufacturer: you’ll design and run robust end-to-end test protocols, provision fleets of robots for production, and own the KPIs that define production quality.</p> <p><em><strong>This role is based in Austin, TX. However, the position will require 50% travel to the Milwaukee, WI area and requires close collaboration across software, hardware, operations, and product engineering teams.</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Key Responsibilities</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>End-to-end test process ownership.</strong> Create, validate, and maintain production test protocols and gating criteria from incoming inspection through final test and shipment.</li> <li><strong>Provisioning of bots.</strong> Design and operate provisioning flows (imaging, firmware deployment, configuration, validation) and the tooling/fixtures needed to provision and handoff robots for production.</li> <li><strong>KPIs and continuous improvement.</strong> Own key production metrics — First Pass Yield (FPY), cycle time, and test coverage — and drive continuous improvements to meet throughput and quality targets.</li> <li><strong>Test automation &amp; infrastructure.</strong> Architect, implement, and maintain automated test frameworks, harnesses, and test rigs used at the CM site. Ensure tests are stable, fast, and provide actionable failure data.</li> <li><strong>Cross-functional escalation &amp; RCA.</strong> Lead root-cause analysis for field and production failures; coordinate corrective actions with design, firmware, and CM engineering to close quality loops.</li> <li><strong>On-site production leadership.</strong> Be the onsite technical authority at the contract manufacturer: train operators, debug failures on the line, and continuously refine processes with CM partners.</li> </ul> <p><strong>What Success Looks Like</strong></p> <ul> <li>Improved FPY and reduced rework rates across production builds.</li> <li>Reduced per-unit cycle time for test/provisioning while increasing test coverage.</li> <li>Stable, fully automated provisioning flow with minimal manual intervention.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Basic Qualifications</strong></p> <ul> <li>5+ years experience in production/test engineering for complex electro-mechanical products (robotics, medical devices, consumer electronics, or similar).</li> <li>Proven ownership of E2E production test processes and production provisioning at a contract manufacturer (on-site experience strongly preferred).</li> <li>Deep familiarity with test protocol development: test specification writing, fixture design, automated test implementation, and validation.</li> <li>Strong hands-on experience with firmware provisioning and validation for sensors and compute (sensor FW + compute/host FW).</li> <li>Broad technical knowledge across systems integration (ES integration), sensors (e.g., cameras, LiDAR, IMU or similar), embedded compute platforms, and networking/provisioning.</li> <li>Excellent debugging skills across hardware, firmware, and system software; able to triage complex cross-domain failures.</li> <li>Strong data-driven mindset: experienced with KPIs (FPY, cycle time, test coverage), statistical process control, and metrics reporting. Outstanding communication skills and experience working closely with contract manufacturers, operators, and cross-functional engineering teams.</li> <li>Comfortable being onsite full-time at a contract manufacturer and traveling as needed.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Qualifications</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience with robotics stacks (ROS or equivalent) and robotic sensor calibration/test.</li> <li>Familiarity with manufacturing automation tools, CI for embedded systems, and test frameworks (Python, pytest, LabVIEW, or similar).</li> <li>Experience with provisioning large fleets (device identity, secure image signing, automated configuration).</li> </ul>